HELP! Yet another priming sugar thread

[BurghBrewer]

I couldn't find an answer to this in a hurry and needless to say I am panicking a bit! I wouldn't be as concerned if this wasn't a brew I wanted to unveil on Halloween (about 6-7 weeks away) so have a limited time constraint.

This is batch #5 for me, and for some reason I misread something on a forum or in a book and in my idiocy only put 1/3 cup of priming sugar into the beer (preboiled of course). This morning while having my coffee, read in 'The Complete Joy of Home Brewing' to put in 3/4 cup, which I have done for all of my other batches.

This is easily the best beer I've made so far and I am dying to know if I ruined it by not putting enough priming sugar in it! Is there any hope this beer will be nice and bubbly? Will I be forced to carb tab? I will be so bummed if this turns out badly

 

[Pappers_]

I can think of two options for you:

1. leave it as is and deal with a beer with low carbonation (which may be appropriate for some styles, anyway)

2. let the beer carb for a week or two, then open the bottles, let them go flat, and add the carb tabs; the major issue here is oxidizing your beer

Others may come up with other options, but those the two that occur to me.

 

[pericles]

+1

 

[emjay]

What style of beer is it?

 

[BurghBrewer]

It's a pumpkin ale, super thick and pretty dark (brewed with chocolate malt), probably a shade darker than Newcastle Brown

 

[Revvy]

It's a pumpkin ale, super thick and pretty dark (brewed with chocolate malt), probably a shade darker than Newcastle Brown

If it's a fuller bodied beer, you don't necessarily want them all that "fizzy." A lower volume of co2 wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

[BurghBrewer]

Thank you all for the replies. Will the 1/3 cup at least get it marginally bubbly? I was thinking about doing some math and adding a ratio of light DME to each bottle as an alternative to carb tabs if the stuff ends up flat. I will stop worrying though if I know there is a chance this could actually turn out alright! You all can probably relate to how heartbroken I was when I realized I did it wrong...this thing was my baby.

 

[paulster2626]

So you put about 1/2 as much as you should have. I don't think you have ruined anything, just made it differently. People may like it - I say just leave it, unveil it at Halloween, and listen to how much everyone loves it. Remember, some of the best things ever discovered were because someone messed something up!

 

[smalliewader]

"super thick and dark" to me doesn't need to be real bubbly....that's just me though. It will probably be like a cask ale you would get at a brew pub. Very lightly carbonated.

Let it sit until time to cool down and serve, I bet it turns out fine.

In theory, if you didn't add any sugar at all, the beer would still eventually carb up (just would take a lot, lot longer) since the yeast is living and constantly working until forced to go dormant when chilled.

 

[BetterSense]

I think that it will carb at least a little bit with 1/3 cup sugar. It won't be totally flat.

 

[unionrdr]

It sounds to me like it will be carbonated low,like my English bitter. But that's how that style is,using low carbonation to let the malt flavors come through more. It may just be good that way.

 

[BurghBrewer]

Okay, well based on your guys' responses it sounds like I need to relax and not worry. Thank you for calming me down! I actually looked back through my notes and read that I had actually done the same with a wheat beer I brewed over the summer; I don't know where the 1/3 cup got stuck in my head or how, who knows - but I cracked a bottle yesterday and it gave a nice hiss and definitely had carbonation. Since it was a wheat, I would say it was a bit undercarbed based on the style for a nice malty, spiced pumpkin ale I think the small carbonation will work out just fine. I'll post the results when I open these bad boys up in a month or so!

Side note: If in two weeks I open one up and they are just astoundingly, depressingly flat, I am curious to know if anyone has tried sprinkling a 1/2 teaspoon or so of DME into the beer, recap and let sit again? Would that be worth trying? Or is the risk for infection too high, putting unsanitized malt extract into a beer?

 

[Revvy]

Side note: If in two weeks I open one up and they are just astoundingly, depressingly flat, I am curious to know if anyone has tried sprinkling a 1/2 teaspoon or so of DME into the beer, recap and let sit again? Would that be worth trying? Or is the risk for infection too high, putting unsanitized malt extract into a beer?

Since it can take a MINIMUM of 3 weeks at 70 degrees for average gravity beers, and can take longer for higher grav beers, especially it seems in my experience porters which can take up to 8 weeks...if it was just astoundingly flat at TWO weeks....








I would ignore it and wait til it was REALLY carbed up.

 

[BlackJaqueJanaviac]

Remember, some of the best things ever discovered were because someone messed something up!

Like beer!

Can you imagine anyone in his right mind saying, "Lets let this wet barley sit and decompose for a few weeks before we eat it"?