Can flat bottles be rescued?

[biggtime]

Sadly, my first attempt at AG brewing hasn't turned out as perfectly as I'd hoped. For various reasons, the beer is almost completely flat after 5 weeks in bottle. Various probable reasons: yeast was more attenuative than anticipated (75% or more), I didn't prime with enough sugar, and the bottles probably didn't get warm enough for long enough early on. Question is, is there anything I can do to retrieve the situation? Or do I just happily sup my very tasty but flat beer?
P.S. same mistakes not made on AG brews 2 and 3, but still not quite ready to check yet so can't be sure.

 

[graysalchemy]

I had a barley wine which just didn't carb up. However 2 yrs later they are now carbed :lol:

I would put them back on some heat and then leave them again for a few weeks then try, you might be suprised.

By the way how much sugar did you add?

 

[biggtime]

Cheers. I'll certainly try that - although finding a warm enough place in my house is tricky at this time of year!

I think I primed with way too little to be honest. I prime at the moment by mixing a small amount of the beer itself with some spray malt - probably about 4-5 spoonfuls for 30 bottles - and syringe 5mls into each bottle. I like this approach as it tops the bottle up a little further than is possible with the little bottler. But given the 'half a teaspoon per bottle' rule, it really should have been a lot more. Especially so as the yeast had 'eaten' more sugar than anticipated during fermentation.

 

[graysalchemy]

Batch priming is the easiest way. Transfer the beer to a second sterilized bucket leaving the trub behind then weigh out some sugar based on 3-4g per Litre of beer (for ales more for lager) dissolve in a little boiling water and then add top the beer giving a gentle stir to distribute. Then bottle as normal. Put somewhere at fermentation temp for a week ten days then somewhere cool for a month.

:thumb:

 

[mike77]

I have re-primed and re-sealed bottles in the past with no problem. I probably wouldn't use a full dose of priming sugar as there will likely be Co2 in there even though they appear flat. So if you under primed then perhaps the same again.

 

[MacKiwi]

Would be interested to know what your technique was Mike? I tried this once by making a priming charge of sugar syrup and some dried yeast (rehdyrated), and dispensing with a syringe. The result was every time I squirted it into a "flat" bottle, it immediatly resulted in a beer volcano.

I gave up and drank it flat...

 

[biggtime]

Would be interested to know what your technique was Mike?

Me too Mike. I may well give it a go, as an experiment, to see if they can indeed be rescued - but I'm wary of overdoing it with the sugar this time in an attempt to compensate.

 

[mike77]

MacKiwi is right it might not be as easy as I made out in my first post. Thinking back, I used swing top bottles and carbonation drops. I dropped the carbonation drop in then quickly clamped the swing top closed. The carb drops perhaps give you a little more time as the sugar isn't immediately mixing with the beer. But if you are using caps I'm not sure you would have enough time to re-crimp it before the beer erupted. I would try one first.

 

[biggtime]

MacKiwi is right it might not be as easy as I made out in my first post. Thinking back, I used swing top bottles and carbonation drops. I dropped the carbonation drop in then quickly clamped the swing top closed. The carb drops perhaps give you a little more time as the sugar isn't immediately mixing with the beer. But if you are using caps I'm not sure you would have enough time to re-crimp it before the beer erupted. I would try one first.

Hmmm, I shall approach with caution, and see how we do :) Metal caps in my case so it's a bit all or nothing when I go for it.

 

[Touchstone]

You can reprime if nothing happens.

The easiest way is half teaspoon with a small funnel then cap, always do it this way, never a problem, & only takes a few seconds per batch.

 

[graysalchemy]

If you added the correct amount of sugar in the first place adding more sugar won't make one iota of difference. It is because something is inhibiting fermentation either the yeast is dead or out of condition from the alcohol or you haven't given it the right temp or enough time. As I have said I had a barley wine which has taken 2 yrs to carbonate properly. Now that isn't ideal and is probably an extreme but it does show that given time the yeast will plod away at a much slower rate.

Also the fact that bottles erupt when sugar is added means that there is co2 in solution and the yeast is working.

However if you haven't added enough then yes you will need to add more but as already said you may end up with problems.

:thumb:

 

[Ian...]

I had this once. The beer tasted sweet so I figured it was something to do with the yeast. I just put a few grains in each bottle, no extra sugar, sealed and put somewhere warm and they carbonated within a week. They were PET bottles so I could squeeze them to see how hard they were.

 

[biggtime]

Well, I've gone for it, but not with all of them, as a sort of experiment. Just 8 bottles. Did it one bottle at a time. Spray malt dissolved in boiling water, cooled pan in bowl of cold water. Then lid off bottle, 5mls of sugar solution added using medicine syringe (sterilised), and new cap put on (also sterilised). Gave them a good shake once sealed, and will now put somewhere warm and see what happens. The others are perfectly drinkable, just flat, so it seems worthwhile to give the experiment a go with some. None of them erupted when I put the solution in. Hopefully it will be enough sugar to get it all going - as I'd prefer to do this on this occasion than just leave them and wait.

As a result of this, I just tried my second AG brew, which I put more priming sugar into when bottled, and that seems noticeably better. Been in bottle for only two weeks so still early, but wanted to reassure myself. Tasting pretty good, I have to say, and will be better still in a week or two. So hopefully the main mistake first time round was insufficient priming sugar (and less residual sugar in the beer because the yeast had been more strongly attenuative than stated - went from 1.040 to possibly as low as 1.004, though my old hydrometer, since replaced, may also have been telling porkie pies).

 

[chrig]

I have some flat bitter in bottles which I give a blast with a syringe in the glass before drinking which knocks the co2 out of the liquid and makes it easier to drink and gives it a decent head.

Besides that I have added a few grains of yeast to a few bottles of wine which did not carbonate unlike the rest. It works pretty quickly after that.

 

[DirtyCaner]

Carlsberg tops?

 

[biggtime]

Nice beats, DirtyCaner!

 

[DirtyCaner]

Nice beats, DirtyCaner!

Thanks man :

DirtyC

 

[rpt]

The easiest way to improve flat beer is with a pocket beer engine (a syringe). Draw some beer into it from the glass and then squirt it just below the surface. Provided there is some life in the beer you will get a nice Northern head.