Homebrewing Question

[mjg]

I am very green when it comes to brewing. I've but one successful batch under my belt. My second batch, purchased as a kit assembled by the local brewing supply store gurus, has me scratching my head and wondering if perhaps something was missed.

We brewed an American Pale Ale. Dry hopped it after re-racking. So now we prime it with some sugar and bottle it, right? Well, no. No priming sugar in the kit. No mention of this in the directions. With the store closed the day we needed to bottle, we couldn't call to get the skinny. We bottled away.

Am I sitting on a couple cases of flat beer or will any of the residual sugar from the brewing process, coupled with the remaining yeast, produce some carbonation in the final product?

Either way I'll drink it happily because a home brewed beer is a many splendored treat.

Thanks in advance.

[wnissen]

You might get a tiny bit of fermentation, especially if you leave it in a warm place. However, you basically have flat beer, sorry to say. At this point, since you can't mix in the sugar, I would recommend Prime Tabs, which avoid the need to carefully measure sugar in liquid or solid form. You'll have to recap everything, but it won't be nearly as big a deal as redoing the bottling. Adding corn sugar now, even carefully measured in a teaspoon, will give uneven carbonation. If you do decide to add the sugar, remember that the carbonation generated by 4 oz. of corn sugar is slightly less than that from 4 oz. cane sugar (the regular kitchen stuff). See this chart for more information. Hope this helps.

Walt

[Edit to add about cane sugar]

Edited August 26, 2004 by wnissen (log)

[mjg]

That wasn't the answer I was hoping to get, but at least I can alert the folks at the supply store that they are giving out bum directions to amateurs like me.

If I get the tabs, I just uncap each beer, drop the tabs in, and then recap? Sounds a little time consuming, but I'm willing to do it if necessary.

[Stone]

I recall reading somewhere the proper ratio of sugar/water/bottle for 12 oz bottles. If you could find this, you could, for example, dissolve 1/8 cup sugar in 2 quarts water and add 1 t to each bottle. Or whatever the ratio is.

[wnissen]

Wait, I just re-read your post. The brew show gave you a kit with no sugar in it? Unless they were assuming you would force carbonate with a draft setup, or reserve some of the malt for carbonation, they made a pretty big boo-boo. I think they should provide you with the tabs and the new caps you'll need. And tell them to lay off the product when assembling kits!

You have the procedure right, just pry off the cap and put in the sugar. However you want to get 2.3 grams of sugar in there is your choice. You will probably need new caps, although maybe if you're careful you could re-use them. There's no need to stir, if you want to speed things up give the bottles a shake for a few moments after the sugar has dissolved, to mix it and promote carbonation. Good luck!

Walt

[mjg]

I guess since this is the same basic idea as adding sugar right before bottling, it'll take about the same amount of time to carbonate as it would had we done it correctly from go, right?

The party we brewed this for is about 3 weeks away. Should we be bubbly by then?

[wnissen]

Yes, it will take the same amount of sugar. Depending on the yeast and temperature, it can take up to two weeks to carbonate, but a warm room temperature should reach full pressure in a week or so. More age is nice, but I know the feeling. My second batch ever (first full 5 gal batch) was intended for my best friend's bachelor party. I had to force carbonate it (only takes a few days) in order to have it ready by the party. You've got plenty of time if you prime now.

Walt

[paul o' vendange]

Actually, I wouldn't lose hope. If you haven't already gone the prime tab route, I would hold off, and would ask how certain you are you fully fermented out (most homebrewers, esp. when starting out, do not pitch adequate yeast, they get a slow ferment, and are, understandably, eager to drink the brew - so they bottle early, with considerable residual sugar). At least that was my story.

An APA is not a Pilsner. Depending on your likes, of course, you could get away with a lower CO2 charge and it would still be an enjoyable product (I usually go with 2.25-2.5 atm. C02 in my ales; true English bitters are much lower). And any time you open your beer, you risk contamination. Tis true, it's a choice - risk flat beer, or by opening your bottles to add primetabs, you risk funked beer (although the risk of funking your beer is fairly low if you follow proper sanitation protocol).

Paul

[mjg]

Thank you, everyone, for your advice. I went to the supply shop on Friday and talked to the owner. He was very apologetic and concerned that the directions they are providing are incorrect. He gave me a couple bags of priming tablets and new caps. Yesterday I uncapped, dropped the tabs in, and recapped. Took all of 20 minutes.

I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks again.

[wnissen]

Hey, that's great. One tip for next time is to set aside a small plastic soda bottle and fill it with beer. Then you can tell by squeezing whether the beer has carbonated.

Walt

[paul o' vendange]

A couple of miscellaneous thoughts:

Oxygen is the enemy of finished beer, though it is the friend of green beer (newly fermenting wort). Yeast require O2 to respire and replicate, after which they enter anaerobic fermentation. Once the beer is fermented out, yeast flocculate (settle, to varying degrees) and it is during this time that you want to avoid introducing new 02, as this 02 will not be used up by the now inactive yeast. Residual 02 causes oxidative changes via chemical reactions with malt and hop compounds, causing staling and other effects (typically, a "cardboard" taste, among others). If I could humbly disagree a bit with wnissen, I would advise against shaking a closed bottle, for safety reasons, as well as for the aforementioned 02 pickup - 02 resides in the headspace.

Next time, I'd suggest you run a final specific gravity on your beer. This will tell you more than anything the level of residual sugar in your beer, therefore the need for and quantity of any priming sugar to use.

Hope this batch turns out well, though, cheers.

Edited August 31, 2004 by paul o' vendange (log)

[mjg]

The results are in...

Success. Well, marginal success.

The flavor of the beer is great, with a very pleasant bitterness from the hops. Still could use some time in the bottle, though, to round the flavors out. Better body than the IPA I brewed from a kit in my first experiment.

As far as the carbonation is concerned, it was lackluster. The sugar tabs did produce some carbonation, but not as much as I would have liked. Next time I don't prime (which hopefully won't happen), I'll add more sugar tabs.

Once again, thank you to all for your help. And happy brewing!

[wnissen]

←

Glad to hear it! As you get more familiar with brewing, you'll be able to control the carbonation better. Far preferable to have slightly less carbonation than too much. You might end up like some folks, who bottle and then end up with two cases of miniature CO2 bombs, ready to explode at the slightest concussion.

Congratulations on your good flavor, too. Cleanliness is next to yumminess, I always say.

Walt

[paul o' vendange]

The results are in...

Success. Well, marginal success.

The flavor of the beer is great, with a very pleasant bitterness from the hops. Still could use some time in the bottle, though, to round the flavors out. Better body than the IPA I brewed from a kit in my first experiment.

As far as the carbonation is concerned, it was lackluster. The sugar tabs did produce some carbonation, but not as much as I would have liked. Next time I don't prime (which hopefully won't happen), I'll add more sugar tabs.

Once again, thank you to all for your help. And happy brewing!

←

Adding more sugar may do nothing without adequate viable yeast in suspension. By adding more sugar tabs to finished beer which has effectively stopped fermentation, you may end up with, well, sweeter beer.