Bottling from Primary

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BurnsSt

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Hey guys -

Im a new brewer, only brewed two batches so far. On my latest batch, I decided to bottle my beer straight from the primary fermenter. I mixed in my priming sugar into the primary and then bottled. Now I'm wondering if this will adversely affect my beer ? ( I have yet to try the beer as i bottled it just a week ago).

Is this a no no ? Has anyone else done this and what were the results ?
 
You definitely risk oxidation and not fully mixing the priming sugar into the beer. If you are using a fermentor with a valve at the bottom (like a bottling bucket) you can fill the bottles directly but I found it more useful to use something like Coopers Carbonation Drops. I don't prefer the Brewers Best ones as they get sticky in open air. So yes you can bottle from primary, but you might want to alter your method. Either way I hope your beer turns out great.
 
I wouldn't bottle from primary simply because I want to get the beer out of primary and off the settled yeast/trub before I start filling bottles. A separate bottling bucket is ideal, that way you can transfer your (hopefully clear) beer over before bottling and as little of the settled material as possible will transfer.
 
A separate bottling bucket is ideal, that way you can transfer your (hopefully clear) beer over before bottling and as little of the settled material as possible will transfer.

I agree that mixing the priming sugar into primary is not the best way to go at all, but I don't understand this comment. Transferring is transferring - whatever gets picked up going into the bottling bucket from primary would be the same as would get picked up going into bottles from primary. It's not like you're transferring to the bottling bucket and then letting it settle out for another few days before bottling.
 
I bottled from primary on my first batch or two with the Cooper's Micro Brew fermenter designed for this method. But, as mentioned, I used the Cooper's carbonation drops. I quickly switched to a bottling bucket & modified the Cooper's Little Bottler to a racking tube to rack the clear beer of the sediment & into the bottling bucket. What tiny bit of settlings got into the bottling bucket were of sufficient mass to settle out fairly quickly. I mix the weighed amount of priming sugar with 2C water boiled in a small, SS saucepan a couple minutes. Cover & cool till I'm ready to rack into the bottling bucket.
When a couple inches of beer is racked into the bucket, I pour the priming solution into the rising column of beer, right at the surface. Don't want to introduce oxygen at this point. then maybe a few gentle stirs with a sanitized long plastic spoon to be sure it's mixed well. Then proceed to bottle. By bulk priming, the size of the bottles no longer matter. And use a piece of tubing with a bottling wand to fill the bottles.
 
I agree that mixing the priming sugar into primary is not the best way to go at all, but I don't understand this comment. Transferring is transferring - whatever gets picked up going into the bottling bucket from primary would be the same as would get picked up going into bottles from primary. It's not like you're transferring to the bottling bucket and then letting it settle out for another few days before bottling.

I guess I'd just rather not risk sucking up settled material and having it go straight into the bottles..you're right, it probably doesn't matter much, it's just peace of mind for me. I'd rather fill from a spigot than an auto-siphon that could disturb and suck up too much of the settled cake.
 
Guys - thanks so much for the input. I will let everyone know how it turns out in a week or two.

I was looking at those carbonation drops as opposed to boiling the priming sugar. Are there any cons to using the drops vs. stirring in the sugar water ?
 
Guys - thanks so much for the input. I will let everyone know how it turns out in a week or two.

I was looking at those carbonation drops as opposed to boiling the priming sugar. Are there any cons to using the drops vs. stirring in the sugar water ?

Only the dosage--when you make your own sugar syrup per Unionrdr, you can determine whether to carbonate to 1.8 volumes, 3.2 volumes, or whatever, based on style, personal preference, phase of the moon, whatever.

Also, I know when I've boiled (sanitized) my sugar, I have no idea what the nature of microparticulates are riding on the packaged sugar drops.
 
Another thing I should've mentioned, is that there's one thing missing from dry sugar that nasties need to be fruitful & multiply- moisture. They don't survive well on or in the sugar without it. But I also take the boiled 2C of water off the heat to stir in the weighed amount of sugar. Just stir till the water goes clear again, cover till ready to start racking the beer to the bottling bucket. Here's 2 priming calculators I use;
http://www.northernbrewer.com/learn/resources/priming-sugar-calculator/
http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
 
Next time, you can bottle from the primary but use carb drops in your bottles... or rack from primary into a bottling vessel into which you've mixed your priming sugar, and bottle from there. Mixing primary sugar directly into the full primary - with trub and all - can't possibly have been a good idea.
 
I agree that mixing the priming sugar into primary is not the best way to go at all, but I don't understand this comment. Transferring is transferring - whatever gets picked up going into the bottling bucket from primary would be the same as would get picked up going into bottles from primary. It's not like you're transferring to the bottling bucket and then letting it settle out for another few days before bottling.

But stirring the priming solution into the primary will resuspend all of the trub and sediment on the bottom that was all nice and settled out. I'd much rather rack the clear beer off of the sediment and either mix the priming solution with the beer in the bottling bucket during the siphoning, or bottle via siphon and use carbonation drops in the bottles so that all of the sediment is not disturbed and bottled with the beer.
 
But stirring the priming solution into the primary will resuspend all of the trub and sediment on the bottom that was all nice and settled out. I'd much rather rack the clear beer off of the sediment and either mix the priming solution with the beer in the bottling bucket during the siphoning, or bottle via siphon and use carbonation drops in the bottles so that all of the sediment is not disturbed and bottled with the beer.

Thank you, that was what I was trying to say.
 
So just to update everyone. .the beer came out awesome. I'm really happy with it. The beer is hazy but it is a wheat beer so I think that is to be expected, however I don't think I'll bottle from the primary again if I'm looking to get something with more clarity.

Thanks again for all of the advice
 
Simple (and inexpensive) solution:

Go to Lowes paint dept. Get one of their 5-gallon white food grade buckets and a matching lid.

Buy an "Italian spigot" from your local brew supply or online.

Drill the correct-size hole in the bucket with the center of the hole about 2 inches off the bottom.

Get a short (3 inch) piece of 3/8" food-grade vinyl tubing and a spring-loaded bottling wand. Attach that to the spigot so it hangs over the edge of the counter (over a dishwasher is best).

Now you'll have a bottling bucket setup that will serve you well.
 
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