Not enough sugar

grant040464

I've just made a batch of Wherry bitter.  Half in a keg, the other half in one litre bottles.

The half in the barrel was great. I've tried 2 bottles now and whilst the taste is just as it should be, there is little fizz and very little head. 

With hindsight, I think I only put a teaspoon of sugar in the bottles. Enough for a pint bottle, but not enough for a litre bottle.

My question is, if I poured the rest into the barrel and then used gas, would it be ok to use gas to carbonate it, or could I put it in the barrel and put more sugar in?

Or, is it a lost cause?

HBO_Staff

It is hard to add carbonation once bottled for a while, the problem is that you open the bottles and expose it to air which reduces it's lifespan, and the more you move it around the higher the risk of contamination too. If you can't drink it because it's too flat and would otherwise throw it away, then you have nothing to lose and could try moving it to a barrel once the barrel is empty, the results may not be good though. If you do decide to do it then we would gently pour the bottles into the empty barrel, add a little more sugar depending on the volume of beer in there, and add a CO2 bulb straight away to get it under pressure and minimise the contact with air. Leave the barrel somewhere warm for a few days to help the sugars dissolve and then it would probably be best to drink fairly soon. As a general guide one teaspoon of sugar per 500ml, or 2 teaspoons per 1 litre is usually about right for beers

grant040464

Thanks for the quick response, (as usual) I'll try one more bottle and if no good, I'll try your suggestion. I'll let you know the outcome.

Such a schoolboy error, it won't happen again. It's the first batch to go wrong mind. Thanks again

HBO_Staff

We know it's frustrating when it doesn't turn out quite right, but we learn for next time! We've all done things like this!

Freddy1953

Hi , I am quite new to this brewing lark and when i went to school it was all pints and gallons , nowadays though it is liters and milliliters so when i just done my first batch instead of putting 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar to a pint i decided to add 1/4 of a teaspoon to 500 ml thinking that , that 500 ml was half a pint it was rubbish no life in it at all so in an attempt to rectify my mistake i used a soda stream maker ,_____ Result magic just dont give it the 3 squirts of co2 as directed for soda water 2 is plenty , saved me a batch that was ok but now BRILLIANT .   

HBO_Staff

Half a teaspoon to a level teaspoon per 500ml bottle depending on the beer is usually about right, we've not heard of the sodastream idea before but if it works that's great!