Realized I only put in 1/2 the priming sugar - need advice

Northern Brewer General
1

I bottled some Houblonmonstre yesterday. I planned on pouring in 1/2 the priming sugar solution at first, then the other half when the bottling bucket got about 1/2 full. I just saw that 1/2 of the solution is still in the pan on the stove. After cussing myself out for an hour or so, I thought about asking here - what do you think I should do???

Thanks,

2

You could uncap each bottle, then dose each one with a measured amount of the remaining sugar and recap. Just make sure of sanitation. If you’ve got a medicine dropper, that is easiest. Just divide the amount of sugar water by the number of bottles. Figure out how many drops per dose, and you’re good.

I’ve done this once with a brown ale after 8 weeks in the bottle. Worked fine.

Good luck,

Ron

3

[quote=“Frenchie”]You could uncap each bottle, then dose each one with a measured amount of the remaining sugar and recap. Just make sure of sanitation. If you’ve got a medicine dropper, that is easiest. Just divide the amount of sugar water by the number of bottles. Figure out how many drops per dose, and you’re good.

I’ve done this once with a brown ale after 8 weeks in the bottle. Worked fine.

Good luck,

Ron[/quote]

Thanks Ron - makes sense to me. Hopefuuly, this will be a funny story some day.

:cheers:

4

Your original plan would have resulted in half your bottles being under-carbed and half over-carbed - add all the sugar to the entire batch and you can gently stir every now and then while you bottle to help keep the sugar in suspension and evenly distributed (I stirred every 6-12 bottles when I was using syrup for priming).

5

Cool - thanks a lot. That’s what I need to know. Though I think it’s just my impatience, carbonation is the one thing that bugged me, and that’s what I was trying to do - get the priming sugar spread throughout the batch. I stirred it all thinking I put all of the sugar in, but now I’ll also stir every 12 bottles. I bottle in 12 bottle increments anyway, so… perfect.

Thanks again,

:cheers:

6

I re-read your OP and I misunderstood your plan - you were going to add the second slug of syrup while you were filling the bucket not after you had emptied it half-way. So never mind my comment about over- and under-carbing.

7

That’s a good plan, db. I bottle in increments of nine, so I stir every 18 bottles. I just keep a large SS spoon in my sanitizer bucket while bottling. I’ve read lots here where folks don’t stir at all but allow sugar to mix by pouring all in first to bottling bucket, then siphon beer on top. I do both–guess I’m just a little anal.

Keep us posted on how this turns out.

:cheers:

Ron