How is this going to turn out?

[wing_nut]

My beginner brewing plan was to find a couple of kits that I like and make them a bunch of times and enjoy drinking home made beer. Didn’t want to get involved with too much chemistry apart from understanding the process.

I need to opinions of the more experienced brewers. I just bottled a batch of Woodforde’s Headcracker Ale. And I’ve got it wrong. The mistake I made was after putting the cans of malted extract in the fermented and filling “to” 13.5 liters… I added 13.5 liters of water, forgetting to take into account the volume of the malt… about 2.2(ish) liters. So I have 19% more water in the wort than I am supposed to.

So this is where I don’t know what happens now. Looking at it logically, the amount of malt and the amount of yeast is still the same so there is still enough yeast to eat the available malt. So what could have happened to the wort? Simply just a diluted, color, taste and alcohol content?

Next questions is the priming sugar. They say table sugar, ½ tsp/pint. This is the next mistake. Imp. pints not US pints. So I primed with 5.5 Tbs sugar for the 33 US pints I had instead of 4 Tbs. for the 24 Imp pints it should have been. Now I have a lot more sugar than is meant to be there. Again… What happens?

 

[PintOfBitter]

1) your beer will be diluted, it will taste just fine.
2) your beer will be fizzier.

You learned some lessons, but all in all, i wouldn't expect any major consequences.

enjoy!

 

[hoppymonkey]

+1. No biggie.

 

[KAMMEE]

Well... I'm trying to understand your whole procedure, but I assume you boiled the wort with hops, added the yeast, fermented out for two weeks at least and then bottled. Under that assumption, you will A) have beer that may be just slightly watered down from what was expected but you'll still have made beer and chances are it will still be good. B) For bottling with an extra tablespoon of sugar per Pint... you could end up with VERY carbonated beer, or worst case scenario your bottles will be exploding creating a mess. So First I'd pack them in a case and then set the cases in a trashbag, maybe inside a cooler as well just to maintain the explosions if you happen to get them.

Next time... get a bottling bucket and boil 3/4 cup of corn sugar (per five gallons of beer) in two cups of water and then put that into your bottling bucket before you fill your bottles and you won't have to measure on a per bottle basis.

Good luck. If your bottles are sturdy they should be able to maintain the pressure... so hopefully you won't have bottle bombs.

 

[wing_nut]

WOW... fast replies. Thanks all for responding and confirming what I figured... well... maybe hoped for is better.

yes kammee except the is was a no boil kit. I am assuming the hops was already in the LEM (is that correct jargon?). The extra Tbs of sugar was for the batch not per Pint. Good idea about the cooler. On my way down there right now.

 

[KAMMEE]

If the batch was no boil, then yes, it was a hopped extract kit and the hops were integrated in to the malt. Now... onto the sugar, that isn't that much more for an entire batch, I think you'll be fine and probably won't have to worry about bottle bombs. Sorry to worry you there, but an extra 1.5 tbsp for a whole batch isn't going to be enough to create the pressure necessary to break your bottles. Sounds like you're all good.

 

[wing_nut]

Thanks again. Even though it has only been 6 days I chilled and drank one today. I did this for the 1st 2 batches as well to see what the diff is over time.

If this is only going to get better over time WOW is this going to be good Already has good carbonation and the flavor does not taste watered down at all.

 

[HibsMax]

Well... I'm trying to understand your whole procedure, but I assume you boiled the wort with hops, added the yeast, fermented out for two weeks at least and then bottled. Under that assumption, you will A) have beer that may be just slightly watered down from what was expected but you'll still have made beer and chances are it will still be good. B) For bottling with an extra tablespoon of sugar per Pint... you could end up with VERY carbonated beer, or worst case scenario your bottles will be exploding creating a mess. So First I'd pack them in a case and then set the cases in a trashbag, maybe inside a cooler as well just to maintain the explosions if you happen to get them.

Next time... get a bottling bucket and boil 3/4 cup of corn sugar (per five gallons of beer) in two cups of water and then put that into your bottling bucket before you fill your bottles and you won't have to measure on a per bottle basis.

Good luck. If your bottles are sturdy they should be able to maintain the pressure... so hopefully you won't have bottle bombs.

Sorry for dragging up an old thread but I figured I would reply to an existing one rather than creating a new one since my question is directly related to the content.

I have the same kit and wondered about the quantity of priming sugar. The recipe calls for 1/2tsp per pint (the kits makes 24 pints). 24 * 1/2tsp = 12tsp = 4tbsp = 1/4 cup. Most recipes I have seen call for 3/4 cup of priming sugar. I followed the recipe but am wondering, is 3/4 cup of priming sugar per 5gal batch what people use as a rule of thumb?

 

[homebrewdad]

I followed the recipe but am wondering, is 3/4 cup of priming sugar per 5gal batch what people use as a rule of thumb?

This is indeed the rule of thumb, but there are several really nice priming sugar calculators online that you can use for this. Pick your beer style and/or desired volumes of CO2, pick your sugar, enter your volume, and it will tell you exactly how much to add.