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Opps, umm, maybe I saved the screwup?

Northern Brewer General
#1

Ok, I am well into bottling a Seirra Madre pale ale last night. Was capping bottle 21 and had 22, 23 and 24 filled and in line to be capped. My wife walked past and asked if I had meant to leave the pan of sugar on the stove top instead of putting it in the bottling bucket (we are already capping bottle 21 at this point don’t forget!). Cursed and fussed and thought for just a moment. I use the following process. Run bottles in washer at high heat, let cool. Dunk them in starsan drain and fill six at a time, then cap. I decided to sanitize a bottle cap remover, popped all the tops, repoured as gently as possible into the bottleing bucket, after adding the sugar solution. stir gently and repeat bottling.

So, wadaya think my odds are of having an infection in the batch after all that handling. I consider the following in my favor. Cleaned, sanitized bottles, finished and therfore alchoholic beer, it is an APA so it has a bit of hops.

But that was a lot of handling.

Barry

#2

I don’t think you will have any issues. At least you caught it! LOL

#3

I think you’ll be okay as far as infection goes, but you probably introduced a lot of oxygen, no matter how carefully you poured. So be prepared for some oxidation. A better solution might have been to open the filled bottles, then add priming sugar directly to each bottle. I typically end up with an extra gallon or so when I keg, so I just fill bottles and prime that way. The precise carb level is a bit harder to hit, but you don’t need to boil the sugar (I haven’t had any infection issues just adding dry table sugar).

At least you caught the problem - sounds like you owe your wife for that one!

#4

Oh, I thanked her profusley!!

BTW, I did think about all the agitation, I just couldn’t think of a better solution. What is the taste effect of any oxidation likely to be?

Barry

#5

Cardboard

[quote=“John Palmer”]Oxidized
Oxidation is probably the most common problem with beer including commercial beers. If the wort is exposed to oxygen at temperatures above 80°F, the beer will sooner or later develop wet cardboard or sherry-like flavors, depending on which compounds were oxidized. See the discussion of oxygen and the wort in Chapter 6 - Yeast.

[/quote]

#6

Guess i can hope for a more sherry like effect instead of the more cardboard one. At least it was cold in the house last night!

#7

It will take a while for those flavors to develop. Once the bottles are carbed, put them in the fridge to slow the process, then drink them quickly.

#8

Thanks for the advice. With that bit I may just get to actually “enjoy” the entire batch.

Barry

#9

My motto pretty much is to drink all my batches quickly. That’s why I have to brew almost every week!

#10

I did the same thing once, but being twenty I have no wife to help me and didnt notice till I was nearly done. I was really mad. Anyway, I didnt notice any cardboard flavors because I was really careful when I poured them back in. I feel your pain though.

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