priming

When priming the beer at in the bottling bucket by adding a small amount of boiled water in which priming sugar has been dissolved, do you want to let the sugar water cool to at least 80 degrees before pitching it in or just pitch it in hot?

I let mine cool first but I don't think it would matter either way. I think once its diluted with the rest if the wort the temperature difference would be insignificant. But that's just my opinion.

Best bet would be to let it hit room temperature before pitching your solution. Reason being is that when you bring somethin fresh from a boil and introduce it into your room-temp beer, you're creating a temporary "hot spot". The remaining yeast that has been brought back into suspension after racking has now become stunned and impotent, or compromised, within the vicinity of that hot spot. While this may not always be detrimental especially in low gravity beers, its always better to be safe than sorry. Cheers!

there has been a batch or two where I forgot to get priming sugar going before I racked over, so I was furiously boiling and adding it while siphoning from the fermenter into my bucket. I didn't notice any ill effects - the amount added (1 cup in ~5 gallons) is so small that it's quickly cooled. you may kill a little yeast where it first contacts the beer, but there's so much in there that I don't think it makes a difference.

that said, I typically boil it and then put the pot in a little ice bath (fill a large bowl with ice and water) and try to cool it as close to room temp as possible before pouring into the bucket and racking on top of it. make sure you wipe off the outside of the pot so you don't drip into the bucket.

I add my priming sugar after about a gallon of beer has transfered. by the time the vessel is full, it should have mixed very well. As for harming the yeast, I wouldn't worry about it. Most people transfer much more yeast than they need to carbonate the beer.

Consider Sierra Nevada. They filter their beer and add a small amount of yeast to bottle condition. The sediment in those bottles is usually much less than what is in my bottles.

I prepare my priming solution first, then while it sits for a few I get everything else ready to go. I pour the solution into the bottling bucket and then rack the beer on top. Very rarely is the temperature below 100 and with such a small amount going into 5+ gallons of 65 degree beer I have never experienced any ill effects.

Cool it first. I just fill my sink a bit with cold water and put in a plastic ice brick from my freezer and sit the little pot in it.


Rev.

It really doesn't matter how you do it, within seconds of it making contact with the beer you're racking into the bucket, it's going to be cooled down. It's really ONLY a matter of personal process, it doesn't harm the beer to add it directly boiling, warm, or cold....It's ONLY about preference.

Yea, you absolutely don't need to cool it down. I typically add my priming sugar while it's boiling. The thermal mass of five gallons of beer at room temp is so much greater than a couple ounces of boiling water. No significant quantity of yeast will be harmed that could prevent your beer from carbonating. There are so many more yeast in your beer than you need, it's simply not an issue.

In fact, letting your priming solution cool could open that up to nasties drifting in during that time (although that also really is an incredibly minimal risk).

Not worth the extra effort of cooling if you ask me...