Aweaselkid
Active Member
What's up y'all.. Have a problem, and debating a few options here...
So I brewed this recipe 11 months ago. This stuff is great, 9-10%, roasty, sweet, malty, pure moose drool (in a good way). Its excellent.
Anyways, I bottled it in Feb (~7 months ago!), and am at a crossroads here. As time has gone on, I am beginning to "remember" the critical bottling mistake I made on bottling night. I've bottled with success dozens of times in the past (have since moved to kegging), but for whatever reason, on this night, totally dunced up: I don't believe I boiled my priming sugar, and manually added (an unmeasured amount) of dry sugar to each bottle.
I think what happened, (this is just a total dufus move), out of habit, didn't prep any priming sugar (as I usually keg), and half way through bottling (before capping), had that "aww !@#$" moment, realizing that I didn't add sugar. I debated what to do, and decided I didn't want to dump the bottles that were filled back in the bucket, prime a sugar solution, and refill, to avoid oxidizing. In hindsight, I totally should have. In a panicked state, just figured the best thing to do was try to eyeball a Tablespoon or so (don't quote me, not sure exactly how much I tried) of priming sugar, dry, right into each bottle (some already full, others empty and about to be filled). Filled all bottles, capped, and shook each pretty good.
I only remember all of this now, as its been 7 months, and only 1 or 2 bottles that I've opened could barely qualify as being appropriately carbonated. (I have been sampling two six-packs worth of 12oz bottles, and have a case of bombers that I haven't opened; not sure if I'll find more carbonation in these)...
So, what to do, what to do... I've read all the carb threads here. Yes, I've sat and waited, (and while waiting, have remembered my terrible bottling-day decisions). I understand this is annoying kind of post, because a lack of carb is usually the result of a lack of patience. The beer is amazing, (and was expensive), but just flat. If I want to save it, I figure I have three options:
1. Drink it flat and call it some kind of cask-experiment
2. Open the remaining bottles, CAREFULLY pour them into bottling bucket with a re-calcuated priming sugar mixture, and rebottle.
3. Open the remaining bottles, and inject a SMALL amount of a priming sugar mixture directly into each, then recap.
2 and 3 are dangerous. I realize the potential for disaster, exploding bottles, oxidation, contamination, etc. One thing I don't know, if I were to introduce more sugar, in any form, is there even enough yeast left to recarboniate? Should I make a sugar and SMALL amount of yeast slurry and reinject using one of the two methods? Empty the bottles into a secondary and see if it can condition again if I introduce a touch more yeast, and sugar when re-bottling?
Ugh. So frustrating. What would you do?
So I brewed this recipe 11 months ago. This stuff is great, 9-10%, roasty, sweet, malty, pure moose drool (in a good way). Its excellent.
Anyways, I bottled it in Feb (~7 months ago!), and am at a crossroads here. As time has gone on, I am beginning to "remember" the critical bottling mistake I made on bottling night. I've bottled with success dozens of times in the past (have since moved to kegging), but for whatever reason, on this night, totally dunced up: I don't believe I boiled my priming sugar, and manually added (an unmeasured amount) of dry sugar to each bottle.
I think what happened, (this is just a total dufus move), out of habit, didn't prep any priming sugar (as I usually keg), and half way through bottling (before capping), had that "aww !@#$" moment, realizing that I didn't add sugar. I debated what to do, and decided I didn't want to dump the bottles that were filled back in the bucket, prime a sugar solution, and refill, to avoid oxidizing. In hindsight, I totally should have. In a panicked state, just figured the best thing to do was try to eyeball a Tablespoon or so (don't quote me, not sure exactly how much I tried) of priming sugar, dry, right into each bottle (some already full, others empty and about to be filled). Filled all bottles, capped, and shook each pretty good.
I only remember all of this now, as its been 7 months, and only 1 or 2 bottles that I've opened could barely qualify as being appropriately carbonated. (I have been sampling two six-packs worth of 12oz bottles, and have a case of bombers that I haven't opened; not sure if I'll find more carbonation in these)...
So, what to do, what to do... I've read all the carb threads here. Yes, I've sat and waited, (and while waiting, have remembered my terrible bottling-day decisions). I understand this is annoying kind of post, because a lack of carb is usually the result of a lack of patience. The beer is amazing, (and was expensive), but just flat. If I want to save it, I figure I have three options:
1. Drink it flat and call it some kind of cask-experiment
2. Open the remaining bottles, CAREFULLY pour them into bottling bucket with a re-calcuated priming sugar mixture, and rebottle.
3. Open the remaining bottles, and inject a SMALL amount of a priming sugar mixture directly into each, then recap.
2 and 3 are dangerous. I realize the potential for disaster, exploding bottles, oxidation, contamination, etc. One thing I don't know, if I were to introduce more sugar, in any form, is there even enough yeast left to recarboniate? Should I make a sugar and SMALL amount of yeast slurry and reinject using one of the two methods? Empty the bottles into a secondary and see if it can condition again if I introduce a touch more yeast, and sugar when re-bottling?
Ugh. So frustrating. What would you do?