Bottle Priming

[jonnygtt]

I've just completed my first ever all grain brew (first ever brew full stop!); the Hopback Summer Lightening recipe from the CAMRA / Graham Wheeler book.

I've bottled at various stages to help me understand what impact it might have.

2 bottles after 1 week primary fermentation (took a week to hit FG)
2 after 1.5 weeks in secondary FV
2 after conditioning 'completed'.

At each stage I also primed one of the two bottles with a single Coopers carbonation drop.

While most things have gone reasonably according to plan (bar a couple of small spillages and using waaay too many CO2 bulbs!), I accidentally labelled up both the first two bottles as being primed, which they definitely weren't. I wondered if anyone might be able to help me understand which was which from the below notes:

Bottle 1 -
Fantastic head retention (and a lot of head after pouring)
Much smoother mouthfeel (CO2 bubbles much smaller - a bit like a decent champers!)
Tasted a little more bitter
Sediment at the bottom of the bottle

Bottle 2 -
Hardly any head retention (and very little head after pouring)
Much larger bubbles; bit more aggressive on the tongue, almost tasted like it had been force carbonated (it definitely wasn't)
For me, the overall flavour was better
No sediment at all; completely clear

My guess is that "Bottle 1" must have had the carbonation drop added, as there was clearly more yeast activity in this bottle due to the amount of sediment at the bottom, which I guess would come from the extra sugar available.

Very interesting to taste the very obvious differences between the two. I have to say my preference was definitely "Bottle 2", however the lack of head retention was a shame; Bottle 1 looked like it should have been a much nicer pint!

Interesting also to note:
One bottle didn't taste any sweeter than the other.
I can't see any reason to use two carbonation drops (as I was instructed on the packet); both bottles were sufficiently carbonated (whether or not I use these drops again will depend largely on the responses to this!)….
although I'd be interested to try priming with DME rather than carbonation drops (I didn't do it this time around as I had enough to get my head around!).

Fantastic recipe BTW. Appreciate I have zero experience of home brewing, but I do have experience of drinking beer and this was *highly* drinkable - no off flavours at all, tasted like a very decent pint. If you're into this kind of ale I'd highly recommend giving the recipe a try. I would really like to inject a bit more 'floral' character into it so am looking at trying both a Hopback and adding hops to secondary to see whether I can get what I'm looking for. Any recommendations for hops with a good kick of floral character would also be much welcomed!

Onto brew no. 2!

 

[Banbeer]

Hi @jonnygtt, congrats on completing your first brew and an AG at that. Not really getting where you're coming from with this bit

2 bottles after 1 week primary fermentation (took a week to hit FG)
2 after 1.5 weeks in secondary FV
2 after conditioning 'completed'.

I can advise you that you take your finished brew, bottle it (with desired secondary fermentable) and place it in the warm for a week or two and then condition it by placing it in as cool a place as you can this is what gives you the tiny bubbles and a better head retention.

Using carb drops is a very expensive way of carbing, it's your money tho' and it's up to you. I use sugar cubes (one in a 500ml bottle) or you can just use table sugar like most.

 

[terrym]

My take (noting others may disagree)...
'Priming' is only about CO2 addition to the beer. There are only two products from priming sugar (assuming dextrose or table sugar), alcohol which will just make beer a little dryer, and CO2 which carbonates and does have a slight acidic taste. But if you use the same quantity of priming sugar provided the primary has finished the nett effect from the priming sugar will be exactly the same as far as taste is concerned. And priming sugar will not make your beer any sweeter since it usually get completely consumed by the yeast. And in my view using DME to prime will make no noticeable difference to the end product. And carb drops are a waste of money, table sugar is fine.
Next if you bottle before the primary has completely finiished you will get some CO2 from that and that may be undesirable in terms of producing gushers or worse bottle bombs. Its always best to leave the primary to finish before bottling so that carbonation is controlled entirely by priming sugar (qualified by 'unless you absolutely know what you are doing')
Conditioning is a stage that can affect not only the flavours of a beer but in time can produce beers with a tighter head on pouring.