Priming sugar: poll

Did an advance search and found a number of threads on priming sugars for bottling. Sounded like most people are using corn sugar. Wondering if that's true. What do most of you use and why?

BTW: For the record I used to bottle only for competition when I was entering some years back. And I would use a counterpressure filler, bottling off the keg. And the keg was force carbonated. So, my entry *would* be under "other", except it's not what I will be doing when I get going this summer. I am considering table sugar because it's easy to get here. I mail order DME, but would like to reserve that for starters if table sugar works just as good. I remember reading back in the day that DME makes a better head, but after reading a number of threads here think that info is maybe suspect.

Opinions?

I've only tried corn sugar and DME. Prefer corn sugar. DME takes too long and in my experience is a lot more variable.

Were you measuring it by weight? Seems like DME would have more of a chance of having variability if it's measured by the cup as it can really be packed down or really loose.

I use 1 cup corn sugar per 6 gallons. The reason is the consitency in that coefficient. The small amount of priming sugar for bottle conditioning is not a significant factor in head retention.

amercuric said:

I use 1 cup corn sugar per 6 gallons. The reason is the consitency in that coefficient. The small amount of priming sugar for bottle conditioning is not a significant factor in head retention.

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I remember reading a LONG time ago, not about head retention, but about the quality of the foam being better with DME. Something along the lines of more compact bubbles, a creamier head. Sounds like possible BS, but I never tested it myself to see. Thoughts?

I've been using DME since the beginning of the year and I can't say I noticed a difference between that and corn sugar. It doesn’t seem like it takes any longer or has any better head retention or smoother or anything like that.

If it ever stops raining I’m planning to make 2 batches of the same recipe. I’m going to make them one at a time since it’s a pretty big grain bill and my MLT isn’t that big, so there will be more variables then just the sugar but it’ll be close enough. I’ll try one with corn sugar and one with DME to see if I notice anything.

Anyone else do this before?

BaldAssCat said:

I've been using DME since the beginning of the year and I can't say I noticed a difference between that and corn sugar. It doesn’t seem like it takes any longer or has any better head retention or smoother or anything like that.

If it ever stops raining I’m planning to make 2 batches of the same recipe. I’m going to make them one at a time since it’s a pretty big grain bill and my MLT isn’t that big, so there will be more variables then just the sugar but it’ll be close enough. I’ll try one with corn sugar and one with DME to see if I notice anything.

Anyone else do this before?

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Let us know how it goes.

I normally use corn sugar because that's what you're "supposed" to use. I've used table sugar several times as well and could not tell any difference though.

I've been force-carbing for a while now, but recently primed two kegs with 6 oz of table sugar per. I can't taste the difference on my house ale between force-carbing and natural carbonation with table sugar. YPMV*


* Your palate may vary

Cool. Thanks for the feedback. Like I said, table sugar's much better for me because of availability. So glad to hear there's no noticeable difference. Surprised to see these numbers here.