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So I accidentally grabbed the wrong fermenting carboy today, this one started fermenting 3 days ago, but already has a gravity of 1.010 (it got a little warm up to 78F).

Before we noticed it was the wrong batch we had already added the priming sugar for bottling.

Should we continue on with bottling, or try to move it to another carboy?

I fear bottle bombs if we bottle, but with that low of a gravity it seems like it would be ok.

EDIT: I decided to move it to another bucket to further ferment. (Seems like that was the right decision) I also added a little bit more yeast (not an entire vile, just a bit saved from previous batches) since I threw out the entire yeast cake. I am just curious how the sugar will effect it.

EDIT 2: added another question about the affects of the sugar.

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  • I am sure by now you've already made a decision and did something with this beer. Please post a comment to update what you did as I am curious to see how the beer comes along.
    – brewchez
    Aug 17 '11 at 13:24
  • @brewchez added it as an edit.
    – corymathews
    Aug 17 '11 at 14:07
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Even if the yeast have eaten the bulk of the sugars in the wort, fermentation is not complete. For one, the yeast has probably not flocculated completely yet, so you would get lots of sediment and yeasty flavors in your beer. Secondly, the beer is still very green. The yeast will continue operating on the beer, breaking down impurities and cleaning everything up (which might be really important if you fermentation temp crept up so high). I would move it back to a carboy for now and check back again in a week or two.

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I would not continue with bottling it. I'd rack it back into a carboy.

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I would leave it in the bottling bucket with an airlock or cover it with a big piece of foil. Let it ferment out. That might help with potentially off flavors from the original hot ferment. Give it a week then bottle it, and the other batch in one big session.

I wouldn't bother moving back to the carboy as you'd just keep increasing the risk of contamination and oxidation.

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