Question on racking to bottling bucket: can I stir in priming solution?

Can i rack my beer to the bottling bucket, *then* add priming sugar, stir, and bottle? Is the risk too high for oxidizing? I ask because I tend to not get as much beer into the bottling bucket as I think, and I'm going to be bottling a beer at 3.5-4 volumes already. I worry if I put in a sugar ratio any higher, I'll get bottle bombs.

As long as you sanitize the stirrer and go slow and easy with it, you'll be fine. I give it a stir just to ensure it'll be mixed and never had a problem. I believe it's harder to oxidize your beer than most people think... and it's also a problem that shows its face over a long period of time. Sure if you poured your beer into the bottling bucket, you MIGHT have some issues, but a simple stirring procedure won't do you wrong.

Well you can do it but i wouldn´t recommend it: bring water to a boil add the sugar boil for 10 minutes, put the sugar water in your bottling bucket and rack your beer on top making sure that you rack in creating some sort of little whirpool so the sugar can mix evenly, wait a bit an bottle. Adding the sugar directly to the wort and mixing it will create you some problems: it will oxidize your beer and probably it wont mix properly if not diluted in water first.

One question two answers. Brewing it´s fun

+1 for stirring SLOWLY. Definitely don't go grabbing your whisk and going to town, but if you stir quite slow and soft, you'll be fine!

I did it to my last batch of IPA and I have a consistent carb and tasty beer.

EDIT - Also do what brew stated... boil sugar, cool, pour into bottling bucket and rack on top.

I go with the first answer also, I am assuming you will be boiling the priming sugar in a cup of water for 10 minutes or so before adding on top.

Yes, I'll be boiling the sugar and cooling it. Alright, (slow) stir it is. Thanks everyone.

Union after re-reading, you are correct

I understand not really knowing what your final bottling volume is until it's in the bucket. Best way around that, of course, is to mark off your carboys with corresponding gallon markers.

In the meantime, underestimating the volume is better than overestimating. My stout suffered from this exact issue. Way heavy on the carb, but had a few that didn't fully seal (didn't realize I saved some twist off bottles). The ones that didn't fully carb were the best ones!

OP - you can rack to bucket, figure out your priming and proceed. Pour carefully.

he is concerned about having too much sugar and is unsure how much beer will be racked into the bottling bucket, that is why he wants to add the sugar last.
A thought, add part of or even most of the sugar at the beginning and top up when you are sure of your volume.

I'm confused. You say you don't get as much into the bottling bucket as you think. Are you spilling it?

Obliviousbrew said:

One question two answers. Brewing it´s fun

Click to expand...

I assumed you were adding your priming SOLUTION to the beer, not just the priming SUGAR.

If you want to be exact about your sugar content, I don't see a problem with stirring it in a after racking. Just swirl it gently, let it settle, swirl it the other way, and you will be fine.

If I wanted to be super scientific, this is what I would do:

I would weigh an empty keg, rack the beer into the keg capped by CO2, weigh the filled keg to determine how much beer is in it, pour in the exact amount of sugar, purge the keg with CO2 and tip/swirl the keg to mix. Then bottle directly from the keg by CO2 pressure.

Thanks everyone. Honestly, for the time being at least, I'll be making a sugar solution and adding after I rack to the bottling bucket. I say this because I really do not want to overcarbonate any more of my beers. I'll stir slowly and carefully, and re-evaluate later.