Forgot to stir my priming sugar

Ugh, total brain failure. I realized I had forgotten to add my priming sugar while I was siphoning my batch into the bottling bucket, so near the end of the transfer I poured it gently down the side. Then I bottled all the beer, never thinking to stir the sugar water to mix it in. So now I need to uncap them all, pour them back in the bottling bucket (gently) and then re-bottle. I mean, on one hand, it's a really good thing that I realized this right away, before having bottle bombs in half my bottles and completely flat beer in the rest. On the other hand, I was really hoping to limit oxidation for this batch, but it looks like that won't be happening. On the bright side, this is a half-batch, so if it's any good I can try to kill it before the oxidation really sets in. But for a double IPA, all that splashing may do a number on the hop flavor and aroma right off the bat.

Lessons learned the hard way - at least you'll remember them.

 

I would also rather have had even carbed bottles? Not sure I get your meaning. Fact is, if I didn't mix the sugar in, I might not have ended up with a single bottle that was carbonated right. That, and I didn't want to take a chance on them exploding, either in my basement or in my face. I'm not at all happy about the oxygenation (though I poured them down the side of the bucket to try and limit it), but it seemed better than completely giving up on the batch. Maybe I'll be able to blow through them quickly and they'll still be decent. I'm pretty sad that I won't get to properly taste the results of my first all-grain batch, though, I really wanted to see how it compared to my extract brews. Guess I'll have to be more careful with the next one (which I'll be bottling in 2 weeks).

 

I usually do that too, and if I had I would have just left it. But this time I was 2/3 of the way through siphoning when I poured the sugar solution down the side, so I assumed most of it stayed at the bottom off to one side.

That's the plan! I'm just worried that the oxygen will rob the beer of (significant) hop flavor by the time they're carbonated. But if I have a few weeks to drink them, then I'll be able to get through the majority if they're decent.

I have one keg, but it's full right now. Believe me, I was wishing I had another once I realized my mistake (though by then the damage was done).

 

It was indeed my Ruination clone, which seemed pretty decent last night, based on the sample I had while bottling. I'm not sure if I want brew it again right away, though, for a couple of reasons. I won't have proper temperature control until I kick my keg of ESB - I've been using my basement, which is at 63F, but the weather is starting to warm up and I don't know how long that will last. I also have another Stone clone batch fermenting right now, the IPA recipe, so I'll have another batch to try in about two weeks. But I saved some of the yeast, so it wouldn't cost much to take another stab at the recipe.

 

Thought I'd post a followup here, in case anyone was wondering how this story ended. After about 10 days, the batch was properly carbonated, so I put them all in the fridge and started working my way through them. The beer doesn't have much by way of hop flavor or aroma, but it's pleasant, drinkable and potent nonetheless. On the one hand, I'm sad because I think this would have been pretty tasty if I hadn't messed up the last step. But on the other hand, it's nice that even my screwups now produce beer that is better than when I first started brewing! I'm going to try to finish this batch as quickly as possible, before the flavor deteriorates; thankfully, there are only 2.5 gallons to get through. It's hard to know if dumping and rebottling was the way to go, but I think I'll take what I have over a tastier batch that is half undercarbed and half explodey. Bottle bombs aren't going win my hobby any points with the missus...

Anyway, I still have some of the yeast from my starter in the keg fridge, so I think I'll take another crack at this one in a little while. Practice makes perfect, right?

 

Ha, I don't think record-keeping is what will fix this particular problem. But don't worry, it'll be a few years before I forget to mix properly again.