Forgot the sugar for second fermentation

barrel_of_laughs

Oops! A late evening transfer from fermenting bucket to pressue barrel resulted in me forgetting to add the sugar. I am doing a Woodforde's Sundew kit and it suggests half a teaspoon per pint up to a maximum of 100g for a pressure barrel. I have since been on holiday so it has been over a week.

What should I do? Should I forget about it as it is too late (yeast starved) and just see how it turns out or is it worth trying to add the sugar now, if so how is best?

HBO_Staff

What you have in effect done, is a similar process to something which is often done to remove more sediment, which is transfer the brew over into another vessel (usually a bucket but in this case the barrel) leave to stand for a few more days, and then it would be transferred again into either the barrel or bottles. It would then be primed in the usual way. On the plus side, it has not been left on the sediment as that was left behind in the fermenting vessel, prolonged contact with sediment can potentially cause off flavours, so is best avoided if possible.

The brew being in the barrel is obviously un-primed and will not carbonate, so the best thing you can do is to add the priming sugar and seal the barrel back up as soon as possible. As it has been in a sealed clean container chances are it will be perfectly fine, so we recommend you prime it with 100g of sugar and try and keep it warm to kick start the secondary fermentation, for a few days at least, and then move somewhere a little cooler to help it clear and leave it to condition. It will probably then turn out OK

The Sundew kit has had a few good comments from others so far, we have tried it here and found it to be quite light as Woodfordes say it would be, perhaps a bit lacking in flavour early on, but it is improving as it conditions (we have it in bottles) and is easy drinking.