How much priming sugar per 12oz bottle?

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brandoncox

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Today is a big day for me. I'm bottling my breakfast stout that has turned out very well. The small samples I have tasted throughout fermentation have been amazing and I'm so excited to get this packaged up.

I don't know the CO2 volume in my 2 gallon batch, nor do I know how to determine it. The package of corn sugar I purchased is 8oz so I'm sure it should be enough. I don't want to carb in the fermenter because the brew has been sitting on trub for almost a week now, don't won't any off flavors.


How much corn sugar for each 12oz bottle?

Can the general rule of thumb of 1 tablespoon be too much or less for a 12oz bottle?

And how much water to boil with the amount of sugar I will need?

Please help! Thanks!!
 
You don't want to prime in each bottle for a whole list of reasons. Rack the beer to a bottling bucket with the priming sugar solution already in that bucket. Fill each bottle from there.

2 cups of boiling water and your priming sugar packet.

If you don't have a bottling bucket or a LHBS nearby to get one, check with some local restaurants for an empty food grade bucket. Clean/sanitize it and go to town.
 
smalliewader said:
You don't want to prime in each bottle for a whole list of reasons. Rack the beer to a bottling bucket with the priming sugar solution already in that bucket. Fill each bottle from there.

2 cups of boiling water and your priming sugar packet.

If you don't have a bottling bucket or a LHBS nearby to get one, check with some local restaurants for an empty food grade bucket. Clean/sanitize it and go to town.
Click to expand...


I might just give that a shot. My brew fermented in a Mr. Beer keg and I have another spare one with a spigot. Two questions:

I should shoot for pouring the beer down the side of the bucket as to not add oxygen to the beer, correct?

And so 8oz of corn sugar isn't too much for 2 gallons of beer?
 
8 oz is way too much for 2 gallons of beer. 5-8 oz is for a 5 gallon batch (5-6 oz. is the norm). Never pour! You need a racking cane or auto siphon to gently siphon the beer from one vessel to another and a bottling wand for bottling. Sorry, I know little to nothing about Mr. Beer kits and how they operate, but I'm sure someone else with experience there will chime in.

A stout that's barely a week old is far too young to bottle IMO. 3-4 weeks minimum in the fermentor before bottling. But then again, I know nothing about how Mr. Beer kits/recipes work.
 
The owner of my local homebrew store recommended 6.6 grams of priming sugar per liter of beer. To translate that into ounces and gallons, that's: 0.88 Oz per gallon or 1.76 per 2 gallon.

Hope I helped more than confused :)
 
Look up Revvy's sticky thread about bottling. Read it it, live it.

as stated before, for 2 gallons you want probably 1.5-2oz, depending on how carbed you want it. 8oz would make bottle bombs.

Use a bottling wand to bottle, and use a siphon or a tube from the spout to rack to the bottling bucket.
 
smalliewader said:
8 oz is way too much for 2 gallons of beer. 5-8 oz is for a 5 gallon batch (5-6 oz. is the norm). Never pour! You need a racking cane or auto siphon to gently siphon the beer from one vessel to another and a bottling wand for bottling. Sorry, I know little to nothing about Mr. Beer kits and how they operate, but I'm sure someone else with experience there will chime in.

A stout that's barely a week old is far too young to bottle IMO. 3-4 weeks minimum in the fermentor before bottling. But then again, I know nothing about how Mr. Beer kits/recipes work.
Click to expand...

I actually would call it a hybrid of a brown ale, porter, and stout. I brewed my own recipe, not a Mr. Beer. The grains I used were smoked malt and chocolate malt. Maple syrup, coffee, and flaked oats were my adjuncts. The color is a deep brown color, almost black... maybe it willl condition to a darker color if I give it another week or so? It finished fermenting in only 6 days. It tastes like a stout and smells very strong in alcohol. My hydrometer read a potential for 10% ABV. Don't know exactly what category to place it in.

I'm bottling today because my equipment for my next batch came today, including a racking cane with tubing. The only issue I have with racking is that the cane is 30 inches, which seems a bit too large for the Mr. Beer fermenter. If I have to just add sugar to the bottles with the spoon then I don't mind, as long as it's my best option. I don't want to take any chances of screwing the batch up.
 
Adding sugar to the bottles with a spoon is asking for inconsistent carbonation. Using a bottling bucket is the way to go.

And you can't "carb in the fermenter." The CO2 that is produces goes out of the airlock.
 
brandoncox said:
I don't want to take any chances of screwing the batch up.
Click to expand...

I don't want to come off as rude, but it seems there is a lot you need to learn, but that is why you are in the beginner's section.

Read up on using a hydrometer. The "10% ABV potential" does not mean you have 10%ABV. You need to be concerned with the specific gravity values instead.

Read up on bottling beer. Adding sugar to each bottle is not the way to go, as it is easy to be inconsistent and nearly impossible to get right.

Boil some water, add the sugar to it, cool it all down (to 70F), put it in the bottom of a SANITIZED bottling bucket, rack the beer on top of it (siphon or tube from spigot, do NOT splash!) allowing the sugars to mix evenly into the beer. Then bottle from a bottling wand.

You next ingredient kit can wait. Stick the hops and yeast in the fridge. The beer is not going to get darker, no additional dark malts are going to find their way in. But the taste will be better along with the clarity if you give it at least 3 weeks in the fermenter. If you are fine with a rougher, less refined flavor then go ahead and bottle, but I would highly suggest being patient and letting it settle. Just because it is done fermenting doesn't mean you should go ahead and bottle.
 
Tall_Yotie said:
I don't want to come off as rude, but it seems there is a lot you need to learn, but that is why you are in the beginner's section.

Read up on using a hydrometer. The "10% ABV potential" does not mean you have 10%ABV. You need to be concerned with the specific gravity values instead.

Read up on bottling beer. Adding sugar to each bottle is not the way to go, as it is easy to be inconsistent and nearly impossible to get right.

Boil some water, add the sugar to it, cool it all down (to 70F), put it in the bottom of a SANITIZED bottling bucket, rack the beer on top of it (siphon or tube from spigot, do NOT splash!) allowing the sugars to mix evenly into the beer. Then bottle from a bottling wand.

You next ingredient kit can wait. Stick the hops and yeast in the fridge. The beer is not going to get darker, no additional dark malts are going to find their way in. But the taste will be better along with the clarity if you give it at least 3 weeks in the fermenter. If you are fine with a rougher, less refined flavor then go ahead and bottle, but I would highly suggest being patient and letting it settle. Just because it is done fermenting doesn't mean you should go ahead and bottle.
Click to expand...

I did take a proper OG hydrometer reading at 1.076. The things you mentioned I already know but I'm asking to see what's best with the equipment I have. I DO want to use a bottling bucket and not add to the bottles but like I said, does my equipment work for this? It seems to so I'm going to go with this method. Now I don't know proper priming with the CO2 levels, and I'm not trying to be so precise at the moment but I want to be careful. I've added a tbs to bottles before and they turned out fine but I was asking if it was a decent method. Yes I am a beginner in brewing and I'm learning everyday. Thanks for everyones help!
 
brandoncox said:
I did take a proper OG hydrometer reading at 1.076. The things you mentioned I already know but I'm asking to see what's best with the equipment I have. I DO want to use a bottling bucket and not add to the bottles but like I said, does my equipment work for this? It seems to so I'm going to go with this method. Now I don't know proper priming with the CO2 levels, and I'm not trying to be so precise at the moment but I want to be careful. I've added a tbs to bottles before and they turned out fine but I was asking if it was a decent method. Yes I am a beginner in brewing and I'm learning everyday. Thanks for everyones help!
Click to expand...

What's your CURRENT gravity?

Go read my bottling sticky, for more information on how to bottle and if your 'current equipment" will work.
 
PVH said:
Adding sugar to the bottles with a spoon is asking for inconsistent carbonation. Using a bottling bucket is the way to go.

And you can't "carb in the fermenter." The CO2 that is produces goes out of the airlock.
Click to expand...

Well there is some residual CO2 which is dissolved into the beer, the amount of which varies with temperature. This is why one should always adjust the amount of priming sugar used to carbonate based on the temperature of the beer.
 
I dissagree with sugar in the bottles - mr beer says I think 3/4 a TEAspoon per bottle. With that said, it will get inconsistant unless you are careful to level each time you measure. Mr. Beer sells a little preset measuring device for this. BUT as others have said, better results can be gotten with a bottling bucket - so going that way is easy for you

For your equipment don't rack from the cane to the bottling bucket. use the mr beer spout and some tubing to go to your bottling bucket. no siphon needed and follow Revvy's advice after that. If the tubing doesn't fit, then there is this place that sells material you can used for addapting, they go by either Lowes or Home Depot, possibly your LHWS. this may take some tinkering, and the seal might not be perfectly beer tight, but it can ge gotten close.

However before you consider this, 1 how long has it been fermenting/in the fermentor 2 what was your OG and what is the SG now? is it the same yesterday? tomorrow? usually 3 days with now gravity change shows that all the sugars that will be eaten have been. Don't bottle the beer until it is ready to be bottled.
 
I found years ago a great article on bottling mr beer. Basically you get a 2-3 gallon spigoted water container from any big box store, and rig up the wand (or hose and wand) to that spigot and carefulle rack using a hose on the brown keg's spigot to move the beer into the "bottling container."

iirc the guy in the mr beer article used this very container.

3_gallon_dispensing_water_bottle_lg.jpg
 
brandoncox said:
I did take a proper OG hydrometer reading at 1.076. The things you mentioned I already know but I'm asking to see what's best with the equipment I have. I DO want to use a bottling bucket and not add to the bottles but like I said, does my equipment work for this? It seems to so I'm going to go with this method. Now I don't know proper priming with the CO2 levels, and I'm not trying to be so precise at the moment but I want to be careful. I've added a tbs to bottles before and they turned out fine but I was asking if it was a decent method. Yes I am a beginner in brewing and I'm learning everyday. Thanks for everyones help!
Click to expand...

Ah, sorry about that!

You can find a priming sugar calculator online, I use this one:

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

It hasn't steered me wrong yet. For an average beer, I would go with 2.5 volume CO2. At 2 gallons, that is about 1.8oz corn sugar. good strong carbonation without making foamers.

I have added priming sugar straight into the fermenter and bottled from there, no major issues. Just make sure to mix it in really good (without aerating or kicking up a lot of the sludge on the bottom). Not a preferred method, but it will work.

I hope it turns out well!
 
It is really best to go by weight so the 1.8-2.0oz measurements mentioned are where I would be.

Volume measrement has too many variables, size of granules, accuracy of measuring device and so on!

I love Revvy's recommendation on the water bottle w/spigot, that is awesome for small batches!

Good luck!
 
Revvy said:
This isn't the same article, but this guy used 2 mr beer kegs to batch prime.

And he's got his wand directly attached to the spigot (must read my bottling thread. ;))
Click to expand...

Thank you all. I will definitely check out the bottling thread. I bought a wand last month to use with the Mr. Beer fermenter and this looks to be very easy. I also bought caps and the red baron capper from NB.

So here's the plan... I'm going to rack to the spare sanitized Mr. Beer fermenter with my priming solution already layering the bottom, then attach wand and bottle!

I will take pictures and let you guys know how it turns out.
 

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