Priming sugar, a few questions.

Strollon15 · Feb 5, 2016

Hi,
I've just started my 2nd kit, this one is the Youngs IPA, and it's fermenting nicely at the moment. It's a while away from bottling yet but i've a couple of basic priming sugar questions.

My 1st kit was the Coopers English Bitter that has worked well and tastes pretty good even though it's still quite young and that had the standard carbonation drops that have produced the prefect carbonation after I used 1 drop per 500ml bottle.
The Youngs kit comes with a pack of 140g Priming Sugar, very fine texture, almost like flour. On the instructions it just says 'If bottling syphon beer into another vessel and then dissolve all the sugar into it. Once dissolved syphon into bottles'.
However I want to go from my fermenter straight into the bottles like I did with the Coopers kit so i've no idea how much Priming Sugar needs to be put individually into each bottle.
Also, is this sugar better for this specific kit rather than the carbonation drops, will they change the taste in any way or is priming sugar the same as the drops but just in another form ??

Just as I think i'm getting on top of this brewing game another few questions seem to surface :thumb:

Cheers all,
Stroll.

wheazy_joe · Feb 5, 2016

Have done the Youngs AIPA a couple of times now, bloody good beer, good choice!

You can use carb drops no problem, that's what I tend to use. Or you could use normal sugar, a teaspoon would equate to about the same as two carb drops.

Not sure exactly what the stuff is that come with the kit, but I tend to just chuck it in at the start to lift the ABV a tiny bit and prime with carb drops.

terrym · Feb 5, 2016

I have done this kit and you have brewing sugar or dextrose as far as I am aware. I remember it being about the same quantity that you mention.
I believe that Youngs intend for you to split the 140g sugar over 23litres, so if using 500ml bottles that would be about 3g per bottle, or roughly two thirds tsp.
140g dextrose in 23 litres gives about 2.5 volumes CO2 which is quite quite gassy, but within the range 2.2 to 2.7 for this style of beer.

Slid · Feb 5, 2016

Priming sugar is not a source of much flavour, due to the relatively small quantities, so most use table sugar. If you want to know how much a carbonation drop weighs, count out 10 or 20 and weigh them, then divide the answer by the number of drops.

I use 2 slightly rounded teaspoons per 2L bottle and a guess at half a rounded teaspoon per 500ml bottle.

The new Youngs kits are well regarded and get good reviews, so good luck :thumb:

Grumpy Jack · Feb 11, 2016

1/2 teaspoon sugar per bottle is fine, in my experience; not too gassy but enough.

The added bonus of dropping to a second FV before you bottle is that it helps to clear the beer. I normally drop into a second FV a few days before bottling; I always get a significant extra layer of sediment left behind which if I'd bottled direct from the first FV, would be in the bottles.

johnnyboy1965 · Feb 11, 2016

^^^^^^ Exactly what Grumpy says. If in doubt, use 1/3 tsp per bottle as its better to have slightly under carbonated bottles, than "gushers" that you cant open.. Note which bottles had what ammount of sugar for future reference.

Strollon15 · Feb 11, 2016

Thanks for all the replies, looks like it's either a third, a half or two thirds of a teaspoon judging by the replies, is that a level or a heaped spoon ??
Just goes to show that everyone does it slightly differently.
I think i'll try all three measurements and also a carbonation drop and mark the bottles and see which one works best for me.

One last question, the priming sugar is like a very fine powder, not crystals or 'crunchy' like normal granulated sugar, any ideas what it is exactly ??
Thanks again,
Stroll.

johnnyboy1965 · Feb 11, 2016

Strollon15 said:
Thanks for all the replies, looks like it's either a third, a half or two thirds of a teaspoon judging by the replies, is that a level or a heaped spoon ??
Just goes to show that everyone does it slightly differently.
I think i'll try all three measurements and also a carbonation drop and mark the bottles and see which one works best for me.

One last question, the priming sugar is like a very fine powder, not crystals or 'crunchy' like normal granulated sugar, any ideas what it is exactly ??
Thanks again,
Stroll.

Brewing sugar is Dextrose, granulated sugar is Glucose, its all "ose" "ose" means sugar. brewers sugar (dextrose) is very fine and easily dissolvable and fermentable. This is waht you need for carbonization.
Lactose is non-fermentable, but its still a "ose" it adds sweetness. You can use granulated sugar and castor sugar and icing sugar, its all the same just ground finer. The finer the grind the more sugar the sweeter it will be, so the less sugar needed.
EG 10g of granulated sugar equals 5g of castor sugar, 2.5g of icing sugar (this is not exactly true, but for priming its near enough

Strollon15 · Feb 11, 2016

WOW, cheers for that, it's as clear as mud now.....lol

Actually it does make more sense, thanks for the explanation, I love this site :thumb:

Stroll.

johnnyboy1965 · Feb 11, 2016

Strollon15 said:
WOW, cheers for that, it's as clear as mud now.....lol

Actually it does make more sense, thanks for the explanation, I love this site :thumb:

Stroll.

LOL, a quick summary. Use the priming sugar that came with the kit (dextrose)
Prime 50% with 1/3 tsp
Prime 40% with 1/2 tsp
Prime 5% with 3/4 tsp
And prime anything left with 1 full tsp (beware these will explode or be gushers.
Just take notes.

wheazy_joe · Feb 11, 2016

johnnyboy1965 said:
The finer the grind the more sugar the sweeter it will be, so the less sugar needed.
EG 10g of granulated sugar equals 5g of castor sugar, 2.5g of icing sugar (this

Is that really the case? Surely if its all the same stuff it would be volume that would be affected by how fine the grind is, not weight?

Surely if I have 10g of granulated sugar and grind it to the equivalent texture of icing sugar, it will still have the same sugar content and weight? However would take up less volume as there would be less air between the particles.

JapanBrew · Feb 11, 2016

It's tough to put each spoon in each bottle. When I was doing it per bottle, I boiled the sugar with a small amount of water. Then I measured the weight and divided it by how many bottles I estimate. Then I use a syringe to inject the solution into each bottle. It worked better that way. But as you do more, it pays to get a bottling bucket and just boil the sugar and mix it in.

wheazy_joe · Feb 11, 2016

I've used two carb drops or 1 teas spoon per 500ml bottle for pretty much every brew I've ever done and never had a gusher or bottle bomb yet. However first brew I did I put 1.5 carb drops per 500ml bottle (yes I cut them in half) and I found this to be under carbed for my liking.

Strollon15 · Feb 11, 2016

wheazy_joe said:
I've used two carb drops or 1 teas spoon per 500ml bottle for pretty much every brew I've ever done and never had a gusher or bottle bomb yet. However first brew I did I put 1.5 carb drops per 500ml bottle (yes I cut them in half) and I found this to be under carbed for my liking.

Interesting, my only brew so far, the Coopers English Bitter, I used the Cooper drops and found that 1 per 500ml bottle produced the perfect carbonation.
I assume different kits will react differently so I can't just assume that every kit I do will be perfect with 1 drop in it, must be governed by the strength of the beer and the amount of sugar used to brew it initially.

I blame Youngs, if they had just given me drops with the kit rather than priming sugar I wouldn't have got so confused :lol:

wheazy_joe · Feb 11, 2016

Strollon15 said:
Interesting, my only brew so far, the Coopers English Bitter, I used the Cooper drops and found that 1 per 500ml bottle produced the perfect carbonation.
I assume different kits will react differently so I can't just assume that every kit I do will be perfect with 1 drop in it, must be governed by the strength of the beer and the amount of sugar used to brew it initially.

I blame Youngs, if they had just given me drops with the kit rather than priming sugar I wouldn't have got so confused :lol:

Also depends on the level of carbonation you like. I'm traditionally a lager drinker hence like my beer fizzy, regardless of style (other than stout).

Whether I'm making a lager, bitter, light ale or IPA I like it to be fizzy so I use the same amount of priming sugar regardless.

I mention stout and that's my next brew, where my intention is to half the amount of priming sugar.

terrym · Feb 11, 2016

johnnyboy1965 said:
granulated sugar is Glucose,

Granulated sugar or caster sugar or icing sugar is sucrose C12H22011. Glucose is chemically different, i.e. C6H12O6. One isomer of glucose is 'dextrose', also known as corn sugar, and of course brewing sugar
To the human taste weight for weight sucrose is sweeter than glucose/dextrose.
Yeast can directly metabolise glucose into ethanol and CO2.
When yeast ferments sucrose there is an intermediate step when glucose is formed which is then broken down into ethanol and CO2.

balmossie · Feb 11, 2016

JapanBrew said:
It's tough to put each spoon in each bottle. When I was doing it per bottle, I boiled the sugar with a small amount of water. Then I measured the weight and divided it by how many bottles I estimate. Then I use a syringe to inject the solution into each bottle. It worked better that way. But as you do more, it pays to get a bottling bucket and just boil the sugar and mix it in.

I have the same kit and have a (very newbie) question: What sort of bottling bucket should I get? Just a plastic thing like my FV?

A link would be good if that is allowed.

Also, should I leave it in the secondary bottling bucket for any length of time?

Dutto · Feb 11, 2016

One of these ...

http://www.homebrewcentregy.com/little-bottler-complete

... fitted to an ordinary FV would constitute a "bottling bucket".

Personally, I syphon the beer into a sterilised FV, mix in the appropriate amount of DME (125 grams for 21 litres) dissolved in some boiled water and then use the syphon to fill the bottles.

It can get a bit tedious with over 40 x 500ml bottles to fill and cap but:

a) It gets easier the more often you do it.

b) I am slowly building up my supply of 650ml flip-top bottles. :thumb: :thumb:

Bigcol49 · Feb 11, 2016

+ 1 for the Little Bottler.
I use FVs without taps, but have one fitted with a tap that I use exclusively for bottling.

JapanBrew · Feb 11, 2016

Dutto linked item would do the trick. You need to get one that a bottling wand can attach to. If not, you can fidget with it, over flame, to mold the plastic to fit but it takes some work. The coopers spout is really cool but you can't attach it to other buckets.

Priming sugar, a few questions.

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

Junior Member

Landlord.

Member

Forum Friend

Regular.

Landlord.

Junior Member

Landlord.

Junior Member

Landlord.

Landlord.

Landlord.

Landlord.

Junior Member

Landlord.

Member

New Member

Landlord.

Landlord.

Landlord.

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!