too little sugar when bottled

[varadamo]

hi all - when bottling a craft range lager recently i put a level teaspoon of suger  in each bottle - just tried out the lager which has now been bottled for 2 weeks and its quite flat - is it possible at this stage to add more sugar to the bottles ?
thanks

[johnrm]

There should be some sparkle in it.
How long is it conditioning?
What temp are you conditioning at?
Does it taste sweet?
Low temp and sweet means it's not fermented our your priming sugar.

[LordEoin]

aye, a level teaspoon and quite flat are pretty vague.

A level measuring teaspoon is about 4 grams which is more than enough, but it really depends on the size teaspoon you used.
I wouldn't open them to add more sugar because a)you'll let whatever pressure you have out and b) you have enough sugar.

invert the bottles one by one, give them a swirl, leave them all somewhere warm for another while.

[mcgrath]

Also if you put more sugar in and there's even a small amount of carbonation they'll just fizz up on you and make a mess.

[brianbrewed]

I had the same problem. I added 1 coopers carbonation drop to each bottle of Better Brew Czech Pilsner.
Tried one last night and was flat 
Going to give them a shake and put them into a warmer room to see if that helps.
Shame cause the Pilsner tastes quite nice.

[varadamo]

There should be some sparkle in it.
How long is it conditioning?
What temp are you conditioning at?
Does it taste sweet?
Low temp and sweet means it's not fermented our your priming sugar.

Thanks all for that - johnrm - its been conditioning for 2 weeks now in an outside garage so its cool - it is sweet - so im going to do what youve suggested and bring it indoors for a week after inverting them - then outside again ?
Great assistance on this site - thanks all again ,

[LordEoin]

leave them inside for 2 or 3 weeks

[varadamo]

thanks LORDEOIN - how do i know its ready - im using pet bottles and they were quite stiff after a week in bottles so i took them outside - i thought that was the sign they were ready ?

[Shanna]

hi all - when bottling a craft range lager recently i put a level teaspoon of suger  in each bottle - just tried out the lager which has now been bottled for 2 weeks and its quite flat - is it possible at this stage to add more sugar to the bottles ?
thanks

Now that the horse has bolted you might want to consider a different approach next time around. A lot of people myself included rack there beer on top of a sugar solution. You would use a priming calculator like this one
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/
Basically you weigh out the required sugar amount & mix with about 300ml of water. Boil & stir the mixture & let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Cover & chill in your sink and when cool add to the bottling bucket. Now rack your beer in on top. This I find preferable to having to mess around with individual sugar amounts.

Shanna

[Padraich]

My rule of thumb is once the bottles have hardened if you stick it in the fridge for about two days (let's call it Thurs night - Sat night) and it's still hard, they're done (carbonated).

[johnrm]

That's grand if you use plastic bottles. Glass bottles require a more scientific approach.

[ABeerZale]

hi all - when bottling a craft range lager recently i put a level teaspoon of suger  in each bottle - just tried out the lager which has now been bottled for 2 weeks and its quite flat - is it possible at this stage to add more sugar to the bottles ?
thanks

Now that the horse has bolted you might want to consider a different approach next time around. A lot of people myself included rack there beer on top of a sugar solution. You would use a priming calculator like this one
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/
Basically you weigh out the required sugar amount & mix with about 300ml of water. Boil & stir the mixture & let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Cover & chill in your sink and when cool add to the bottling bucket. Now rack your beer in on top. This I find preferable to having to mess around with individual sugar amounts.

Shanna

Aye use a priming calculator, much easier. Gotta agree with Shanna

[LordEoin]

Yup, I started using this one recently and noticed far better carb levels than going grams per liter:
http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html
Don't know why I put it of for so long.

[auralabuse]

I stick my bottles back in the fermentation Bucket,  stick the lid on, put the brew belt around it and then an old jacket around the whole thing.  Creates a nice little tropical environment for the bottles to carbonate,  has never failed me

[Shanna]

I stick my bottles back in the fermentation Bucket,  stick the lid on, put the brew belt around it and then an old jacket around the whole thing.  Creates a nice little tropical environment for the bottles to carbonate,  has never failed me

Are you not running the risk of scratching damaging your fermenter? Can't imagine how you would get 40 bottles from a 20 litre batch in a 30 litre fermenter. Do you split them up? I would imagine room temperature of 20C would be fine for most yeasts.

Shanna