Resugaring already bottled beer

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AnthonyCB

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So, I've come to the conclusion that the RIS I bottled two months ago is not going to properly bottle condition. I think the beer didn't properly mix with the sugar/water syrup I made. The last few I bottled are significantly over carbonated but most of the other bottles barely have any fizz. The second half of the batch that I added bourbon soaked oak chips to and bottled a few weeks later is properly carbonated, so I'm sure it's not a question of patience.

I have a case of perfectly good RIS, with exceptionally low carbonation (no real head even if I pour it very aggressively). What would you guys do? Leave as is? Attempt to uncap, add sugar in some form and recap? If so, what type of sugar, syrup from a pipette, carb tabs something else?

-Anthony
 
AnthonyCB said:
So, I've come to the conclusion that the RIS I bottled two months ago is not going to properly bottle condition. I think the beer didn't properly mix with the sugar/water syrup I made. The last few I bottled are significantly over carbonated but most of the other bottles barely have any fizz. The second half of the batch that I added bourbon soaked oak chips to and bottled a few weeks later is properly carbonated, so I'm sure it's not a question of patience.

I have a case of perfectly good RIS, with exceptionally low carbonation (no real head even if I pour it very aggressively). What would you guys do? Leave as is? Attempt to uncap, add sugar in some form and recap? If so, what type of sugar, syrup from a pipette, carb tabs something else?

-Anthony
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If it's just a five gallon batch that was already split I'd just write it off. In my experience, any beer (even the crap AB-InBev puts out) is good enough to cook with.

You might think about your technique if some bottles are over carbonated and others are under carbonated. If you add your corn sugar to your bottling bucket and then rack on top of it you should never have this sort of problem.
 
You can re-prime, but it's tricky. Adding sugar in raw form will cause a massive volcano - ask me how I know :mad:

Here's what you need to do:
Boil some sugar in as little water as possible and let it cool (likely just like you do when you batch prime). Uncap the bottle, add a bit of cooled syrup, re-cap.

I used an eye-dropper but you could use a syringe or something similar. Don't forget to sanitize ;)

You'll need to experiment with the amount to see what works. You have nothing but time now, so I would take a few bottles and an eye dropper and experiment with 1/4 full, 1/2 full, 3/4 full and full to see how they turn out in 2-3 more weeks.

Once you open those and determine the level you like, you can prime the rest of the batch.
 

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