better to rack wort on top of sugar for bottling

Should I rack the wort from my secondary on top of my priming sugar solution or should I simply pour it into the wort and give it a stir?

Either works fine. I've done both, but I always give it a good stir. Many will say there's a risk of oxygenating the beer by stirring, but I haven't run into a problem, at least not yet.

I rack on top. I guess I just feel it just gets incorporated better IMO.

i rack on top... never thought about just pouring it into the carboy before bottling and saving a step

seems like it might be a good idea

I rack on top and let the swirling wort do the mixing.


I try not to let anything touch the beer/wort that doesn't absolutely need to touch it.

dadshomebrewing said:

i rack on top... never thought about just pouring it into the carboy before bottling and saving a step

seems like it might be a good idea

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BAD IDEA. You'll need to stir to make sure it's evenly distributed, which will stir up any trub resting on the bottom. OP meant pour into bottling bucket, not carboy, I assume.

HollisBT said:

I rack on top and let the swirling wort do the mixing.


I try not to let anything touch the beer/wort that doesn't absolutely need to touch it.

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It's really not a big deal. If you're sanitation practices are sound, you won't have a problem. Just dip the stirrer into some starsan, and you're good. I haven't had an infection yet (although pretty much everyone will have one at some point in their brewing history).

What I have always done is start the siphon then pour some of the priming solution at each gallon mark. Never had an issue with carbonation doing it this way. YMMV.

TheZymurgist said:

It's really not a big deal. If you're sanitation practices are sound, you won't have a problem. Just dip the stirrer into some starsan, and you're good. I haven't had an infection yet (although pretty much everyone will have one at some point in their brewing history).

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While I don't necessarily disagree with you, everything in brewing is very much a YMMV kind of thing. And my personal sanitation practices include not touching the beer or wort with anything that doesn't absolutely need to touch it

I rack on top and then when finished give it a gentle stir with my sanitized long handle metal spoon. It's always worked well for me and every batch has been evenly carbonated.

I rack on top and stir. Once i reached in with my clean but unsanitized arm to tighten the valve. Had no proplems. At bottling your beer is loaded with alcohol and is very resilient.