Fixing undercarbing

[Redpiper]

Bottled an Imperial Stout on 1/29 and it came out a little too undercarbed. I only used 90grams of sugar at the time and I realize that was a bit low. After nearly 3 months in the bottle, I don't think it will change much.

Has anyone tried popping bottles open and pouring more sugar in? Say 1/16 - 1/8 a teaspoon or so? This works out to 1/4 - 1/2 a gram extra per bottle. Surprisingly, when I searched I couldn't find anyone trying this - just some speculation about using carb tabs.

 

[martinworswick]

i'm not too sure about imperial stout but i thought normal stouts were on the low side for carbonation anyway,is undercarbed for style or your tastes? personally i'd stick with it and adjust on the next batch,but thats just me!

 

[Nightbiker]

Yeah, I thought they were supposed to be low-carbed as well. I'd be real hesitant to open the bottles and put sugar in the bottle like that. Real pain in the tail, LOADS of work, and easy to mis-dose the sugar (and create bottle bombs, unwanted infections or both). If you really feel that strongly about it, I'd sanitize my bottling bucket, pour the bottles of brew into the bucket, dose the sugar THAT way (like you would normally prior to bottling) -you will probably need to put a little yeast in there as well since its probably been long enough that any latent yeast in your bottles will have given up the ghost by now. Then bottle as before.
Awful lot of work, but I suppose its better than being unhappy with the current crop of bottles.
Times like that, I'm glad I force-carb in a keg, and bottle only what I need to bottle.

 

[Redpiper]

Undercarbed for the style and my taste. Looking back I think I miscalculated the volume. I didn't account for some added chocolate and lactose.

I could leave it, but it would sit and go to waste. I hadn't thought about a complete re-bottling. Would need to pour carefully as to avoid O2. Would probably need to be careful about too much yeast as well. If I try the individual bottle method, I'll experiment on a couple and see what happens.

Hmm, will continue to think about this one.