I am a bonehead, now how do I fix this?

[lwcm]

Just finished bottling a batch of oatmeal stout. When I tossed it in secondary last week the hydrometer was reading 1.010 which I thought was a pretty good FG. So I bottled the batch and tried the sample left over in the test cylinder.....it was waaaay overly sweet. So I took a new reading (after bottling the batch) and it's reading at 1.020. So I have waaaay under attenuated beer in bottles and I'm forseeing bombs if I don't do something.

Is there any way to save this batch? Can I uncap all 50 bottles and CAREFULLY pour them back in a carboy with fresh yeast so that they can finish the job? Anything ELSE that I could do? Or am I screwed?

Thanks in advance!

 

[juggaleo]

Do you know what your target FG was

 

[juggaleo]

You probably racked some sediment from the fermenter and when you tasted that sample it was concentrated with that sediment.. If you're that worried you could uncap a random bottle and check the gravity of that.. Its probably closer to 1.010

 

[chickypad]

Wait, you took a new sample after you added priming sugar? That's going to change the gravity - although not 10 pts (probably more like 3). That seems like a lot to be off between readings - you need to get that figured out.

But even if 1.020 was your true reading it could very well be done, you wouldn't know unless you had taken a second reading a few days apart. An oatmeal stout might have a fair amount of unfermentables and finish at 1.020 especially if you mashed a little high. Or if extract then that could be the culprit.

 

[lwcm]

"Wait, you took a new sample after you added priming sugar? " Uh.........*head desk* yes, I did. And I am a moron. When I transferred it to secondary it was 1.010. And the test cylinder was the laaaaaaast hurrah from the bottling bucket and had some sediment in it as well. So that could also be contributing.

Ah hell I'm going to RDWHAHB and see what a bottle tastes like in two weeks.

 

[chickypad]

Yeah, then you might have had some concentrated sugar at the bottom that could explain the big difference. You could always put them in a bit plastic bin just in case.

 

[lwcm]

They are encapsulated in lawn/leaf bags . We'll see what happens.

 

[BigFloyd]

It's easy for me to say and harder for you to do, but don't stress over this. In all likelihood, the first hydro reading is the correct one. You're right to take precautions, but there's a good chance you'll be OK.

Did you happen to use any lactose in the recipe? What was your OG?

 

[lwcm]

No lactose in the recipe. My measured OG was 1.065 but I don't 100% believe that. It was a partial boil partial mash recipe and I'm not certain that I had the whole solution mixed correctly prior to taking the reading. Soon as I can I'm going for full boils so I don't have to worry about this problem .

 

[BigFloyd]

Oh well. Hopefully we learn plenty from our bone-headed mistakes in brewing. We all make them.

BTW - There's no need to transfer a stout into a secondary unless you're going to be adding something at that point that had to wait until primary was done. Let it ride 3 weeks in the primary, check gravity and go straight to bottles/keg.

 

[lwcm]

I've done plenty of bone-heading . Just one more thing to chalk up to experience. And I totally hear your point on secondarying (or lack there of) for a stout. I had just done an Irish Red and transferred it out of secondary so I was in 'the mood' I guess and not thinking (which leads to bone-headism). I'll remember that secondarying a dark beer is just plain silly in the future .