How doe's it work to put priming sugar in the bottles and then fill them? That's what it says in the Mr. beer book. I know there are more than one way of doing things and some work better than others. so far I have been putting table sugar in the bottles. Would like to hear from you about other ways to prime the beer. I have also heard about priming drops, Where you use one or two drops per bottle. Has anyone done this?
The way I prime (to be as accurate as possible) is to measure half a teaspoon of sugar into every bottle. I then measure a small amount of boiling water into each bottle. This helps sanitize and disolve the sugar. Then I go ahead and bottle.
One option is to have a bottling bucket. You wold add your sugar to this then syphon you beer in. Once all syphoned in you would then bottle. This helps ensure that you have an even mix of sugar and don't run the risk of over priming some and under priming others....
Haven't used the drops as I don't think they are available in the UK.
Method used by most brewers is bulk priming.
2/3rds sup of sugar per 5 US gallons/20 Litres (you can use table sugar or corn sugar) boiled for a few minutes in a small amount of water and mixed with the beer in a bottling bucket. To do this siphon the beer into another container (plastic fermentor, carboy etc) leaving the yeast sediment behind. Add the sugar solution and stir in gently avoiding splashing and mixing too much air into the beer. The beer is now primed and all you do is fill the bottles and cap without any additional sugar being added. Each bottle will have the same amount of carbonation when secondary fermentation is finished. Steve W.
I would just add the following: Using table sugar, I'd adjust downward slightly from corn sugar, as I believe the former weighs more/vol. than the latter. Also, simply add the boiled sugar to the wort as it's being transferred, and it will mix automatically. The standard is 3/4 cup corn sugar/5 US gallons, or 2/3 cup table sugar. I've had good results with 1/2 cup corn sugar as well. Remember, often we end up with less than our target amount of wort, so best to err on the side of a bit less.
John S.
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Look for Cooper's carbonation drops in your local homebrew store. They look like hard candy, and you put one (or two, depending on bottle size) in each bottle before you fill it. Adding a pint of water with
3/4-1 cup of corn sugar dissolved in it is the best method, in my opinion, but the carbonation drops are by far the easiest way to prime. Good luck.Dave
After using the priming drops, I wouldnt use any other method. Been doing it for about 4 years now.
Thank you all, For all the good information
I've used the "bulk" method as noted by others and usually use DME, corn sugar, or honey. I have tried the PrimeTabs and wasn't impressed at all with the carbonation. From time to time I'll keg 3 gallons and bottle the last two. Bulk priming really helps with the calculations.
Wild
I also use the bulk priming method. First I boil the sugar with a small amount of water, let it cool and pour it into the bottling bucket. After this I siphon the beer onto the sugar water. This way the sugar will be evenly mixed in the batch without any stirring.
In my opinion this is by far the easiest way to prime. I don't have to prime each bottle individually, there's the same amount of carbonation in each bottle and I don't have to think about bottle sizes at all. Adjusting the amount of carbonation in different beer styles is also very easy when you prime the whole batch at once.
Usually I use dextrose (corn sugar?) for priming, but I've also used regular table sugar and haven't had any problems. I am slightly impatient however, and I prefer to use dextrose since it ferments quicker than table sugar.
The dextrose they sell here contains approximately 10% water, so the amount of dextrose needed is a bit more than normal sugar. That isn't a
problem as long as you remember to take it into consederation.
In my opinion a good amount of priming sugar is between five and eight grams per litre of beer, depending on the style of the beer. Since I use dextrose I multiply the final amount needed with 1,1.
I also bulk prime. I use about 6 oz of priming sugars in a quart pan with2 cups water. Boil for several mins. pour it into the bottling bucket right after I have finished siphon wort from the fermentation bucket.
Has always worked well for me.
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