BeerBorg

So I bottled my beers yesterday and today I realized I put in about half of what is needed for an amber ale. I used the tasty brew calculator but somehow messed up the amounts when trying to convert it into tablespoons. My question is, would it be better to pop the tops off and put more priming sugar in each bottle or will it eventually carb up with the small amount that is in already, Ill just have to wait a bit longer?

How much did you put in, and what size bottles?

I put in 2 and a half tablespoons in about a cup of boiled water then added it to the top of the LBK (since i didn't have a separate bottling bucket available) and gave it a gentle stir before bottling.

and they were 22 oz. bottles. (12 total)

Ok, this is going to be a head scratcher and learning experience for everyone. According to Screwys calculator, you needed 3.5 Tbsp of cane sugar for 2.2 volumes at 2.2 gallons. But the gentle stirring of the LBK may have brought some trub (dead/tired yeast) back into suspension, which may change things.
Mainly by adding more trub to the bottles, provided the beer had fermented out. How long had it been fermenting?

So if it were mine I would set them aside for 3 weeks, toss one in the fridge for a week and see where the carb level is. If need be you can always add more dissolved sugar water later to each bottle.
Next time either batch prime in a separate container or add the sugar to each bottle then add the beer. And always triple check numbers, or so I've heard, not like I've messed up a beer or two.

Please keep us informed.

Yeah, I've gotta agree with Jeff... Let 'em ride...

Make sure they stay at a comfortable room temperature to keep the yeast active for a good three weeks and you should be ok.

While you 'could' add more now, you would be introducing a risk of infection that just isn't warranted at this point in time. See what you get before deciding if you need to do anything...

okay cool, I had them fermenting for 3 weeks. I don't mind waiting longer for it to carb up and Condition, I just wanted to make sure it would still carb up if I waited longer. I was planning on waiting at least 4 weeks anyways to let it condition. The Recipe is (That Voodoo That You do) There is about 7% ABV in it. will that make it harder to carb up?

Yes, the higher the ABV, the longer the carb phase takes generally...

With less sugar, you gotta hope the yeast can also take out a bit more of the complex fermentables left in the malt.

I had a 7.5% Wee Heavy that took over four months to properly carb...

Time is your friend here...

Good time to brew another batch or three!

What ever ya do, do not open the bottles and drop more sugar in. Maybe do it to one for the experience, but do it over the sink... your gonna see a volcano. Funny as heck to watch. I tried it once, but I had mixed the sugar with water to dissolve, still had the same results. Wife did not think if funny.....

FrozenInTime wrote:What ever ya do, do not open the bottles and drop more sugar in. Maybe do it to one for the experience, but do it over the sink... your gonna see a volcano. Funny as heck to watch. I tried it once, but I had mixed the sugar with water to dissolve, still had the same results. Wife did not think if funny.....

Haha, that is good to know. I think I will just give this batch a long time to condition. I will be starting a Bavarian Weissbier recipe this weekend. (Bavarian Weissbier HME from Mr. Beer, steeping .25 lbs Carapils, adding 1.5 lb. Briess Bavarian Wheat DME,+ .25 oz of Perle Hops for 15 mins. and pitching WLP 300 Yeast.) Any thoughts on that recipe?

Jones4412 wrote:

FrozenInTime wrote:What ever ya do, do not open the bottles and drop more sugar in. Maybe do it to one for the experience, but do it over the sink... your gonna see a volcano. Funny as heck to watch. I tried it once, but I had mixed the sugar with water to dissolve, still had the same results. Wife did not think if funny.....

Haha, that is good to know. I think I will just give this batch a long time to condition. I will be starting a Bavarian Weissbier recipe this weekend. (Bavarian Weissbier HME from Mr. Beer, steeping .25 lbs Carapils, adding 1.5 lb. Briess Bavarian Wheat DME,+ .25 oz of Perle Hops for 15 mins. and pitching WLP 300 Yeast.) Any thoughts on that recipe?

One of my first batches was the bavarian + booster + corriander + .5oz Perle

You have already improved this recipe by using the dme instead of booster. My only suggestion is to add some corriander, IF you like corriander that is.

I personally would not prime in the fermenting keg since it would be too difficult to get a good mix as well as keep the trub down. Pick up a slimline or another LBK or simply bottle prime for now. I generally still bottle prime my MrB sized batches since it is only a case and I really dont save much time considering the extra cleanup involved. 5g batches are batched since that does make sense (to me anyway).