Golden Syrup for Priming?

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MickDundee

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Is this a good idea? Mixed with hot water and either batch primed or syringed into each bottle?

The supermarkets only sell massive bottles/tins of the stuff and I still have pretty much a whole bottle left after last night's pancakes. I'll be doing another brew at the start of May so would be using it about 3 months after opening.
 
Working it out roughly - if a priming calculator says you need 100g table sugar, golden syrup has 83% of fermentability of that (extract yield of table sugar = 46, golden syrup 38. 38÷46×100 = 82.6). So to get the same carbonation you would need 117g of golden syrup. Make a thinner solution by adding hot water as you say. At least I think those numbers are right!
 
I guess you could use it, but I can't see why - it'll be fiddly and messy compared to a simple half teaspoon of sugar.

Buy a Brewferm Belgian kit and use it to make that, it works really well in place of Belgian candi sugar.
 
I guess you could use it, but I can't see why - it'll be fiddly and messy compared to a simple half teaspoon of sugar.

Buy a Brewferm Belgian kit and use it to make that, it works really well in place of Belgian candi sugar.

It's no problem if you batch prime rather than try to add it to each bottle. In fact whatever I use to prime, it never goes directly into the bottle - I've always made a priming syrup and siphoned my beer into it, then bottled from there.
 
Very interesting comments as I've considered changing sugars for carbonating. I know my lager is crystal clear when bottling but after a few weeks I end up with a powdery white layer at the bottom of the bottle which I assume comes from the granulated sugar I use. Would using candy sugar reduce this or using syrup or honey help?
 
Very interesting comments as I've considered changing sugars for carbonating. I know my lager is crystal clear when bottling but after a few weeks I end up with a powdery white layer at the bottom of the bottle which I assume comes from the granulated sugar I use. Would using candy sugar reduce this or using syrup or honey help?

The white layer is yeast and since yeast is pretty much a requirement of carbonation, you are going to have to put up with it :lol:.

Sounds good that the layer is very thin and that your beer is clear at bottling.

The proper answer to your question, which is asked fairly regularly, is that it makes precious little difference what sugar you use for carbonation as the contribution to the final product is minimal. Table sugar is the cheapest and easiest,
 
Very interesting comments as I've considered changing sugars for carbonating. I know my lager is crystal clear when bottling but after a few weeks I end up with a powdery white layer at the bottom of the bottle which I assume comes from the granulated sugar I use. Would using candy sugar reduce this or using syrup or honey help?

That will be yeast. you can reduce the amount of it but not remove it & keep fizz in the beer when bottling. If you transfer to a secondary it will keep the amount of yeast down.
 
A couple of things here, firstly, priming with syrup sounds like a proper Elm Street, I'd be more inclined to take half of it and mix it with boiling water and add it to the FV. I've used a whole tin on kits before with a kilo of BE and liked the beer. Secondly, I'm wondering if I'd get just a touch more carbonation if I used smaller grain sugar such as caster sugar or even icing sugar, has anyone used either of these and if so with what results?
 
If you add it to the fv you aren't going to get equal carbonation unless you stir it in. This will be difficult to do without stirring up the trub. Better off using a bottling bucket and siphoning your wort into it. That way even distribution of priming agent.
 
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