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Help a new homebrewer who screwed up!
I'm writing on behalf of my husband who is sulking around the house because he screwed up his 2nd batch of homebrew. He was putting the sugar in and forgot to boil and dissolve it (I think that is what he said), he just poured it right in. Is it salvageable? Anything he should do fix the problem? 
It's an english pale ale if that helps!
E
It depends on what he was doing when he poured the sugar in. Was he bottling the beer? If so, Tell him to Relax, have a beer, and continue with the bottling process everything will be ok. Sorry I can't help with out more info. But above all relax and think rationally, we are here to help.
Cheers
Hi, I did the same.
Hey only 2 bottles blew up in the middle of the night
about 2 weeks after bottling !, scary and loud too the
glass was everywhere.
Now for the truth, relax. yes I did blow a few up but it
was most likely from bacteria contamination in sugar.
Its why you need boil it with a bit of water first, to sanitize it.
but if it was corn sugar from a homebrew place, odds are
your gonna be fine, sugar in water suspention will be more
easyly used by yeast, but a little shaking in bottles will more
than likely still dissove in the beer fine.
If kegging you have nothing to worry about, just shake it up a bit.
If in reuseable bottles just keep in a case, in case one does break
mine were on a table, not so good. use your brews up before two weeks
try one and see if it carboneted ok to judge the rest.
Or if you want to be totaly safe, just open them up, re-boil batch slightly
and use same yeast do a second ferment, and then bottle corectly.
years ago I could not get a batch to carbonate in bottles (prior to my kegging now)
and took it all dumped in in pot, boiled it for about 20 min, pited SAME yeast strain
and got it to go the second time, could hardly tell upon drinking it, that was a bit
of problem batch..... Dont wory be happy youll have brew---- It OK to screw up
it how you learn sometimes.
Good Luck
I've done this twice, the first time, I didn't know, the second time I just forgot.
Tell him to stir it in, gently, if he still hasn't bottled it.
Everything will be fine. Unless, like wheels says and the sugar is contaminated. Which wouldn't happen much I wouldn't think.
It will still add carbonation, just fine. You may want to set the bottles in a safe place just in case.
He can stop sulking it will be just fine.
Both batches I screwed up on came out fine.
As punishment make him write it down in his notes so he doesn't forget the second time like I did.
And tell him to brew on.
timeng wrote:
I'm writing on behalf of my husband who is sulking around the house because he screwed up his 2nd batch of homebrew. He was putting the sugar in and forgot to boil and dissolve it (I think that is what he said), he just poured it right in. Is it salvageable? Anything he should do fix the problem?
It's an english pale ale if that helps!
E
Uhhh.... I think you left out some MAJOR details. What exactly did he pour it into?
That's like saying "my computer worked fine until I did something, now it doesn't"...
Please be more specific. It is very difficult to help with only partial knowledge.
You know, I probably would have done the same thing here, when I go to bottle my first batch next weekend.
Thanks for reminding that you should dissolve the sugar in water first..
T.
Mke sure that you also boil and cool the water if you go that route. so you can get rid of anything that is not good in the water. some people don't use any water and put the suger straight into the beer. Either way works, just a matter of personal preference.
cheers
Wheels, I hate to say it, but I think you're very confused. First of all, I don't think it was contamination that caused the bottles to break. You probably got more sugar in some bottles than in other because you didn't get your sugar in suspension. I did that to a batch and didn't have any real problems, but some of the bottles were flat and others were great. Next if you're worried about a beer you already have in bottles don't open them back up and boil them. I thought that's what you suggested to do, but that would be worse. How can you boil a little bit? Boiling is boiling. If you get your finished beer anywhere near boiling temps you don't have any alcohol left in it, never mind the yeast! It sounds like you've been doing this for a few years by the way you talk about it, but I'm glad your process works because it doesn't sound like your troubleshooting skills are doing you any favors.
Hi, John, Sorry been brewing since 1985 but only wrecked a few bacthes in early years maybe 4,
yes I did say about boiling again, but only if they just put into bottles, like yesterday....
All it would or could do in my mind was to re-boil to prevent any contamination(s),
But YES you are correct, if they allready have fermented and now bottled, it would
take away the alcohol, Sorry for some reason I was thinking they were adding extra
sugar to a finished batch just off boil.
Sorry Kids...
Been corrected.
But do boil anything you put in your beers not only to remove any possible type
of contamination, but to remove the chlorine from tap water, can really slow down
yeast production.
Good Luck !
I was slightly worried about coming off like a jackass, but I would hate for someone to boil a batch that just went into bottles because I don't know how you could recover from that and still have beer when you were finished. I'm glad I didn't offend as I'm not typically an offensive guy....typically.
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