Really screwed up bottling

[gelatin]

I may have had a few too many beers before I started bottling. I dumped the priming sugar directly into the bottling bucket (no water mix) before siphoning and didn't stir it very well. I first noticed there was a problem when the beer actually started smelling sweeter towards the end of bottling, confirmed this with a taste test versus an initial pull I had taken into a glass, and then I noticed there was actually some undissolved sugar at the bottom in a little mini-cake at the center.

I attempted to compensate when I noticed by filling the last dozen bottles up past the normal bottling cane point. I filled in 8 1 liter bottles first and finished with 18 12oz, standard 5 gallon batch and 4oz priming sugar. OG 1.071 FG 1.022, imperial brown ale.

The 1L bottles I'm not concerned about. I figure they'll carbonate very slightly to "good" depending on when I pulled them, I'm thinking the risk of infection from not boiling the priming sugar is fairly small, and the beer is pretty tasty right now.

The 12oz bottles I am very worried about. As a test, I underfilled one of the last ones by an extra inch or so and filled another 2 to a standard level. My hope is that if I'm going to be mayor of explosion town, these will be my first residents. My overfilled bottles have a 1/4-1/2 inch of head space, compared to a normal inch.

Any thoughts?

 

[unionrdr]

Just break down & get a bottling wand. That way,you get thr right head space every time by way of volume displacement. I don't see any over carbing to worry about with a sugar cake at the bottom of the bottling bucket. quite the opposite.

 

[gelatin]

I do have a bottling wand (I called it a cane). My theory is that because the sugar was not stirred in well, I have significant differences in priming sugar concentrations. Based on this and the sweetness difference, I'm worried the bottles coming off last will be greatly overcarbonated.

 

[unionrdr]

Seems like that would depend on how much of that sugar cake on the bottom came loose while bottling. Stiring gently till it dissolved would've been better.

 

[gelatin]

Seems like that would depend on how much of that sugar cake on the bottom came loose while bottling. Stiring gently till it dissolved would've been better.

Definitely, but the color was such that I wasn't able to notice this until it was time to tilt the bucket anyway.

My line of thought is that if I have overcarbonated bottles due to too much priming sugar, leaving little head room will help correct this, at the cost of having a sweeter beer.

 

[unionrdr]

I don't think shrtening the head space will prevent bottle bombs. It'll eat the priming sugar till it's gone,producing the same amount of co2. It has to go somewhere.

 

[gelatin]

I don't think shrtening the head space will prevent bottle bombs. It'll eat the priming sugar till it's gone,producing the same amount of co2. It has to go somewhere.

Hmm, I thought that leaving too little head room would kill the carbonation through (maybe) osmotic pressure on the yeast? I know I've read that leaving too much head will lead to overcarbonation of the bottles.

 

[unionrdr]

Actually,I've found that too much head space makes it harder to get the co2 into solution at fridge time. So head space size as relates to pressure def has some bearing on how easily the co2 is absorbed into solution at cold temps.
Besides,if that sugar was still caked up on the bottom of the bottling bucket when you were done,you'd get less carbonation across the board. Not more.

 

[gelatin]

I know I'll have less carbonation overall, but due to the sweetness at the end, I figured that beer would carbonate very well.

Do you think I should pull the overfilled bottles, dump off the extra and recap?

 

[unionrdr]

No,just let'em go. "Sweetness at the end",with a lot of the sugar caked on the bottom of the bucket makes me wonder if this beer didn't get down to FG? If it didn't,it'd tend to be a lil sweet.

 

[gelatin]

Well it was down to 1.025 within the first week, only went down .003 the next week. I didn't actually do the three days of gravity readings I maybe should have. Fermenting temperature was 68-75 first three days, 63-68 degrees after that. It's definitely possible it could have used more fermenting time, the yeast wasn't fully flocculated. This is a forgiving style though, as long as the bottles hold it will handle the sweetness.

 

[unionrdr]

sounds like that's it. Not enough time to ferment out & clean up & settle out clear first. The priming sugar will get the yeast working again. But it'll also try to finish the left over unconsumed sugars as well. so having some left caked up in the bottling bucket may yet even things out.

 

[somedudefromguam]

1.003 FG is way low... Ill bet fermentation was over.(EDIT okay after re reading I understand that the FG was 1.02) Do you normally just dump sugar into a bucket and bottle? I have always boiled for at least a few minutes to kill the bacteria or whatever is in the sugar, then I pour the sugar water into my bottling bucket, rack the beer, then bottle. This way I know the sugar is bacteria free and thoroughly mixed into the fermented brew.
BTW if your beer tasted sweet, you probably added too much priming sugar to some of the bottles. If you are going to go ahead and let the bottles carb up, I suggest you put them somewhere that you wouldnt mind getting beer all over(if they start exploding, it can get very messy) You could put them in a cooler, mash tun with a lid on it, bottling bucket, brew pot, etc.... I had a few bottles blow up in a closet a few years ago and it was a bitch to clean up, there was glass embedded in my walls and sticky beer in my carpet.....it sucked.
Good luck.

 

[gelatin]

I would definitely boil the sugar for both sanitation and ease of dissipation into the wort, I was just being dumb this time.

I should get a cooler, in the mean time the bottles can ferment in the sink.

 

[stem86]

I made the exact same mistake on my second batch ever. I entirely forgot the priming sugar and started the siphon into my bottling bucket, remembered the sugar, and dumped it in fast. I reserved the last bit of beer to sample and realized what I did after I tasted how sweet it was. :smack: Unfortunately 3/4 of the beer was already bottled and capped. I feel a little fortunate that I at least racked on top of the sugar which imparted some stirring action in the bucket but I had that gritty finish like you. After 3 weeks the majority that I've cracked are still undercarbed but I've also had a gusher - no bombs yet. I dont expect they'll end up perfect but I'm hoping the low bottles will carb up a bit more given some time. Ah well, lesson learned.

I'm not sure about your headspace theory but I'd put the offending bottles in a tote for some extra insurance as suggested. I'd be a bit more concerned since your FG was relatively high... your last bottles likely have some serious pressure building due to the concentrated priming sugar and potentially unfermented sugars.

 

[gelatin]

My FG was definitely relatively high, but it's within specification from the online calculators. The half pounds of maltodextrin adds a decent amount.

Did your gushers only happen when opening normally?

 

[stem86]

Haha yeah - no spontaneous gushers. I opened a few over the weekend to check carbonation levels and only had one gush but it foamed for a good 5 minutes. I could just be imagining things, but the gusher's cap seemed to be bulging slightly so you might want to keep an eye out for that.