compact007

Recipes 

Ok so this is the first batch of beer i have made and im using the Mr Beer brew setup Because this is just a starting hobby. Well my first fermentation is coming to an end and i was wondering instead of adding sugar to each bottle then filling the bottle, how mush sugar would i add to the entire batch and how would i go by doing this. I know i might sound dumb but its just a question i was thinking of. Thanks guys!!!

sweepking

Recipes 

Actually many "standard" kit users do that same procedure so that they can boil the sugar in some water to sterilize it, but they usually have another bucket to transfer the beer into to mix it with the sterile sugar water. The problem with adding the sugar directly to the Mr. Beer keg is that you would need to stir it well and you might get some of the krausen residue that sticks to the side in your beer which would sour the taste a bit. You would also stir up all the yeast on the bottom which wouldn't be very good. I would just add the sugar to the bottles as directed.

compact007

Recipes 

Cool, sounds good to me, i was just wondering if there were other ways. thanks for the help!

Kotzbrocken

Recipes 

About 3/4 cup corn sugar (dextrose) to 5 gallons of beer. A little more or less won't hurt it.

The "Prohibition Method" (what Papazian calls it) of priming each bottle individually has two small problems associated with it. First, it makes sanitation more difficult to control. Second, uneven amounts of sugar in each bottle, potentially leading to under or over carbonation.

If you have two carboys (or pails), when it's time for bottling you can pour your sugar solution (your dextrose boiled in water) into the empty one and then siphon the beer into it. Or you can add the sugar directly to the entire batch if you take care not to stir up the sediment at the bottom (I do it this way when I'm feeling lazy).

Know I'm a bit late and its a moot point, but perhaps this may be of help in later batches.

cheezus

Recipes 

mr beer has no secondary, or even a bottling bucket, you pour right from the spigot on the fermenter. It's shaped such that the trub will settle at the bottom and stay out of your beer; if you stir in priming sugar, you'll pull the trub back into suspension and you'll have to wait until it settles, during which time your yeast will go to work on the priming sugar. If you're not sure about adding sugar to each bottle (the difference between bottles and the contamination risk are valid concerns), check out a product called primetabs

The Professor

Recipes 

For this problem I would recommend Coopers Carbination Drops (or the primetabs as our freind Cheezus mentioned). Each piece is enough priming sugar for a 12 oz beer and you use 2 pieces for 22 oz bottles. This will eliminate the dosing problems as well as ensure you do not disturb your beer prior to bottling. These should be available online if you do not have a local homebrew shop. Eventualy as you realize that homebrewing is the only way to go, you will likely want to upgrade your brewery to include 2 glass carboys and 1 bottling bucket. Then you can prime your whole 5 gallon batch with 3/4 cups dextrose or 1 cup DME (dried malt extract) as well as rack (transfer) your beer to a secondary fermentor to age and clarify. And the glass caboys are nice because you can observe the fermentation process.

theBrewman12

Recipes 

hey, i agree completely... the two glass carboys and the bottling bucket improvethe taste and clarity of your beer greatly.. so if your just starting out and dont have the money.. stick to a mr beer(but wiht the mr beer instead of pounds of sugar use dried malt extract DME)... but if you really like doing this go ahead and putthe money down or start saving.. cause with a better system its much EASIER and better tasting... and with glass carboys you can watch the whole thing.. well thats just my two cents... but for yall with mr beer stick to them for a few batches and if you really like brewing your own beer might as well trick the wife into letting you buy a new setup.. glass carboy setup should run online for 130, but shipping with 2 cases of 12 oz bottles for like 20 bucks but are expensive to ship and an intermediate ingredient kit would rtun like 220.. then next time save the bottles (re use them)... and just order a 20 dollar intermediate ingredient kit with 5 dollar shipping and your good.. again just my two cents...

(im not trying to come off as an ass to mr beer users)

demandred

Recipes 

While using the Mr Beer brewing equipment I get around the priming issue by making a solution of equal parts corn sugar and water, boiling and cooling it and then adding to the bottles. 12 oz bottles 3/4 tsp corn sugar and 3/4 tsp water per bottle. 16 oz bottles 1 tsp corn sugar and 1 tsp water per bottle. When adding the solution, add 3/4 tsp solution per 12 oz bottle and 1 tsp solution per 16 oz bottle. If there is solution left, add another 1/4 or 1/2 tsp per bottle. (Don't cap till all the solution is equally used) I've had good results with this method.