Mixing in the Bottling Bucket

So has anyone ever used one of those mix-stir mixers that you attach to a hand drill to mix the priming sugar into the beer? Is that a bad idea?


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Aerating the beer is a bad idea. You don't want oxygen.

Can it be done without aerating it? If so, it'll work.

That is a bad idea. Stirring vigorously will introduce air into the beer, which will oxidize it and quickly make the beer taste very stale. It's also completely unnecessary. If you coil the siphon at the bottom of the bucket the gentle vortex of beer entering the bucket will mix things pretty well on it's own, and if you're worried you can give it a gentle stir with the racking cane at the end. Some people add 1/2 the priming solution half way through to help things along.

I only had uneven carbonation on my first batch. Once I refined the technique it hasn't been a problem.

TheBlindBeastBrewery said:

So has anyone ever used one of those mix-stir mixers that you attach to a hand drill to mix the priming sugar into the beer? Is that a bad idea?


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YES. BAD IDEA.

It's good that you asked before doing it.

It's OK to use a sanitized spoon (metal or plastic only) to give the beer a very, very gentle mix to evenly distribute the sugar. I do that since I'm priming/bottling cold beer after it's been clarified via cold crashing.

This may be anecdotal, but once or twice I've forgotten to add sugar to the bucket prior to transfer. My solution was to drop the (sanitized) auto-siphon and hose into the bucket and pump continuously for 10-15 seconds. This allowed the beer to mix without creating any oxygenating disturbances on the surface. Again, anecdotal, but I haven't had any issues.

Thanks guys. I don't think I will be trying it now.


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