Saving a goofed batch

[Clumzi]

I have a batch that the fermentation died in the bottle on, so it is flat and sweet and tastes kind of like boozy soy sauce... yuck. I want to save the batch and was thinking about pouring it all back in the carboy with a little champagne yeast or coopers or something, just to get it going again, then dump it back in the bottle with some more sugar and see if that works. Good idea? Bad idea? Some other idea that might work better? What should I do? -nick

 

[SavageSteve]

Need more information:

How long have you let the bottles condition? Carbonation can take a few weeks to fully develop.

Were the bottles stored at room temperatures or cold?

Do you see any sediment in the bottles?

How much priming sugar did you use and how did you mix it with the beer?

I think you should do some more troubleshooting before resorting to dumping everything back into a carboy-- which, IMO, is a bad idea. You'll get lots of oxidation which will stale your beer quickly.

-Steve

 

[Revvy]

Fermentation doesn't normally "die in the bottle" if you added priming sugar and kept it above 70 degrees for a minimum of 3 weeks, but sometimes more, it will carbonate.

The biggest factor is gravity of the beer and storage temp.
I have had stouts and porters take 6-8 weeks to carb, and had a 1.090 original gravity belgian strong not carbonate for 3 months. Then it turned out fine.

I have a detailed blog about carbonation and conditioning here. Revvy's Blog, Of patience and bottle conditioning.

Your issue is like 99% of them...it really is probably a matter of patience.

Read my blog and watch the video, don't dump your beer back in the fermenter or anything THAT WILL GAURENTEE TO RUIN IT.

Tell us more about your beer...how long it hase been in the bottle, storage temp, etc.

We see this all the time...

 

[Clumzi]

Tiny amount of sediment, stored at room temp for about 5 or 6 weeks. It is a Dogfish clone Indian Brown Ale. This is the real weird part. Me and a friend did ten gallons of the same recipe with two different kinds of yeast, to do sort of an experiment. My batch turned out fine, tasted great after three weeks or so. I've already drank all of them . My friends are still COMPLETELY flat, just dead. They taste a mite sweet like you would expect if the priming sugar was in there and the yeast just haven't stepped up.

I've never had this happen and neither has he. -nick

 

[SavageSteve]

Was your friend's yeast highly flocculent or a slow fermenter? Perhaps he just needs to rouse the yeast sediment in the bottle to help get them back into suspension and ferment the priming sugar.

That's all I got-- Revvy's advice for patience is always good with brewing, especially yeast.

-Steve