WAY too much priming sugar...Is there any hope??

[MissionBrew]

Was bottling a higher gravity Belgian wit bear this morning. Amidst many distractions I made an embarrassing error. Instead of 5 oz of priming sugar... I used a full pound i could be scolded, appropriately so, for many things here. Alas, I just need to know if there is any hope.

I realized my error after bottling. Knowing that with that much sugar I had 36 bottle bombs on my hand, so I opened them all up and very carefully and slowly poured them back into the secondary.

How long should I wait until I try to bottle again? Should I pitch more yeast now that there is so much more sugar? Is the final product doomed? Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Stillraining]

No dont add yeast, the yeast already in there will wake up right away and go to work...Probably only take a day, 2 or 3 at the most for complete attenuation again. Take a hydro reading now and again in 2 days then on day 3 once again...I'm sure you will be able to bottle away by then...if not and gravity is still dropping on day 3 then just wait longer..Its done when its done.

Im sure your beer will be just fine.,,,just a bit stronger..

There really is no way to "guess" when enough sugar has been converted and it would be safe to bottle...you will just have to let it attenuate out completely and then re-add the correct amount of sugar on your next bottling try.

FWIW ..I once had to pour back into the bucket a couple dozen bottles due to capping issues...I could not have picked out a difference in any of those beers compared to those not getting mishandled like that if my life depended on it. The whole aeration thing is over hyped IMHO.

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

The beer will be more alcoholic and slightly drier than otherwise, though not by much. Other than that, you're fine, since you got it unbottled.

 

[MissionBrew]

Thank You for the advice. Good to know the pour back didn't have a big impact. I'll keep taking my readings and see how long it takes to stabilize. Thanks again for the help!

 

[nymtber]

Get a small digital scale, harbor freight is where I got mine. Use that to measure your sugar!

Glad you are able to save it!

 

[william_shakes_beer]

One thing to consider, since you said it was a high gravity beer: the yeast often stops working above 10% ABV. IF you're approaching that number, you may never see any further attenuation.

 

[bbohanon]

Not for nothing, but start looking into kegging your beer soon. I know its more expensive and all to make that jump, but it just takes all that bottling guesswork out of the final product and you can dial in carbonation to the style much better and eliminate any sugar measurements issues like this.

I also use a bottling wand/gun for those 6-ers that I hand out to friends.

Kegging is one of a handful of the best decisions I ever made in this hobby. Like...ever.

 

[emcfarden]

You never know, you might just end up with a new favorite recipe!

 

[Aristotelian]

Next time, just open the bottles, wait for them to ferment out, and then re-prime them individually with the correct amount (you can use sugar cubes so you don't have to measure out doses of syrup). Pouring them back into secondary exposes them to oxygen.

 

[theseeker4]

Was bottling a higher gravity Belgian wit bear this morning. Amidst many distractions I made an embarrassing error. Instead of 5 oz of priming sugar... I used a full pound i could be scolded, appropriately so, for many things here. Alas, I just need to know if there is any hope.

I realized my error after bottling. Knowing that with that much sugar I had 36 bottle bombs on my hand, so I opened them all up and very carefully and slowly poured them back into the secondary.

How long should I wait until I try to bottle again? Should I pitch more yeast now that there is so much more sugar? Is the final product doomed? Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you.

What is done is done, but by pouring the beer back in to secondary, you may have some pretty oxidized beer on hand. Don't dump it until you know, but in the future, and for anyone else, if you know your beer is over-primed, instead of pouring it all back into secondary, remove the caps and put sanitized foil over each bottle, squeezed down around the neck. The CO2 will escape without any problem, and you can let each bottle ferment out without worrying about bombs. The, after a couple weeks or so, you can prime each individual bottle, with drops or well-measured sugar, and cap at that point. This will reduce the oxidation risk.