Bottle Priming?

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sunners1

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So I have my first brew on the go, having not realised to keep it warm it now has bubble wrap and a blanket around, one night in the cold garage on a heat pad!
My friend has said when it comes to bottling I need to prime my bottles with a teaspoon of sugar in each bottle?? Thoughts??


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How much sugar you add depends on several things, how big are the bottles, what type of beer is it (ale, lager, stout) and how much carbonation you actually like in the specific beer type.
 
Thanks Chewie, is there a way of working this out 500ml bottles is what I'll be using?


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May sound a bit complicated but the best way of getting it right is to batch prime in a seperate (bottling bucket) the amount of sugar depends on Co2 volumes you are trying to achive typical figures are 1.75 to 2 Co2 volumes for an ale stout etc & up to 3+ for a lager there are calculators online or brewing software such as beersmith for this other factors are the temp the beer was fermented at & also weather your using DME, brewing sugar etc.
You could use carbination drops from the brewshop like a little block of sugar you add to each bottle, but im not really a fan of this method.
 
Hi!
The easiest way is to batch prime - dissolve all the sugar for the complete brew into a little boiling water, cool, put into the bottling bucket and rack the beer from the fermenter onto the sugar solution so that it gets mixed completely. Then you simply transfer to sanitised bottles. There are priming calculators online - I use the one on Brewer's Friend.
EDIT- too slow; Brewmarc got in first :grin:
 
If you follow the calculator link at the top of the page it will take you to > http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

For 500ml bottles a heaped teaspoon is 6g of pure white granulated sugar, this will vary though on the size of the spoon, if you want consistency use kitchen measuring spoons ( less than £4 at john lewishttp://www.johnlewis.com/kitchen-craft-colourworks-5-piece-measuring-spoon-set-multi/p231823379?sku=231823379&s_kwcid=2dx92700016658238466&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=CPfA_N3Sy9ECFQgq0wod3dcE_A&gclsrc=aw.ds ) , for example if you have a 750ml bottle and need 1 1/2 teaspoons you can use the 1/2 teaspoon and the whole teaspoon at the same time, of if you want 3/4 teaspoon you use the 1/2 and the 1/4 at the same time.

You can also batch prime whereby you rack to a secondary FV adding the premixed sugar wash first, you then bottle directly from the secondary, some have found there to be some inconsistency when bottling using this method though.
 
I have just bottled a Ritchies Simply Yorkshire Bitter into 500ml bottles and the recipe saifd to prime with a flat teaspoon of sugar

I used regular granulated white sugar for mine :)
 
I think I'll go with the flat teaspoon and see how I get on, I may invest in a bottler as time goes and maybe beyond to whole industrial unit where beer is brewed in masses ahhhhhh heaven!!


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I've always used measured teaspoons but my last batch I just used ordinary sugar lumps, they weigh a bit less than 4g which is a reasonable compromise amount to suit various beer styles. They simplify things greatly, consistent plus no faffing with little funnels and spilling sugar about the place. Worked just fine, will use again.
 
Nigelnorris that's a great idea, on my way for some cubes now...


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The trouble I've had with batch priming is that I brew small volumes and often can't determine exactly what my volume is. The gradients on the bottling bucket are to big!

With small volumes, little errors can make big differences. So I've made up sugar solution with boiled water and added it to the bottles with a syringe (62p in Boots from the pharmacy counter).

Say I have 8-9L in my bottling bucket but I'm not sure exactly how much and I want 5g sugar per 500ml bottle.
I make up 100ml water with 100g sugar which is enough for 10L (20 bottles). So I add 5ml to each bottle with the syringe and have a little left over at the end.

Having said that, I batch primed the last lot after marking more gradients on the bucket!! :lol:
 
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