priming/bottling

For priming my beer I used the online calculator and got 4.2 oz of corn sugar for my beer. http://kotmf.com/tools/prime.php

should I just put the dissolved sugar/water solution into my primary and bottle from there or do I need to transfer to a second fermenter before bottling?
I'm not using a secondary, (brewing a pale ale OG= 1.048, FG= 1.013)

Its reccomended to boil it first cool some,while transfering your primary to a botteling bucket with a racking cane or auto siphon.
You could do it in primary but stirr it slow and wait 15 min for it to settle, I also would question how this mixes well when it settles. Your probably going to get more yeast in the bottles if mixing from primary.

the most common way is to pour the priming solution into a bottling bucket and rack the beer into it. this will mix the beer and sugar solution well and almost guarantee even carbonation

Is there a way to tell if the bottles are carbonating without opening them? Also, when I bottled Friday, after about four seconds of racking to the bottling bucket, I realized I forgot to add the priming sugar. I immediately poured it in as the beer was racking. This should be fine, right?

asidrane said:

Is there a way to tell if the bottles are carbonating without opening them? Also, when I bottled Friday, after about four seconds of racking to the bottling bucket, I realized I forgot to add the priming sugar. I immediately poured it in as the beer was racking. This should be fine, right?

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Yes, it should be fine the way you did it.

There really isn't a way to "see" carbonation. It's too late now, but one thing I'd recommend for next time is to use one plastic 16 ounce soda bottle in the mix with your beer bottles, sanitizing the twist off cap and reusing. When that bottle is hard, then it's carbed up and the others should be too.

Yes thats fine. I always give mine a carefull stir with the end of the siphon hose before pulling it out.
You cant really tell a carbed beer by looking at it however i notice the first few weeks when holding a light to it or it up to a light i can see sediment in suspension probably the yeast chowing down the sugar.This may be a good indicater to try one once it clears,but in general wait 3 weeks @70 degrees

As to the question of whether there is a way to tell if your beer is carbonated, try this. While you are bottling your beer, fill a sanitized plastic pop bottle with your beer and put the screw cap on. As the beer carbonates, the pressure will make the plastic bottle feel "harder". It isn't hugely accurate, but it gives you an idea as to how the carbonation is developing.

NRS

NorthRiverS said:

As to the question of whether there is a way to tell if your beer is carbonated, try this. While you are bottling your beer, fill a sanitized plastic pop bottle with your beer and put the screw cap on. As the beer carbonates, the pressure will make the plastic bottle feel "harder". It isn't hugely accurate, but it gives you an idea as to how the carbonation is developing.

NRS

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dang. i wish i had thought about this after botteling a dunkleweisen which required almost 2X the priming sugar on a brew calc.I thought i would have to keep an eye on them more. next time- i may have to do this with the last bottle of each batch.

How does one know the "desired volume of c02"?

dcp27 said:

the most common way is to pour the priming solution into a bottling bucket and rack the beer into it. this will mix the beer and sugar solution well and almost guarantee even carbonation

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Not always. I learned from my first batch just racking on top of the solution might not be enough. Had lots of variability in amount of carbonation in that batch. You need to stir it as well to ensure even carbonation but stir gently to avoid oxidizing the beer.