Accidentally Used Too Much Priming Sugar, Relatively New Brewer, Help!

Do you have the ability to store all of your bottles cold (e.g., a second, dedicated beer refrigerator)? If so, you could just cap your bottles and periodically monitor the carbonation level (e.g., everyday try a bottle to see how carbonated it is). When you have achieved your desired level of carbonation then place all of the bottles in the fridge (this will stop the carbonation process).

Cheers!

 

Welcome to the BA site, Jallen, and to the Homebrewing forum and this great hobby.

I think your proposal to let he sugar ferment out of the bottles is what I'd do, and then re-prime with the priming sugar. The problem is that you'll never know if all of that first addition of sugar has disappeared before you add the priming sugar.

You could sacrifice one bottle after 7-10 days of refermenting and take a gravity reading and compare it to what the recipe predicted, and if it reads okay, go ahead with the priming sugar. (A second sacrificial bottle may be necessary if the first bottle's reading is too high.)

Or you can add the priming sugar after 7-10 days of refermenting, then cap them and keep the bottles around 70 degrees and begin the process of babysitting them. After another 7-10 days, open a bottle as a test to see if carbonation is at an acceptable level. If not, allow more time. If it is carbonated, then to play is safe, refrigerate all of the bottles so that fermentation will cease.

Whether you use the gravity reading method or the add-and-test method, I think you need to babysit the bottles and refrigerate them as soon as you think the carbonation level is okay.

Good luck.

 

You're not totally screwed but you will need to fix this problem. Follow the advice of Jack and Goose.

I add that bottle bombs are not really like that. They don't actually explode like a grenade. Usually the bottom blows off or the neck fractures, and the biggest problem is that you'll have sticky beer on every surface. So they don't blow out a wall but still do not put them under your child's crib. Keep them in a box. And keep them cold. A basement in Maine should be plenty cold. If there is any chance a rodent can get to your beer be extra careful with open beer bottles. Again, keep them in a box or similar.

After you have fermented out the extra dextrose you can use priming drops. These are pre-measured pills of dextrose and they work well enough. For this batch they are perfect as you can avoid racking your beer. Just put in the required amount for each bottle and re-cap. The less you handle the beer the better. Despite what most people think, there are really only a few ways to mess up a beer and oxidation is one of them. Splashing a fermented beer guarantees oxidation and that can't be fixed.

Lastly, experienced home brewers do not measure priming sugar by volume. It is always by weight, and ideally by the gram. So get yourself a $10 scale and a big bag of dextrose. It will last for a long while. Use an online priming calculator. Basically ignore the priming instructions in that came with the kit.

Cheers.

 

If you list that much foam there may be something else going on here. Were the bottles chilled that you opened? Any hardness on the tongue when you tasted the beer?

If you can get those bottles in the fridge tonight, I'd do that, or at least some of them. And you may want to put the rest into a tub of something to catch the liquid if any of them break. Handle them with care to be safe by using gloves or a towel. You likely will have to make a quick decision on whether these are salvageable or if you need to give up and dump them.

 

Hello fellow Mainer. It sounds like they might not have been finished refermenting, or that you opened a warm bottle. Put a capped bottle out in the snow (and in a dark spot) and let it sit afew hours. Then open it and see if the result is the same. Honestly sounds like you are still over carbing in the bottle.

I have had similar things happen in the past and if you aren't breaking bottles you will have to nearly freeze the bottle and then have 22oz or larger glass ready for drinking. Or bite the bullet and dump them... I have done both.

 

Damn auto-correct!

 

I probably would have done the same as what the OP did.

When checking the bottles at this point, it’s not necessarily the foam, but the amount of “psssssshhtt” when you open the bottle. In a typical beer some of the CO2 is dissolved throughout the beer and some is concentrated in the head/cap space of the bottle. Super foam may just mean that all of the CO2 is dissolved and carbonation is still in process.

FWIW