CyberBob

Recipes 

I'm bottling tomorrow and have a quick question. Brewing guides all say to disturb the fermented brew as little as possible when racking to a bottling bucket. However, if you pour in your priming sugar mix after boiling and then gently rack in your brew how do you get a good mix with the primer? Is it OK to stir after racking to the bottling bucket?

dcHokie

Recipes 

Don't stir it, just add your boiled and cooled priming sugar liquid to your bottling bucket and rack your beer into it, that process will sufficiently mix.

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Fermenting/Aging: Wild Ale, Repas du Matin Sour Table Beer, Flanders Red, Sour Solera, Le Batard Saison Solera, 3Brett Saison, Brett English Brown, OudBruin, Sour Solera, Lambic, Sour Stout, Barleywine Barrel
Bottled/Kegged: Brett Belgian Rye Stout, Berliner Weisse, FlandersPale, FunkyDirtyBlonde, Brett Old Ale, Dark Saison, Brett IPA, Orval clone, Funky Fig Saison, Mango BGSA, JP Bam clone, Rapture RIS, '09 RIS, '10 Oak Barleywine

dcHokie

Recipes 

I'd also suggest consulting a bottle priming guide for sugar quantity (such as tastybrew.com) rather than the obligatory 5 oz included in most kits

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Fermenting/Aging: Wild Ale, Repas du Matin Sour Table Beer, Flanders Red, Sour Solera, Le Batard Saison Solera, 3Brett Saison, Brett English Brown, OudBruin, Sour Solera, Lambic, Sour Stout, Barleywine Barrel
Bottled/Kegged: Brett Belgian Rye Stout, Berliner Weisse, FlandersPale, FunkyDirtyBlonde, Brett Old Ale, Dark Saison, Brett IPA, Orval clone, Funky Fig Saison, Mango BGSA, JP Bam clone, Rapture RIS, '09 RIS, '10 Oak Barleywine

kh54s10

Recipes 

Put your siphon hose at the side of the bucket so that it creates an eddy. This will mix the solution well enough. I thought I was not getting a good mix so I took a sanitized spoon and gently stirred. (no splashing) I didn't see much difference.

bredstein

Recipes 

I would also suggest first pour your priming sugar (I boil 2 cups of water and 3/4 cups of cane sugar for a minute a so, then cool down to room temp) in the bucket, then the beer flow will mix with this sugar by itself. Sometimes I forget, and then add this "syrup" to the full bucket. In this case I just stir it with a long spoon, going slow and gentle - never noticed any difference.

Panky

Recipes 

I second this! The 5oz. packs are a major problem because you usually don't end up with 5 gallons in the bottling bucket and even if you do, it might be more than the style calls for. I learned my lesson after a few batches because it sucks to end up with half a glass of head

kwingert

Recipes 

I gently stir mine. The priming sugar solution is heavier then your beer and has a hard time mixing with the beer. I stir mine after every 6 bottles to keep it evenly distributed.

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Beer is proof god loves us and wants us to be happy-Franklin

CyberBob

Recipes 

Thanks for all the replies. I ended up stirring gently. I did use the whole 5 oz. package of priming sugar, we'll see how it goes.

Panky

Recipes 

Shouldn't be a big deal. You might wanna toss one in the fridge 2 weeks in or so and see how the carbonation is though

rico567

Recipes 

My racking hose reaches from my autosiphon to the bottom of my bottling bucket, where it creates a whirlpool. When racking starts, I pour in the boiling priming sugar mixture in, and in five years of brewing, I've no evidence that it doesn't mix thoroughly. The fact that it's hot doesn't seem to hurt anything, and two cups of liquid can't raise the temperature of 5 gallons of beer appreciably....

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“Malt does more than Milton can / To justify God’s ways to man”

-A. E. Housman (1859–1936). A Shropshire Lad , 1896.