Just confirming the priming process...

Okay my first brew will have spent three weeks in primary come Saurday and I think its time to bottle.

Now Ive done a search on here and I think I have an idea of what Im doing but Id just like to confirm some of the steps.


Using tasty brew calculator I worked out I need 3.18 oz of table sugar. My plan is to boil this and add it to fermenter, stir, let it settle for 30 mins or so and then siphon into bottles.

My Q's are how much water will I need to boil for 3.18oz of sugar?

Also is there a difference between using table sugar to spraymalt or dextrose? I have all three and am unsure which is better or if there is any difference (its a coopers wheatbeer kit).

Once I sanitize the bottles can I rinse with tap water? I read somewhere I should rinse only with boiling water but Im afraid they wont be rinsed thoroughly enough this way.

Finally, once in the bottles where do I leave them? Two weeks at room temp then chill or should I keep them somewhere warmer?

Thanks guys.

I think you missed a decimal point there man. Start with 3.18 oz of sugar and see what that gets you. I am guessing you have a little over 4 gallons to bottle.

What is the volume of the brew? Most people use corn sugar somewhere around the 4oz range for a 5G batch.......2lbs of table sugar seems like an awful lot and will surely lead to shards o' glass everywhere. I usually boil this in a cup or two of water for 10-15 min. Chill before adding to the bottling bucket.

Most people will add their boiled priming sugar to the bottom of their bottling bucket and then rack the beer from the fermenter into the bottling bucket. This gets the priming sugar pretty well mixed.

Here is a great read on bottling......I've adapted a lot of the techniques. You def need to sanitize the bottles before filling. A no rinse like StarSan works very well.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/bottling-tips-homebrewer-94812/

After bottling leave them in a dark room around 70F for three weeks. After that chill them for at least 48 hours before popping the top.

Jason

BendBrewer said:

I think you missed a decimal point there man. Start with 3.18 oz of sugar and see what that gets you. I am guessing you have a little over 4 gallons to bottle.

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Sorry BendBrewer...still not used to Gallons...I have 20litres of beer so need as you say 3.18 of sugar.

I see a number of potential problems here, do you not have a bottling bucket?

Maherj1 said:

Sorry BendBrewer...still not used to Gallons...I have 20litres of beer so need as you say 3.18 of sugar.

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No problem. Would hate to see you turn a batch of beer into instant bottle bombs. Real glad that you asked.

COLObrewer said:

I see a number of potential problems here, do you not have a bottling bucket?

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Hi COLO,

No bottling bucket...aside from this what other problems do you see?

Woah woah woah woah!

Woah.

31.8oz? Thats just shy of 2 pounds boss! How big is your batch? I'm assuming that since it is a kit, that you made 5.0 gallons, correct? Normally 5.0 oz of corn sugar is about standard for that size batch; table sugar requires a little less.

Using the same calculator, and assuming that you plan on serving it around an average fridge temperature of 40F, and being that it's a wheat beer I assume you want something like 2.6 volumes of CO2, I get 3.0 oz of table sugar using the same calculator.

I'm hoping that maybe you misplaced your decimal point! Hahaha, then again, if you do put 2# of sugar in, will you please get a video of it up on youtube? Those bottles will be popping like the fourth of July!

;-)

*edit*
Looks like a I was a little slow on the draw!

I wouldn't rinse the bottles after sanitizing them, just shake out the excess sanitizer and fill them up with beer. Also, since you didn't specifically mention it, you should let the boiled sugar water cool down to room temp before racking your beer on top of it.

Maherj1 said:

Hi COLO,

No bottling bucket...aside from this what other problems do you see?

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Well, In order to get the priming sugar mixed well in the fermentor, you will need to stir it quite alot. This will kick up your trub and possibly cause the beer to be cloudy or hazy. If you DON'T get it mixed well there is a possibility that some bottles will not be carbonated and some will explode from too much priming sugar. I think you will have to wait alot longer than 30 minutes for it to settle? Maybe not. It is much easier to bottle from a bottling bucket and they are cheap.

Make certain after you boil the priming mixture that you cool it before you add it.

There is no need to rinse the bottles after sanitization, just let them drain and airdry, if you don't have a bottle tree, simply place a clean towel in a laundry basket and turn the bottles upside down in it to drain. Or drain them upside down on the dishwasher racks.
Edit: This assumes you are using the correct dilution rate of your sanitizer.

Brew on my friend

I'm guessing you're using the Cooper's fermenter? If so, don't worry about the bottling bucket as you just bottle from the spigot in the fermenter. Of course, you know this already, just stating for those that might wonder how you plan to bottle

As for 20 liters that's about 5.28 gallons. If you use dextrose then I would use 5oz if I were you. It should be a good level of carbonation for a wheat beer. If you use table sugar use less. I forgot the exact ratio to calculate but I'm sure others will chime in. Some already have said around the 3oz mark but again, you can look up the conversion rate and calculate exactly how much table sugar to use.

But since you said you have dextrose on hand just use 5oz.

*EDIT - and after you add the sugar to the fermenter and you stir make sure to stir gently!! Don't be aggressive and stir it roughly cause you don't want to get air in the wort. Just stir it slowly and gently for a minute or so, that should be enough to mix it in evenly. then wait some time for any kicked up trub to settle. But if you stir gently you probably won't bring up much - make sure not to put the spoon so far in that it scrapes the bottom or you will kick up a lot of trub!


Rev.

Cheers fellas.


Well its a weissbier so I dont mind it being cloudy (as long as it tastes ok) so thats why I didnt think Id need a second bucket. Would people recommend a 2nd bucket even with a weissbier?

Also yeah meant to say I plan to let solution cool.

Any thoughts on the differences between table sugar/brown sugar/spraymalt/dextrose????

Does it actually matter?

If it's the Cooper's "kit" and you didn't add anything to it then it's not really a german weissbier. For one, the yeast they include is standard ale yeast, it won't create hefeweizen flavors. Secondly, the mixture is a bit thin. For mine I added 2lbs of wheat DME in addition to their 1.1lb light DME and skipped using the dextrose. I used Wyeast 3068 yeast.

No, you don't need a secondary, especially for wheat beers as they're naturally cloudy anyway. As for the sugar, many say brown sugar does impart a slight flavor and I've read some say table sugar creates slightly smaller bubbles than dextrose. I'm too new to know personally here since I've only used dextrose to prime.


Rev.

Might want to give this a look, it's pretty basic:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter1-3.html

Rule of thumb I think is 3/4 cup by volume of corn sugar, or 2/3 cup by volume table sugar for a 5 Gallon batch. Gonna have to do your own metric conversions.

Wiezer said:

I wouldn't rinse the bottles after sanitizing them, just shake out the excess sanitizer and fill them up with beer.

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...as long as it's a food-safe sanitizer like StarSan. If you're using unscented bleach, for example, then you don't any traces of that in your bottles.

cms said:

...as long as it's a food-safe sanitizer like StarSan. If you're using unscented bleach, for example, then you don't any traces of that in your bottles.

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Good point. What are you sanitizing with? And what types of bottles? If you're using bleach you definitely want to rinse the bottles out several times each. If they're plastic bottles do NOT use excessively hot water or they can be damaged. If you're using StarSan then you don't need to rinse.


Rev.