Can you restart secondary fermentation?

[mak]

Hi All

First post, I'm currently brewing my 3rd homebrew and need some advice about the 2nd I did!

It's in the garage now and has been for 2 weeks, but I've since learned that the plastic bottles should stay in 2nd fermentation until you can't squeeze them? Unfortunately I didn't know this 2 weeks ago and put them out to settle in the almost freezing garage!

Is it ok to bring them back indoors - will they then carbonate? I tried one last night and only a little gas came out, and it was flat as a pancake gutted!

The brew is Muntons Premium smugglers gold, in case that is relevant.

Hope someone can help me - and also hope that it hasn't failed because I've done something else wrong, like put in too little brewing sugar, etc! :whistle:

Cheers!

 

[Mr.Beerbelly]

Hello, You will be ok I'm sure. Don't open any of the bottles if you are bringing back inside. If you want to put a little more sugar in them to get them going. Leave them inside for another week or two, then try a bottle again before more sugar is added. It's a good idea to have a tester bottle of you brew to drink at different stages while the brew is conditioning. I did a similar thing with a stout which I started brewing last November. I put mine in secondary using 2 litre bottles, mid December and you could squeeze the bottles in, no carbonation at all. I used my shed, it was freezing too. I put a quilt around them after adding a little squeeze of honey which disolves really easy and adds achol content. I opened a bottle or two last weekend. It's done the trick mate. Hope yours is ok, don't give up on it unless it turns green...................... :sick: Cheers Dave.

 

[graysalchemy]

You will be fine to bring them back in for a week or so or as you say they go hard. Putting them somewhere cold is very important as once the co2 has been produced you need it to be absorbed into the beer more is absorbed at lower temps. This also takes time so you should leave it to condition for one week for every 10 points of og so a 1040 beer needs 4 weeks to condition.

As long as you put the correct amount of sugar in in the first place DO NOT add any more you will end up with gushers or if you had used glas bottles, very dangerous bottle bombs.

So really all you need to do is bring them upto brewing for a week or so and back into the cold and forget about them for a month. The longer you leave it the better it will taste trust me.

 

[mak]

That's great news thanks to both of you for the advice :