Risky procedure for carbing a flat beer...

[foonder]

I recently made a Disaronno ale that turned out a bit stronger than I anticipated BEFORE adding Disaronno to the batch (8.9% before addition), and it's been bottled for over a month and hasn't showed Any carbonation whatsoever. First I thought it was infected because of some faint vinegary smell, but I was just imagining that. It tastes great, but it's flat.

I used 2 of the big wyeast smack packs, one for primary and one for secondary, so there should be enough yeast in it. Each bottle has the normal amount of sediment.

I carbed in somewhat of a retarded fashion, with 3/4 TSP of corn sugar in each bottle. I've used regular sugar this way with in the past, and I've used carb tabs and I wanted to try corn sugar this time.

Anyways, this is the risky procedure I'm proposing, I've got one more smack pack of yeast that I ordered extra of. What If I opened all the bottles and poured them into a carboy with this yeast, mixed it, let sit for a week to get rid of any residual sugar from the first bottling, then added 5 oz of weighed sugar (or 1 oz / gal for however much I have), and bottle again. Does this plan have any major flaws that I'm not aware of?

 

[BierMuncher]

You can do this if your very careful and have the patience.

What temp are these beers sitting at?

 

[david_42]

I doubt this would be any better than adding carb drops, since you've used them before.

 

[foonder]

You can do this if your very careful and have the patience.

What temp are these beers sitting at?

My basement is probably around 70º - 75º, never had carbing problems like this before.

I doubt this would be any better than adding carb drops, since you've used them before.

I've had inconsistent carb levels with the carbtabs, which is why I wanted to try something new. My fear is that the yeast is sleepy, and the sugar is still there, and adding more sugar will either do nothing, or eventually be too much for the bottles to handle. I figure by letting the whole batch sit on some yeast for a week gives it enough time to eat any residual sugar and be ready for priming. I will try this early next week and hopefully it won't be a disaster.

 

[Coastarine]

I'd worry about oxidation trying to go from bottles to carboy. Maybe instead you could culture some yeast and use an eye dropper to add a bit to each bottle. I'm sure each bottle has enough yeast in it, but they are le tired.

 

[Loweface]

How long have they been in the bottle?

Are you sure they mixed suffiently? I'd go and invert each of them a few times, leave them for three more weeks then check carb level. The only problem is if it works you'll never know if it was the inverting or just the extra time