Priming Cooper Real Ale

[HLA91]

Hey everyone

I think my kit is just about ready I took a reading just now of 1.005 and if its the same tomorrow then I will bottle it on Thursday. My question is how much sugar should I use on this as it is an ale? By the way my first kit, young's definitive bitter is better than what I expected it too be after only 1 week after bottling it is nice.

Many thanks

HLA91

 

[Virgilartois]

Many people recommend half a teaspoon of priming sugar per 500ml bottle. You can put a funnel in the bottle mouth and tip 0.5 teaspoon into each bottle (like I used to), or you can batch prime by dissolving the total amount of priming sugar into a small amount of cooled boiled water, tipping that into your beer, and stirring VERY gently to avoid aeration. If you're doing an Ale, you might consider 2.0 CO2 volumes, and for a 23L batch, that would mean 93g priming sugar for batch priming.

If you're batch priming, it's nice if you have a designated bottling bucket to which you can rack your beer as a secondary. You'll wind up with less trub at the bottom and you can add a tap designed to make bottling easier (like the one that comes with a Little Bottler:
http://uk.ebid.net/for-sale/little-bottler-tap-wine-winemaking-homebrew-28831083.htm?from=googlebase

I usually wait til fermentation is almost finished, transfer to my secondary with Little Bottler attached, ensure fermentation has finished, then batch prime based on Beersmith software recommendation and finally bottle. You really do get consistent results from every bottle, rather than one bottle being more carbonated than the next.

Hope all this helps...

 

[HLA91]

For my young's bitter I used 2 teaspoons per 2L bottle and it turned out quite fizzy, so could I drop that back lsightly to say 1.5-1 teaspoon or would that be too little. I would probably go for priming per bottle for now, I do also have mini digital scales so if you suggest grams per bottle then that's no problem.

 

[Virgilartois]

I think it's up to your personal taste really... if you like highly carbonated beer, go for what you've done before. If you want a more traditional bitter/ESB style, choose less sugar. If you figure half a teaspoon per 500ml bottle, just say 4 teaspoons per 2 litre bottle. Please do be careful not to overprime... you don't want the halls of residence covered in Cooper's. Boom!

One tip I learned the hard way... be sure to leave 2" of space at the top of each bottle. That's where the carbon dioxide will form before you move the bottles somewhere cold. CO2 is absorbed into the beer during cold storage. For best results, don't miss that step out!

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

 

[Paulie Walnuts]

.......... If you figure half a teaspoon per 500ml bottle, just say 4 teaspoons per 2 litre bottle. Please do be careful not to overprime.............

He'll certainly overprime if he follows those instructions!!!

 

[Moley]

Many people recommend half a teaspoon of priming sugar per 500ml bottle. You can put a funnel in the bottle mouth and tip 0.5 teaspoon into each bottle (like I used to), or you can batch prime

I still prime my bottles individually at half a tsp to the pint, and get consistency between bottles by using a level half tsp measuring spoon.

If 2 tsps to a 2 litre bottle was a bit fizzy, try cutting down to 1.5 tsps, which is about 6g.

Happy Birthday Harry :

 

[HLA91]

Cheers for that Moley, well a slight change of plan. As a birthday present my brother popped up to the Uni and gave me my present, a young's 5 gallon beer keg. So now my question is say I went for 1.5 teaspoons would I just multiply that by the quantity so 1.5*22Litres = 16.5? Or is it different for a keg?

 

[Aleman]

50-60g for a keg

 

[HLA91]

OK ill err on the side of caution and use 50-55g, thanks

 

[HLA91]

Cheers guys, its primed and kegged 55grams. I managed to get Videne so I cleaned with soda crystals then sanitized with Videne 2 liters of water and 2.5ml and it was so much easier, I did give it 2 rinses after the Videne though as there was s bit of foam from when I shook the keg rather vigorously.

 

[Bribie]

If using 2L pop bottles, which was my standard method before I went to kegs, something you could try is to get a pack of the good old fashioned sugar cubes (would you like one lump or two in your tea, Vicar? ) and use 2 per 2L bottle for ales and 3 for lagers. Perfectly identical doses into each bottle and no need to weigh, measure or buy funnels etc.

 

[HLA91]

Just a thought, how long will the ale in the keg last? For some reason the 40 pints only filled the 5 gallon keg halfway so there is air in the top half, or is that to help pressure to force it out kind of thing? Only reason I ask is that I am going away in just under 3 weeks and I want to know if I only drink half by then that the other half will keep till after?

 

[Moley]

Did your brother think to include any kind of gas injector, or is this one of those presents you've got to throw more money at in order to be able to use the thing properly?

See crisparmour's posts on this topic, I don't think I can add to those.

 

[HLA91]

Well to be fair my brother does not have much money so a £20 keg was more than I ever expected. The lid on the keg is like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0022QCOKY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 so I assume I will have to buy one with a valve to be able to use CO2, I think for now I will loosen the lid and let some air out then shut tight again, and if its not drunk by the time i am going away I will bottle and prime with a small amount again. Would that suffice?

 

[spudbasher]

Yeah ,your brother should have spent another £25+ if he really loved you.

What did they do before bottled gas? Beer must have been **** then , its a wonder it caught on.

 

[Moley]

I think for now I will loosen the lid and let some air out then shut tight again, and if its not drunk by the time i am going away I will bottle and prime with a small amount again. Would that suffice?

:thumb: