priming boil with beer or water?

hey, im about to bottle my first batch.. yea!

what do you use with your priming sugar? water? beer? then do you let it cool down before adding back in? whats the easiest way to do this?? Thanks!

I boil my priming sugar in about a cup of water. How much I cool it depends on the timing of my processes. I usually brew, rack, and bottle on the same day. Sometimes the priming solution sits for a while cooling while I handle something else. I try to cool it at least a little, rather than dumping boiling water in my plastic bottling bucket. I think a little warmth is probably helpful for even mixing of the solution.

Palmer says to let it cool.

I use water. Boiled beer is nasty!

I am considering priming my first batch with honey - about Half a cup in some water raised to about 160 degrees and held for 15mins. Anyone know how long it might take to carbonate?

What do people here tend to prime with other then corn sugar?

DME sometimes, but good old corn sugar most often.

I read somewhere that natural honey has a preservative in it that keeps it from fermenting. It would be worth checking into..I would think you could use honey for flavour but it might not work for priming??

Full-strength, natural honey doesn't ferment b/c the sugar content is so high, water osmosizes out of the yeast/bacteria cells making them go dormant. When you dilute honey with water, beer, or whatever, the environment is more condusive and the yeast goes to town. Otherwise we'd never have mead. Check out any of the "science of mead" articles or books that are out there.

Focus

Honey doesn’t ferment? That will be news to the mead brewers.

I have heard you can prime with the wort of a new batch. It would necessitate making the same brew at the same time as the brew you are bottling is being bottled. I don’t know how much would be required and I don’t think I’d ever try it. I think there would be too much risk of over or under carbonation.

DId a google " Fermenting Honey" and found this.
http://byo.com/feature/924.html
Seems you need to do a few things before using honey so better read up like I said. Can't seem to find any info on using it for priming.

There was a video podcast on basic brewing network where they compared 2 brews made with, and primed with, honey. The grain bill was the same on each, but one was clover honey, and the other wildflower???. Anyhow, one was primed with 1/2 cup, and one with 3/4 cup. They reported that both were very good. the 3/4 looked to be a little overcarbed, though.

Spoke to soon, Found this in John Palmer
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter11-3.html
Quote:
Honey is difficult to prime with because there is no standard for concentration. The gravity of honey is different jar to jar. To use honey, you will need to dilute it and measure its gravity with a hydrometer. For all sugars in general, you want to add 2-3 gravity points per gallon of beer to prime.

I've used corn sugar on most batches, but recently I used light DME and after a week in the bottle it didn't seem to have as much of a young beer bite as the corn sugar batches. But, maybe it's just me.

I know, I know...one week in the bottle isn't long enough.

Hey All

Thanks for all your thoughts. Watched the Basic Brewing Podcast. Very helpful.

Now i'm thinking of just using corn sugar as I have a party 2 weeks after my expected bottling day. Honey may take longer to carbonate...