Emergency in-the-bottle carbonation?

[badun]

I'm hosting a beer tasting one week from today and I made a Belgian Dubbel for it. The Dubbel tastes wonderful. But there's a problem - it's flat! I think I put priming sugar in the bottling bucket but there's a possibility I just forgot. I've tried two bottles so far and this combination of bottles, caps, and capper has never failed before. Assuming I forgot to add sugar, is it possible to add sugar to some of the bottles now? I would uncap them, add DME or corn sugar, and re-cap them. What's the probability of success? I know the yeast was alive during fermentation because the ABV is a solid 8%.

 

[Kilgore_Trout]

I'm hosting a beer tasting one week from today and I made a Belgian Dubbel for it. The Dubbel tastes wonderful. But there's a problem - it's flat! I think I put priming sugar in the bottling bucket but there's a possibility I just forgot. I've tried two bottles so far and this combination of bottles, caps, and capper has never failed before. Assuming I forgot to add sugar, is it possible to add sugar to some of the bottles now? I would uncap them, add DME or corn sugar, and re-cap them. What's the probability of success? I know the yeast was alive during fermentation because the ABV is a solid 8%.

Don't see why not, as long as you're POSITIVE you didn't add any in the bottling bucket. Check the gravity, if it's the same as when you bottled I'd say go for it.. can't hurt. Your yeast should be fine.

 

[david_42]

Use corn sugar & dissolve it in some hot water first. Otherwise, the CO2 that is in the brew will cause gushers.

 

[badun]

I think I know what's going on. I bottled half of the batch and put the other half in a Party Pig. I believe that I cut down the amount of priming sugar because of the Pig. I tapped the Pig (I'll be using it for the party) and it's fine. The bottles are for my personal use later so I'll just let them sit.

 

[Boar Beer]

For us very skilled at the art of bottling we keep a batch of the sugar pills on hand. You know sometimes the help is not as good by the time we get to bottling and from time to time we get a flat batch. Its easy to forget the sugar. You might try putting the sugar on top of the bottle caps

Just pop off the caps hit it with a sugar pill or two and recap. Wait 1-2 weeks and see what you get.

Below is one type i have used.

Some times when we are transferring to the secondary ( 6 gal to 5 )we end up with 12-24 oz extra and we just bottle the extra and and hit it with a sugar pill or two.
Its always worked well

good luck

Coopers Carbonation Drops - Spices - Adjuncts - Other - High Gravity
Coopers Carbonation Drops - Spices - Adjuncts - Other - High Gravity