Question regarding Secondary Fermentation

[y2keable]

Hey everyone.

My first post here but if anyone knows me from another forum (watches, cars, climbing...) then you'll know me for my bad spelling heheh.

I created my first home brew 2 summers ago after my dad bought me a Young’s kit and it didn't turn out to be to bad considdering I did most things wrong (I didn't do any research, didn't even follow the instructions correctly). A few weeks ago, I thought I'd give it another crack, since over the last few years I've really developed a fond taste for real ales. I wanted to see how good the ale could be this time given a bit of research on how to do it correctly.

I've hit a problem, the ale's been in (new) 500ml plastic bottles for about 2 weeks (kept in a fridge) and there's no pressure. In fact, there's negative pressure (the sides of the bottles are collapsed inwards). It seems I've missed out something vital, putting sugar in the bottles before siphoning. During allot of poking around online tutorials and youtube, I've never come across anyone putting sugar in the bottles until I found this forum. I cracked open a bottle last night, I thought that even though it’s flat, it may still taste nice. I was wrong. In fact, it was bloody disgusting (nice clarity and colour though).

Is it possible that adding a spoonful of sugar to each bottle now will save my brew?

What I don’t understand is that my first brew had a nice head on it and I didn’t add any sugar when bottling then either.

Cheers
Jay

 

[bobsbeer]

Welcome to the forum. Yes you could put a teaspoon of sugar in each bottle and then leave it in a warm (21c) place for a week or two then back in the fridge. You need to add the extra sugar to get the yeast to produce co2 to carbonate the brew. After fermentation the yeast have used all the sugar and no more is left to carbonate the brew.

 

[PD]

Hi Jay....
Yes it seems you missed out a vital part of bottle conditioning.....priming sugar.

When your beer has finished fermenting you leave it a few weeks to clear, most of the yeasts drop to the bottom and you bottle the nice clear liquid. You cannot get rid of ( and dont want to ) all of the yeast. There will be a lot left in suspention and invisible.
If you bottle like this it will stay flat and lifeless and in a period of time air seeping in will make it go off.
What you need to do is put a very small amount of normal sugar in each bottle as you fill it with your beer. Then leave it warm for a couple of weeks.
The yeasts in your beer will eat the small amount of sugar youve added and turn it into a tiny bit of alcohol and a lot of CO2 gas. This protects your beer. Then when the yeast has eaten that extra sugar it again falls to the bottom as a sediment. Cool your bottles for a week or so and the gas produced will be absorbed into your beer making all thos little bubbles when you pour.

 

[y2keable]

Thanks for that guys.

I'll add some sugar when I get home from work then store in the spare room for a week, then back in the fridge for another week.

In the future, after I've bottled the ale (with the suger of course) am I best off storing the bottles in a warm place for a while before moving them to the fridge? Or if bottled correctly the first time, should they just go straight in the fridge?

Also, (sorry about all the questions) will my current batch of ale taste better in a few weeks? Like I say, I opened a bottle last night and tasted it, it was foul and not just because it was flat. I'm a little worried that even if I'd done it right and made it bubbly, it would have still tasted like this...

Cheers
Jay

 

[BeerEagle]

In the future, after I've bottled the ale (with the suger of course) am I best off storing the bottles in a warm place for a while before moving them to the fridge?

Yes, give the yeast a week or so of warmth to eat the sugar and produce the CO2 you need for carbonation. When that's done, in the cool to help the beer absorb the gas.