Flat Stout ?

[arturobandini]

My mate has recently started homebrewing and brewed a Milestone IPA kit with good results and went out and got himself a Miletsone Stout to chase it up. As it was a two can kit he added no extra sugar and it fermented away nicely. However, when he came to bottling it he added no priming sugars as he had "no need to add sugar" ringing in his ears. On the advice of the homebrew helper he also threw in a packet of finings. If ever there was a recipe for flat beer this is surely 100% certain of success. My question is.... How can he save it?

I would say the finings would've stripped all the remaining yeast out of the PET bottles he stored it in so opening them up and adding a few teaspoons of sugar to each would be closing the gate after the horse has bolted no? I said I would refer to the pool of wisdom (JBK) before he did anything but my advice was add some yeast to the bottles and some sugar, allow to mix without being too violent and get them back in the wam. This sounded like it had a chance of success but is it already too late? If not, how much yeast would he need to add to 2l PET bottles? A pinch of granules in each one? Is the yeast not necessary if he manages to budge the yeast deposit off the bottom or has the use of finings knackered it beyond repair?

Yes this is a lot of questions! Anyone with any advice or experience with this feel free to contribute before my mate sheds another homebrew tear.

Cheers all

[sparky Paul]

Adding the appropriate amount of sugar to each bottle and giving a gentle agitation may well spur any remaining yeast back into action, but if you want to make sure, I would make a small yeast starter and add a little to each bottle.

Search the forum for info on yeast starters, or if you can't be bothered, rehydrate a small packet of yeast (or 6g) with half a teaspoon of sugar in 250ml of boiled, cooled (to 25°C) water. A sterilised 500ml bottle makes an ideal container, and after an hour or so, you should see some action - give it a shake up and divide it between the bottles, with the priming sugar added.

[arturobandini]

Cheers Paul,

I imagined as much. I didn't suggest a starter as he might be a little bamboozled by that. I suggested he get a bit of sugar in one and agitate the bottle gently and keep it in the warm for a week to see if it firms up with nice carbonation. If not he can then look to yeast I suppose