I screwed up, can I unscrew it?

[E_Marquez]

In that I used Screw top bottles for my first batch, what can I say I did not know any better.
Now I do...

of the 42 bottles I racked, 1/2 or so are screw tops, and most of them Im finding are leaking CO2.. I just opened one,, lightly carbed, taste is good, but a bit sweet for what it should be.

My wonderful wise wife asked ... can you re bottle it in pop tops?

And I thought... well damned if I know.. can I?

Open all the screw tops, gently pour into my bottling bucket and rack to new bottles?

Is that doable? Would I need to add some priming sugar ?

Or just chalk it up to experience and let it go.
Im drinking one of them now... 5 days in bottle,, it's beer. and not bad, not the full taste it should be, and a little flat.. about 1/2 the carbonation I was expecting (I had some that was made by the brewer the designed the recipe, so i know what it "should" taste like)

Thoughts, Ideas, ridicule ?

 

[DanH]

5 days in the bottle isn't enough to carb them anyway. I vote to just roll with it. Three weeks room temp, one more in fridge, and hope for the best.

 

[DanH]

...or could waxing them work?

 

[E_Marquez]

5 days in the bottle isn't enough to carb them anyway. I vote to just roll with it. Three weeks room temp, one more in fridge, and hope for the best.

Well thanks for the response,,, but contrary to your post...... and Im not guessing.. they are carbonating... Not guessing, Im drinking one right now... fiz and all.

Seems the question got lost so let me try again...

I know they are carbonating.. I know they are leaking..
Can I re bottle? If so, how.

Thanks

 

[hunter_le five]

I think he meant 5 days isn't enough to reach FULL carbonation. Generally it takes 2 weeks or so to achieve full carb. Yes, after 5 days you are going to have some.

How do you know the bottles are leaking? If they are even a little bit carbonated at this point, I would guess they are sealed just fine. Screw top bottles are not ideal, but they can work.

Yes, you could theoretically pour into a bottling bucket and rebottle, but you run the risk of infection and/or oxidation. Plus, getting proper carbonation will be a crap shoot, because some but not all of the bottling sugar has been consumed, but an unknown quantity. If you don't add more, your beer will be undercarbed (probably), but if you add more, you risk bottle bombs.

 

[hunter_le five]

Honestly I would let it sit 2 more weeks and then try again. I bet you'll find everything carbonated nicely by then.

 

[BarrelheadBrew]

Five days isn't enough to fully carb. You don't want to re bottle, unless you like the taste of wet cardboard. You might be losing carbonation, but I've had it turn out ok. You're probably fine. Give them more time at room temp.. should be ok.

 

[E_Marquez]

Well ok then, thats two,,,, stop ****ing about and leave it alone. Zero do something stupid like re bottle.

I tried to re crimp one bottle, that was a fail.

I put two more bottles in starsan,,, yup leaking as well.. the pop top bottles are all sealed... so it's not my caps, wing capper or process... just the fact I was an idiot and used screw top bottles.


Just finished one bottle.. it tasted great.. so I think wait it out is the better solution.

Thanks

 

[E_Marquez]

I think he meant 5 days isn't enough to reach FULL carbonation. Generally it takes 2 weeks or so to achieve full carb. Yes, after 5 days you are going to have some.

Got it thanks...

How do you know the bottles are leaking? If they are even a little bit carbonated at this point, I would guess they are sealed just fine.

First clue, was I had some foam leaking out one bottle.
Second clue, was every screw top bottle has a bit of bubbles / light large bubbles in the bottle, the other do not.
Third clue, you can hear them hissing if you pick them up and agitate them at all.
Fourth clue, set the bottle in a bucket of Starsan submerged and you can watch the bubbles leak out of the cap.

Not a guess at this point, the screw top bottles and my wing capper did not seal well.

 

[jtratcliff]

Drink fast . Enjoy half carbed beer. That'll learn ya not to do it again.

 

[BigFloyd]

I'll wager that, in the Marquez household, screw-top bottles now get trashed immediately and that you'll find yourself choosing beer at the store based upon what sort of bottle it comes in.

The bright side to all of this is that you'll surely never do it again.

 

[E_Marquez]

I'll wager that, in the Marquez household, screw-top bottles now get trashed immediately and that you'll find yourself choosing beer at the store based upon what sort of bottle it comes in.

End of day at Killeen Power Sports , Wife calls...
HER: "you want anything from the store?"
ME: "yes please, beer"
HER: "What flavor?"
ME: "Brown bottles, non screw cap, and beer flavored."
HER: "Perdenales IPA?"
ME: "yes please"

The bright side to all of this is that you'll surely never do it again.

Ain't that the truth.

Not to mention it puts me in a rush to find bottles in the next 10 days or so as I have beer going into a secondary in 3...

 

[BigFloyd]

Here's a plan to consider. Leave the batch you have in primary alone until you get the keezer up and running. Test out the keezer by cold-crashing that bucket for about 5 days at 2* Celsius. Go straight to the bottling bucket with it. No secondary needed. Your beer will be clear and the bottom trub layer more firm.

You can always come visit Tyler and get some empties. I have a pretty good supply.

 

[E_Marquez]

Here's a plan to consider. Leave the batch you have in primary alone until you get the keezer up and running. Test out the keezer by cold-crashing that bucket for about 5 days at 2* Celsius. Go straight to the bottling bucket with it. No secondary needed. Your beer will be clear and the bottom true layer more firm.

You can always come visit Tyler and get some empties. I have a pretty good supply.

Sounds like a plan.

Keezer (no kegs involved yet, so really just a fermentation chamber,,, but now that you mention it.....there is that extra C02 bottle and regulator over in the corner all by itself...) is waiting on just the controller, and that one ordered is supposed to be on my doorstep tuesday)..
So a quick install of that and I can drop in the primary of Superior Strong Ale that went in the bucket 30 June.
SO that would make 10 days at 72 deg in the primary,,, then 5 more in the keezer.
Issue is.. My keezer will not fit two of the short fat 6.5 gal buckets., and that is what the Superior Strong Ale is in now.

I bought two 6.5 gal tall fermentation buckets to use from now on.. but thats next time.

I'll need to move this beer to a secondary regardless,, either 5gal carboy or 6.5 gal tall bucket... but will still try the 5 day cold crash as suggested.

 

[BigFloyd]

Oops. I'm so used to calling a chest freezer with a wood collar a "keezer". I meant the fermenter chamber.

Before I had a separate cold crash/lagering freezer (an upright), here's how I was handling it - once my ferment was finished on a batch (consistent FG readings), I'd leave the bucket in place and simply turn the temp setting down on the STC-1000. Worked like a champ.

 

[brewkinger]

You could turn the "screwed" bottles upside down to prevent leakage.
Downside would be yeast in top of bottle at drinking time.