I've under carbed my beer bit of advice please.

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treebeard

treebeard

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Hi folks I bottled my American Pale Ale three weeks ago and stored them at 19 degrees. It was my first attempt at calculating the priming sugar required and I erred on the side of caution.

I have opened three of them and they are quite under carbed, IE a bit of a hiss when opened then quite flat in the glass, even at room temp.

My question therefore is, could I add say 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and re-cap? the bottles are 500ml.

Any thoughts would be most welcome :thumb:
 
treebeard said:
Hi folks I bottled my American Pale Ale three weeks ago and stored them at 19 degrees. It was my first attempt at calculating the priming sugar required and I erred on the side of caution.

I have opened three of them and they are quite under carbed, IE a bit of a hiss when opened then quite flat in the glass, even at room temp.

My question therefore is, could I add say 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and re-cap? the bottles are 500ml.

Any thoughts would be most welcome :thumb:
Click to expand...

I would go for your idea, just give them a turn upside down when re-primed to mix in the yeast and then back into the warm for a couple of weeks.

Just be careful though as when you put sugar in they will foam up so you will need to be quick.
 
I think you'll find if you add sugar to the bottle it'll froth up, which is why when bottling you put the sugar in first and add the beer to it, rather than the other way round.
 
You might want to try carbonation drops, though I've never used them myself.
 
Thanks Cwrw, I batched primed the brew using Dextrose dissolved in cooled boiled water, I used Brewers Friend to calculate the volume I guess I was just being too damn cautious. It's my first AG brew and it tastes amazing it's just as flat as a flat thing that's very very flat.
 
treebeard said:
It's my first AG brew and it tastes amazing it's just as flat as a flat thing that's very very flat.
Click to expand...

Hi!
My first AG tastes awesome but is way undercarbed; I primed with sufficient sugar but I think the yeast settled out in the FV - it was in cold conditioning for far too long - I was ill.
A couple of days ago I opened all the PET bottles and poured them back into a sanitised FV and added rehydrated yeast, some more sugar, and rebottled.
Now they are firming up nicely - just waiting for the bombs!
 
So treebeard, which of us is going to do the recarb and feedback the explosion intensity?😁
 
Stephenj said:
So treebeard, which of us is going to do the recarb and feedback the explosion intensity?������
Click to expand...

Haha, I'm going to try a little experiment today. I'm going to dissolve 1/4 teaspoon of Dextrose in a teaspoon of cooled boiled water and add it to a bottle. See what happens, fortunately It was only a small batch. I'll report back a little later.
 
So what happened with my little experiment? I can report that it worked with no foam over :thumb: I sterilised a stainless steel eggcup added a teaspoon of very lukewarm boiled water then a 1/4 teaspoon dextrose and made sure it was dissolved and the liquid was clear, apprehensively I poured it in the bottle anticipating a rush of foam but nothing, so re-capped.

Ok it's a PITA to do each bottle individually but lets see what happens now.
 
So far so good. I only have a small batch also so wouldn't be too much of a pain. Let me know how it goes and how long it takes you to clear the mess up when it goes pop 🤣
 
Beer can often carb up without priming, Id be inclined to just leave them a little longer, but you have tried to re carb so lets just see.
 
Hi!
Checked the bottles yesterday evening - after three days they have firmed up nicely and shed a good layer of sediment. Now I'm wondering what pressure a Coopers PET bottle can take :-(.
 
Covrich said:
Beer can often carb up without priming, Id be inclined to just leave them a little longer, but you have tried to re carb so lets just see.
Click to expand...

Hi Covrich, I have only done two so far. I'm going to leave them for another two weeks to see what has occurred before I do the rest. I imagine in two weeks there will be fewer bottles to do anyway :whistle:
 
treebeard said:
Hi Covrich, I have only done two so far. I'm going to leave them for another two weeks to see what has occurred before I do the rest. I imagine in two weeks there will be fewer bottles to do anyway :whistle:
Click to expand...

What was your priming amount for what batch size?

Even on batches I have primed "correctly" I sometimes find a good solid carb can come in after a month.. not that its flat before then but a more solid one with a more convinvcing head ect.. Either way even with an under prime I think the others should continue to carbonate.
 
To reduce the likelihood of foaming when having to reprime as discussed above, refrigerate the bottles before opening. When finished and capped off, the bottles will then have to be put in a warm place again of course to allow the yeast to work on the extra priming sugar.
 
Covrich said:
What was your priming amount for what batch size?

Even on batches I have primed "correctly" I sometimes find a good solid carb can come in after a month.. not that its flat before then but a more solid one with a more convinvcing head ect.. Either way even with an under prime I think the others should continue to carbonate.
Click to expand...

Batch size was 10 litres 55g of Dextrose, bottles have been stored indoors at 18° for almost three weeks.
 
treebeard said:
Batch size was 10 litres 55g of Dextrose, bottles have been stored indoors at 18° for almost three weeks.
Click to expand...
That should have given an adequate level of carbing. I would give the original bottles a swirl to redistribute the yeast and find a warmer place in which to put them. Your yeast might just be taking its time to work at 18*C but might be more enthusiastic at a higher temperature
 
terrym said:
To reduce the likelihood of foaming when having to reprime as discussed above, refrigerate the bottles before opening. When finished and capped off, the bottles will then have to be put in a warm place again of course to allow the yeast to work on the extra priming sugar.
Click to expand...

Thanks terrym. I tried doing this little experiment today just on two bottles. Dissolve 1/4 teaspoon of Dextrose in a teaspoon of cooled boiled water and add it to a bottle. It worked with no foam over. Now for the wait!
 
terrym said:
That should have given an adequate level of carbing. I would give the original bottles a swirl to redistribute the yeast and find a warmer place in which to put them. Your yeast might just be taking its time to work at 18*C but might be more enthusiastic at a higher temperature
Click to expand...

Ok; I'll do that with the others. This might just be an interesting experiment.

Thanks again :thumb:
 

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