Bulk Prime or Per-Bottle?

Hi there, I'm going to be bottling my second ever batch this weekend and was hoping to correct a bit of undercarbing that I had on my first batch.

First batch was per-bottle primed using corn sugar, 1/2 teaspoon per bottle, which I think is 2-2.1 grams each'ish? Now granted we were a bit sloppy that time, didn't use a funnel but did use a 1/2 tsp measuring spoon for each, but some sugar did wind up on the rim or spilling out down the side on some bottles. The majority should have been fine though, however the majority of the beers from that batch (3 weeks at 70F and 1 week in the fridge now) are undercarbed a little to a lot.

So! Question is: is bulk priming actually more accurate (which seems to be the consensus) even when compared to an accurate measurement per bottle, added using a funnel? Sort of wondering which way to go this time. I either go carefully add it to each bottle again using a funnel, or rack it all into a carboy onto bulk primed, boiled and cooled, quantities as per "The Beer Recipator" website.

Thoughts, without bias? Is one truly more accurate per bottle than the other when both are done carefully?

Cheers guys!

I wouldn't even think about priming each bottle with a teaspoon measure unit... I've had excellent results priming the entire batch before bottling it up. Just figure out what your CO2 volume target is, and how much sugar you need to use, and do that for the entire batch.

As long as you mix correctly (really easy to do too) you won't have issues.

IMO, in order to properly prime each bottle, you would need a highly accurate way to measure the priming solution going into each bottle. That will take more time, effort, energy, etc. than simply prime the entire batch and go from there. Plus, you don't need to worry if you use too much, or too little, in each bottle.

Definitely bulk prime, way easier and you should get a good mix just by racking on top of the priming solution (racking will swirl it up nicely).

bulk prime, and you HAVE to weigh your priming sugar. its not a volume measurement but a weight of sugar.

fluffy sugar in a teaspoon = less sugar in the bottle
dense/packed sugar = more sugar in the bottle

but a pound of bricks and a pound of feathers are always consistent...but will give you horribly undercarb'd beer!

(bad jokes = I need a beer...)

As Malkore said, a measuring cup just won't cut it. Some use them, but it's really easy to over or under do that way. A cheap kitchen scale is fine, and weighing one ounce of corn sugar per gallon of beer to be bottled couldn't be easier.

I add the sugar to 2 cups or so water, and boil that a couple of minutes. Pour that into my bottling bucket, and rack the beer into it, with the very tip of the tubing at the bottom, in a circular pattern, so the beer swirls and fills from the bottom to mix the priming sugar with the beer. It works perfectly!

I'm in a catch-22 now, as I'd like to bulk prime this weekend and see how it goes, but I have no scale. I have a scale literally making it's way across the country to my door right now, but won't arrive today.

Guess I'll let this batch ride another week then.

Thanks for the advice all, it does sort of confirm that while our measurements with the 1/2 tsp measure may have been 95% accurate, the actual weight in that 1/2 tsp may have varied depending on how vigorously we scooped or how compacted the sugar was where we scooped it from the tub.

When you bought the ingredients for your beer did you get priming sugar? If so how much did you get? I know it is probably a sin but I never have weighed my sugar for batch priming. I plan on getting a scale but in the meantime I use 1 oz per 1 gallon, so 5 oz for your 5 gallon batch. My homebrew store sells it in 5 oz packages. It has worked for me just fine the only time I had an issue is when I didn't yield 5 gallons but used 5 oz of priming sugar. Way over carbonated but you live you learn.

+100 to bulk priming and measuring by weight. Make sure it gets mixed and evenly distributed and it will be way easier and more accurate than doing it by the bottle.

Also, your beer may not have been done carbing up when you put it in the fridge. The 3 week @ 75 rule is the MINUMUM time it takes for an average beer to carb up, and many beers take significantly longer. Try taking a few out to warm up and then gently rolling them to rouse the yeast. You may be surprised what another week does for it.

Maybe I will just break down and get some carb drops so I can bottle this weekend...I'm definitely failing at this patience business! My first batch was left in the primary for 3 weeks and I thought I was doing great but now I'm almost through it already and it's only just passed three weeks bottled

Oh well, the first two batches include canned kits so I'm better of blowing through them fast, I figure!

Bulk priming is the way to go, priming each bottle seems like way too much work

Sent from my DROIDX using Home Brew Talk

Well I wound up measuring by weight, did bulk priming with corn sugar. Boiled 6 oz of corn sugar in 2 cups of water for a few minutes (this is for a 6 gallon batch) and put that into my spare carboy ('the bottling bucket' for today, ugh). Siphoned my batch into there which went fine, didn't pull in too much gunk.

That was the end of the smooth sailing, wow did I ever have troubles siphoning today. Carboy was so much higher and I was at the mercy of my tubing bending on it's own when fed into the carboy, so while I did get the top half bottled fine using just some tubing and my bottling wand, the lower half was a nightmare. Tried using the racking cane, however that put it even higher up and I just couldn't get a good siphon going. Tubing wasn't long enough maybe, though with the wand on the tip of the wand was about 2 feet below the bottom of the bucket. Thankfully SWMBO helped big time, again, and did all the bottling while I held the carboy at an angle with the tubing in there by itself. Ugh, my back!

That was ridiculously frustrating. For my next batch I am most definitely bulk priming again, but it will be with a proper bottling bucket that I'll make soon. Or auto-siphon it...

Oh well, 64 bottles put away now, time to get my drill out for bottling bucket 101!

Thanks for the tips everyone, appreciated.

I have my first 5 gallon batch in primary right now. I have a kegging system and I have bottles. I want to take aout 12 bottles on a plane to share with my family, but I also want to bottle about another six with priming sugar for my reserve stash. The trip is not untill june. So my question is should I keg the whole batch and bottle from the keg or should I prime some bottles and keg the rest?

homebrewed505 said:

I have my first 5 gallon batch in primary right now. I have a kegging system and I have bottles. I want to take aout 12 bottles on a plane to share with my family, but I also want to bottle about another six with priming sugar for my reserve stash. The trip is not untill june. So my question is should I keg the whole batch and bottle from the keg or should I prime some bottles and keg the rest?

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Bottling from the keg is nicer, in my opinion. Especially if you're traveling. You won't have any sediment to stir up during travel, and the beer will be nice and clear in the bottle. Also, if you've got a 5 gallon keg it's easy to just keg 5 gallons and bottle later. I usually only split it up if I've got more than 5.25 gallons in the fermenter. Then, I'll bottle a few and keg the rest.

ok sounds good but my concern was if the beer is nice and cold in the keg and i bottle it to travel will it hurt it since the beer is gonna warm up then get chilled again?

homebrewed505 said:

ok sounds good but my concern was if the beer is nice and cold in the keg and i bottle it to travel will it hurt it since the beer is gonna warm up then get chilled again?

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No. It'll be fine!

is there a thread about how to properly bottle from a keg? or can you easily describe this to me?

homebrewed505 said:

is there a thread about how to properly bottle from a keg? or can you easily describe this to me?

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https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/

It's easy, cheap, and it works great! There is even a video in the thread, a few posts in.

ok awesome! I just posted a question in another thread about kegging and carbonation methods by bobby m. Wondering if you could answer that one for me too lol