I started 2nd ferment in barrel when I should have bottled!

[Ihatestella]

Hi there, I recently started my first home brew. Very excited to drink my own beer but being a total noob I didn't follow the instructions properly and could use some advice from the good peeps here. After primary fermentation I added priming dextrose but instead of bottling as i was supposed to, I put the beer into another barrel for secondary fermentation. So my beer is supposed to be conditioning in bottles right now but instead it's in a barrel. I'm one week into secondary, is it too late to bottle it? Can I add more sugar and bottle it?

Thanks in advance, any help appreciated!

 

[oldbloke]

Just keep it in the barrel! Couple of weeks warm for the priming sugar to turn to gas, then keep it cool and serve from the barrel.
If not drunk quickly you may need a gas thingy to keep the barrel pressurised and the ale carbed.

 

[Ihatestella]

Problem is I only have an air trap on the barrel so no way to keep the gas in. Can I use a gas canister to carbonate flat beer? Is it still possible to bottle at this stage as that would be preference. Thanks again.

 

[oldbloke]

Can you replace the trap with a lid that seals? It'll carb naturally if you do that.
If you have the bottles, OK maybe best bottle it. Probably need just a little extra priming sugar.
Hopefully a beer expert will come along shortly - I don't make much myself and it's all bottled straight off.

 

[Ihatestella]

I can probably get a lid that seals tomorrow if necessary. Don't really know much about using gas canisters to carb though; I'd planned on bottling. If that's my only option then I will. I would like to know if it's too late to bottle at this stage - would a little extra sugar still allow me to bottle and get sufficient fermentation/conditioning? And if so can I use regular granulated sugar to do so? How much would I add given that I have already added the primer? I read somewhere that you have to boil it first if you use regular sugar? Really don't want to f**k up my very first ever brew!

Any beer meisters, please advise! Thanks.

 

[oldbloke]

You'll lose some gas in the bottling process so would need to add a bit of sugar to compensate. Not sure how much - depends how much of your original is already fermented and how much gas you lose. In glass you need to be a bit wary, maybe deliberately lose all the gas you have now first and then fully prime (about 1tsp/pint for cider or lager, a bit less for ale). If you have plastic bottles with screwtops, just fully prime and check the bottles for tightness every week, slacken the caps to let some gas out if they look like they might blow.
I always prime with ordinary granulated sugar, it doesn't need any treatment. You can make invert sugar out of it by boiling with a touch of citric, which may be what you've heard about, but it's not necessary.
But if you're planning on drinking it fairly rapidly (say 2 weeks tops), just leave it in the barrel.

 

[PaulCa]

Unless the barrel is pressure sealable and you have a tap on it, AND you can get a CO2 injector for it... you have limited options.

If it's only been a day or so since you added the sugar I would hurry up and bottle it now. Worst case is you get less gas than expected in the bottles.

If it's been longer your best option is, unfortunately, to let the priming sugar complete it's ferment. 3-5 days should do at room temp. Then just repeat, add sugar and remember to bottle it this time! The double priming sugar will do nothing but make the beer stronger.

What you want to avoid is adding more priming sugar while there is still some to ferment... then bottle in glass bottles as you may produce way too much CO2 and break the bottles.

 

[The Idiot]

Let it finish, check the gravity, and then bottle! You might lose a few days, but you'll gain a bit more alcohol! It's far preferable to exploding bottles.