Hey all. Bottled a Northern English Brown Ale a few weeks ago. Opened some up, and have a little carb and head, but I forgot I only used priming for 5 gallons when I had a 6 gallon batch (I could be retarded!!). Beer tastes pretty good, except really flat. Has any one opened bottles, reprimed and recapped? Don't know why this wouldn't work, but want to see if anyone has did this before and what results were. :rockin::rockin:
Reprime a flat beer?
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Hoosierbrewer
Well-Known Member
Give it a little more time. I don't think it is worth the risk. It should not be flat, but just a little undercarb. If you decided to, you may risk bottle bombs.
I only bottle a few in each batch and use carb drops for it.
I only bottle a few in each batch and use carb drops for it.
Finn
Well-Known Member
Um ... priming for 5 instead of 6 should be unnoticeable. It's more likely you primed just fine, but it was slow taking off. Shake each bottle up gently and put them someplace warm for a couple more weeks before messing with it, as Hoosier says. How much sugar didja throw? Half a cup?
After a couple weeks in someplace warm and cozy, bust open another one and if it's STILL flat, get yourself a pack of Munton's Carbtabs and put one in each. It's expensive, but it's safe and shouldn't give the yeast enough rope to blow things up. Don't forget to spray the bottles down with StarSan first, though ...
Hoosierbrewer
Well-Known Member
You should have used 3/4 cup corn sgar to 5 gallons if you bottle.
I have always used 1/2 cup for 5 gallons for my more darker beers( stouts, fat tires) and everything has been just fine. Thought maybe it was just a volume thing. If i decide to add more sugar anyone have any suggestions on amount. Thinking about doing 1/4 cup for entire batch. Yes? No? Maybe?
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Hoosierbrewer
Well-Known Member
i would give it a few more weeks. SOme bigger beers can take longer to carb (5-6 weeks). GEt the yeast back into suspension and make sure they are about 70 degrees. After you open and add more priming sugar, there is no telling what you could have. You could let it go flat again and start from scratch, but I would worry about oxygen and infection.
FYI It has always been in a cellar since primary fermentation ~ 66 degrees. This really wasn't a big beer, more of a take on a Newcastle. Og was about 1.050 and I used a dry Nottingham on this one. I think I will move to room temp for about 2 weeks and see what happens. If nothing then, I gues I will sani all the bottles, open, reprime, and see what happens.
WBC
Well-Known Member
If you bottle beer then put it at 70F you will carb much faster. I think that and the fact of less corn sugar contributed to the problem.
That has been my gut feeling. All the beers I have done always were about 66 degrees the entire time. 1/2 cup i think was on the light side for 5 gallons, more geared towards stouts and such. I did about 5/8 cup on a recent wheat with an og around 1.049 that I kept at my place at about 69-70 and I opened one to test yesterday. Not a lot of head retention yet, but plenty of carb bubbles. Oh yea, it was 5 gallons
ArcaneXor
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Unless it is completely, 100% flat (in which case you need fresh yeast, not more sugar), you'll have yourself a geyser shooting at your face before you can even think to recap the bottle. Been there, done that - believe me.
Options: Enjoy it the way it is, or add a little bit of club soda or sparkling mineral water to it when serving.
Finn
Well-Known Member
Half a cup is light but not out of line for an English beer. If you added a half cup and it's still completely uncarbonated, lack of sugar is NOT the problem! Do shake it to make sure the yeast is up where it can do something about it, then put it someplace warmer for a couple weeks and see what happens.
With half a cup in a six-gallon batch I would hold off repriming except as a last resort. I've had batches where the yeast quit working and they hung out for weeks at the same s.g., then suddenty burst back into life. If the beer was even slightly underattenuated when you bottled, things can get ugly if you added more sugar. (What I do when that happens is open the bottles and dump the beer into my Spoke Norton keg. It's tricker if you're a bottle-condition-only brewer.)
There's a big difference between a beer stored at 66 degress and one stored @ 70, just like there's a difference in a small beer and a big one in terms of carbonation...
Give them each a roll back and forth a couple times to re-suspend the yeast, and move them for a couple weeks into a 70 degree place...if you don't have a 70 degree space, wrap a couple blankets over you bottling boxes and leave them alone for a couple weeks...
I have had stouts and porters take 6 to 8 weeks before they carbed and conditioned fully.....
Give them each a roll back and forth a couple times to re-suspend the yeast, and move them for a couple weeks into a 70 degree place...if you don't have a 70 degree space, wrap a couple blankets over you bottling boxes and leave them alone for a couple weeks...
I have had stouts and porters take 6 to 8 weeks before they carbed and conditioned fully.....
It does have some carb. I drank two. One I pured fairly strong and had a little head, other i poured light and was signigicantly more flat than the other. I think I will shake up and put in warmer temp for 2 more weeks. If that fails???? I will be getting some 5 gall coke pin-locks in the next week or two. Very excited to finally start kegging. If all else failed, could I dump all into a keg and either force carb or add prime sugar and monitor pressure?? Anyone did that??
Ok. Just got back to my place and poured one in one of my Sam Adams glasses (the ones with the rolled lip and laser fractured bottomed to envoke effervensce). Again, got a little head, but no staying power to the carb. This leads me to believe not enough time given to it yet. Had this happen the very first beer we did act the same way. I am going to get them out of celler, roll around a little and store at 70 for next two weeks. If nothing then, I will hopefully have keg system ready to go then and will pour in keg and force carb, becuase by that time if nothing is happening, the yeasties must have been toasted at some point.
Finn
Well-Known Member
You better believe it! That's the best way to solve overcarbonation problems, or has been for me. But undercarbonation is OK too; just pour it in there and turn up the CO2 for a few days. Or, if you're in a hurry, turn the gas up to 25 psi and shake the keg until you quit hearing gas flow into it. Then, turn the gas down to 5 psi and go get your glass!
Anyway, it sounds like you're on your way. Another week or so and that beer oughtta be great.
I have a single pinlock, which I use for root beer ... that way there's never any possibility of accidentally pumping real beer through the wrong tap. The other five are ball-lock Pepsi jugs. Three of 'em are in the kegerator right now, full of beer!
I had a double IPA that was in the bottle for over 6 months and never carbonated. I had saved the yeast form that batch so I made a starter from it. Then I sanitized the outsides of all the bottles and dumped them back into a carboy. After about 2 weeks I bottled it again with priming sugar. It turned out great!
Thanks for all the great 411 guys. After talking to my buddy tonight, he said his basement had be staying about 64, not the 66 i previously indicated. I moved them to my place and turning the air up to 72. Rolled them around a little to get yeast resuspended. Going to let them chill at 72 for a couple weeks and if it doesn't help, into the keg they go (Oh so exicted to get kegging equipment this weekend!!!!)
:rockin::rockin:
:rockin::rockin:
Gedvondur
Well-Known Member
Well nothing says you couldn't do this. It's probably ill-advised, especially the "let it get flat part" considering this beer would be vulnerable during this phase.
Each bottle poured would be another possible source of infection, you would have to sanitize the outside of bottles.
My advice is the same is many here. A gentle agitation, warmer temperatures, some time.
If you want my honest opinion, I don't think you used anywhere near enough corn sugar. 1/2 cup corn sugar isn't enough for even a 5 gallon batch, regardless of your past practices. It don't think these will carb.
But I have been wrong before. If it doesn't carb, I would just chill the hell out of it and drink it anyway. Too much work on one batch to try any sort of re-carb, IMHO.
Gedvondur
