Bottling - Sugar direct in the bottle?

I am soon to bottle my second brew. I've done all the searches and just have one niggle.

I was going to simply put half a teaspoon of sugar direct in each bottle. I could be confident then that each bottle would carbonate.

If I dilute the sugar and put it in my bottling bucket whilst raking in my beer from the fermenter, I'm worried that there won't be an even spread of sugar in the beer.

Thoughts?

If it's a five gallon batch just add 3/4 cup priming sugar boiled in a pint of water to the wort collected after raking from your secondary. It is more reliable and less time consuming.

Put the boiled, cooled sugar water in the bottom of the bottling bucket and then rack the beer into the bucket. You should get plenty of mixing...but if you like, use your autosiphon or a sterilized spoon to mix 'er up a little more.

Right, thanks... that's all I needed. I'm gonna bin the sugar in the bottle technique and put the dissolved solution in the empty bottling bucket. Thanks.

In the spirit of not taking any advice for granted, I've tried both the sugar to bottling bucket and the adding to each individual bottle. Believe me the bucket option is by far the easiest and most reliable.

You'll get a much more even distribution of the priming sugar by mixing it in the bottling bucket than trying to add it to the bottles because it is difficult to measure small amounts of powder accurately by volume. Another problem with adding priming sugar to the bottles is there is no way to sterilize it.

Just add 4-5 ounces of corn sugar to a couple cups of water and microwave it for a few minutes. Add it to your bucket, add the wort and you are good to go. If you are concerned about even distribution, stir the wort before you bottle with a sterile spoon or paddle, just try not to aerate it.

Tom

what if you're bottling directly from your primary? i use a better bottle with a spigot.

Putting sugar directly in the bottle could also lead to some foaming issues as you bottle. Even straight from the fermenter, beer has a bit of dissolved CO2. When you add granular sugar, nucleation sites are created, and the beer could foam up, making a mess before capping.

Ask me how I know...

Yuri_Rage said:

Putting sugar directly in the bottle could also lead to some foaming issues as you bottle. Even straight from the fermenter, beer has a bit of dissolved CO2. When you add granular sugar, nucleation sites are created, and the beer could foam up, making a mess before capping.

Ask me how I know...

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Ugh, I can just picture the gushers... like Mentos and Diet Coke.

Ramsbottom_Brewer said:

If I dilute the sugar and put it in my bottling bucket whilst raking in my beer from the fermenter, I'm worried that there won't be an even spread of sugar in the beer.

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Stir gently with a sanitized spoon.

It is much easier to get the one larger sugar mass weighed/dissolved correctly than it is to dry measure sugar 50x.

I prime each bottle every time.And have always had consistent carbonation.I also like my beer a little more carbonated than most,so I use 3/4 tsp in each one.My first couple batches I put the melted sugar in the bottom of the bucket and had some less carbed than others.To each his own I guess.Btw I have NEVER had a problem with "foamers" while bottling.Just make sure it is completely done fermenting.

misteradam said:

what if you're bottling directly from your primary? i use a better bottle with a spigot.

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You could do it this way, but frankly, I've been much happier using the bottling bucket and transferring on top of the sugar solution than the old way, which was to place the sugar into the bottle and fill each one up. I did used to fight the foam the old way.

Also, if you don't have one, plan on picking up a bottling wand in the future. It can really make it go faster and with less spillage.

EDIT do not prime per bottle if bottling directly from the spiggot on the primary.better yet Do not bottle from spiggot on the primary