Priming wheat beer

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Wonderwoman

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So I've come to the end of my fermentation (it's actually been almost 20 days of it sat in the bucket, but I've been too busy to bottle it) and this weekend I want to finally bottle it.

I've had a look at the priming sugar calculator at http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

but am a little bit unsure how much sugar to add. They keep warning about overpriming but with it being a wheat beer, I would have the highest CO2 volume anyway, so surely if anyone would run the risk of overpriming, it would be me. I was thinking to go for the golden middle of 4.0 volumes (they suggest wheat beer has between 3.3 and 4.5) but am now worried I would over do it.

I've got swing top bottles, if that makes a difference.

Oh and should I dilute the sugar in some water first then gently add it to the brew before bottling? How much water should I use for this?
 
Wonderwoman said:
So I've come to the end of my fermentation (it's actually been almost 20 days of it sat in the bucket, but I've been too busy to bottle it) and this weekend I want to finally bottle it.

I've had a look at the priming sugar calculator at http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

but am a little bit unsure how much sugar to add. They keep warning about overpriming but with it being a wheat beer, I would have the highest CO2 volume anyway, so surely if anyone would run the risk of overpriming, it would be me. I was thinking to go for the golden middle of 4.0 volumes (they suggest wheat beer has between 3.3 and 4.5) but am now worried I would over do it.

I've got swing top bottles, if that makes a difference.

Oh and should I dilute the sugar in some water first then gently add it to the brew before bottling? How much water should I use for this?
Click to expand...
I would use 4 and not mix with water unless you batch prime. Boil the water first for a few minutes and let it cool to avoid oxygen getting into the beer.
 
I've also tried the calculator on nothernbrewer, it suggest 3.6 for Hefeweizen. But it comes up with a totally different amount of sugar... compared to brewers friend
http://www.northernbrewer.com/learn/resources/priming-sugar-calculator/

For 3.6 vol at a temp of 20 degrees for 10L it suggests 47.33gr compared to the 120.4gr on brewers friend.

(I am going to use plain white table sugar but just to show the difference)

or did I convert 10L to gallons wrongly?
 
Wardy said:
I would use 4 and not mix with water unless you batch prime. Boil the water first for a few minutes and let it cool to avoid oxygen getting into the beer.
Click to expand...

I thought it would be easier to batch prime to make sure I get the exact amount into each bottle and less faffing with weighing such little amounts for each bottle.
 
Wonderwoman said:
I thought it would be easier to batch prime to make sure I get the exact amount into each bottle and less faffing with weighing such little amounts for each bottle.
Click to expand...
Yes, definitely less fuss to batch prime. I am paranoid about adding oxygen because I intend to keep each brew 4 to 6 months before drinking. I'm still new to beer brewing and only on my 3rd. It's a whole new world compared to wine brewing that I'm used to so guys with more experience will know better than me.
 
Wardy said:
Yes, definitely less fuss to batch prime. I am paranoid about adding oxygen because I intend to keep each brew 4 to 6 months before drinking. I'm still new to beer brewing and only on my 3rd. It's a whole new world compared to wine brewing that I'm used to so guys with more experience will know better than me.
Click to expand...

It's my first brew so I am exciting to see how it turned out!

I do wonder why those two calculators come up with totally different results though.
 
Hi there,

I've carbed up wheat beers with a teaspoon of sugar per 500ml bottle and it's seemed about perfect. Flip top bottles tend be heavy glass so you should be okay with 4 volumes.

Personally 3.5 I think would be fine, and no danger to your bottles. If you want to batch prime, mix the whole amount of sugar into just enough water to dissolve it in a bottling bucket, then syphon the beer on to of this before bottling. If you're doing the bottles individually, just put the sugar in on it's own.
 
markm1878 said:
Hi there,

I've carbed up wheat beers with a teaspoon of sugar per 500ml bottle and it's seemed about perfect. Flip top bottles tend be heavy glass so you should be okay with 4 volumes.

Personally 3.5 I think would be fine, and no danger to your bottles. If you want to batch prime, mix the whole amount of sugar into just enough water to dissolve it in a bottling bucket, then syphon the beer on to of this before bottling. If you're doing the bottles individually, just put the sugar in on it's own.
Click to expand...


If it's a teaspoon exactly I might as well add it to the bottles not batch prime. Do you happen to know what vol one teaspoon amounted to? What temperature was your beer? Was it a level spoon?
 
I use the brewers friend calculator and it works for me. don't know about the other one.

wheat beers are generally best drunk young. darker malty beers best left to mature and very hoppy beers somewhere in between.
 
Hmm I think some of those calculations are wrong. I haven't got gregs book to hand but I believe he suggests 11g per liter. I thought that may be to much for my tastes so I did 8g if anything it could have done with a little more. Batch prime so much easier. I am led to believe that most wheat beers taste better if you drink them sooner
 
If you can you might be better off batch priming, take half pint of the beer, heat it and dissolve the sugar in that, if you have a fermentor with a tap rack your beer into it then slip some sterlised tube onto the tap that is long enough to reach the bottom of the bottles that you are filling then fill the bottles almost to the top then once you pull the tube from the full bottle you should have the right air space between the top of the beer and the lid/stopper
 
Right, so what I actually ended up doing was I diluted some sugar in boiled water so it made 210ml syrup and then I added two teaspoons into each bottle. I think the vol I went for in the end was 3.6ish (I rounded it up or down to a neat number, think it may have been 125gr for 11 l or something). I think that was better than batch priming in a different bucket etc (more convenient) and the syrup went into the bottles without mess.
 
I have to say I actually ended up hand filling the bottles using a jug!

I tried using the tap on the bucket and put the hose right into the bottom of the bottle but the noises it made I felt like I was risking getting (too much) air into the bottle. I really didn't like it and once in a while the hose actually did introduce a gargling noise/bubbles into the bottle. So I used a sterilised jug and just carefully bailed the water out of the bin. The bottles with potentially added air are separate from the others. So if I open them first and they're fine, the others should most definitely be :)
 

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