Batch Prime failure?

[DethApostle]

So to cut a long story short I batch primed my Chocolate & Vanilla Stout whilst in the primary FV and bottled it straight from there. I dissolved the sugar in boiling water and poured it in, but I didn't stir it.

We're now 4 weeks in to the conditioning time (3 weeks in the warm, 1 week in the cool) but the results are extremely inconsistant.
The 1st bottle I opened redecorated my dining room as it exploded out the bottle but the final 3rd I got to drink tasted amazing.
The 2nd bottle... absolutly flat as a pancake.
The 3rd & 4th bottles shared the same pattern, but I noticed this time that the flat ones don't have any sediment at all in the bottle.

What could have caused this? I'm guessing that the priming sugar hadn't circulzated through the FV evenly but is that really possible and would it have this much effect?

Can I fix it? Could I open the bottles into a sterilised FV, re-prime and re-bottle? (with the obvious risk of contamination...)

Thanks in advance for your help!
DA

 

[craigite]

If you poured the sugar solution in carefully it would not mix as sugar solution has a different density. Yes possible and very likely. That means when you bottled most of the sugar would have ended up in only a few bottles. You would need to stir the beer but that would disturb the yeast cake.

I transfer my brew into a sterilized bucket with the sugar solution already in it. This mixes the beer with the sugar without too much agitation.

Yes you could redo the process. But if it was me I would just accept what I have, open bottles over the sink, and accept some will be more fizzy than others.
Lesson learned. :)

 

[nobyipa]

maybe you didn't water the sugar down enough too thick syrupy?
or you over boiled the sugar making it dense

 

[Hawks]

I've done that one as well

I then found it best to put the priming solution in the bucket first and run the beer onto it :thumb:

I too would accept it, or make a game of beer roulette :whistle:

 

[DethApostle]

Thanks folks, I didn't think that it would make a massive difference but from what you say it clearly does!
I think i'll probably take a risk and re-bottle and re-prime. It's a really nice beer and every time I open a flat one it hurts! (and when I get a gusher it hurts even more because most of the beer is on the ceiling!)

Thanks for the advice.
DA

 

[Pinchy]

I had this with my latest batch but no quite as dramatic. Opened one bottle which was perfect, the next was flat. My lesson learned is not to rely on a fan heater in a cold garage to keep my conditioning beers evenly warm haha.

 

[jonnymorris]

I’m in the same boat with my Dubbel, some are flat as a pancake, others are explosive. The odd one is just right and when I find one of those it’s a great beer.

I normally rack onto the dissolved sugar as described above but forgot with this one and had to add to the beer after it had been racked to my bottling bucket. I did give it a little stir but clearly not enough. Lesson learnt.

 

[DethApostle]

Thank you all for sharing! At least I now know it's not just me! :)

Also have had a similar issue with this with my Oktoberfest, although not as pronounced as this time.
I'll be sure to do it properly when I bottle my Plum Porter later this week!

DA

 

[rpt]

I've found that even with a bottling bucket I have to be careful to stir the sugar solution in. I used to pour the solution into the bottom of the bucket and syphon the beer on top. But I've had two brews where most of the bottles have been quite flat but one or two bottles have been very fizzy. So I came to the conclusion that I must stir the sugar in - one bottle was getting most of the primings. I had one bottle where the top blew off as I opened it and it formed a very spectacular fountain of black stout that redecorated the kitchen ceiling (which is higher than most). Fortunately my wounds were only superficial.

 

[hodor]

invest in a soda-stream and an umbrella :thumb: