How to mix priming sugar??

I'm bottling tomorrow and have a quick question. Brewing guides all say to disturb the fermented brew as little as possible when racking to a bottling bucket. However, if you pour in your priming sugar mix after boiling and then gently rack in your brew how do you get a good mix with the primer? Is it OK to stir after racking to the bottling bucket?

 

Don't stir it, just add your boiled and cooled priming sugar liquid to your bottling bucket and rack your beer into it, that process will sufficiently mix.

 

I'd also suggest consulting a bottle priming guide for sugar quantity (such as tastybrew.com) rather than the obligatory 5 oz included in most kits

 

Put your siphon hose at the side of the bucket so that it creates an eddy. This will mix the solution well enough. I thought I was not getting a good mix so I took a sanitized spoon and gently stirred. (no splashing) I didn't see much difference.

 

I would also suggest first pour your priming sugar (I boil 2 cups of water and 3/4 cups of cane sugar for a minute a so, then cool down to room temp) in the bucket, then the beer flow will mix with this sugar by itself. Sometimes I forget, and then add this "syrup" to the full bucket. In this case I just stir it with a long spoon, going slow and gentle - never noticed any difference.

 

I second this! The 5oz. packs are a major problem because you usually don't end up with 5 gallons in the bottling bucket and even if you do, it might be more than the style calls for. I learned my lesson after a few batches because it sucks to end up with half a glass of head

 

I gently stir mine. The priming sugar solution is heavier then your beer and has a hard time mixing with the beer. I stir mine after every 6 bottles to keep it evenly distributed.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I ended up stirring gently. I did use the whole 5 oz. package of priming sugar, we'll see how it goes.

 

Shouldn't be a big deal. You might wanna toss one in the fridge 2 weeks in or so and see how the carbonation is though

 

My racking hose reaches from my autosiphon to the bottom of my bottling bucket, where it creates a whirlpool. When racking starts, I pour in the boiling priming sugar mixture in, and in five years of brewing, I've no evidence that it doesn't mix thoroughly. The fact that it's hot doesn't seem to hurt anything, and two cups of liquid can't raise the temperature of 5 gallons of beer appreciably....

 

I have always thought that the head is mostly affected by the way you pour. Go slow and along the glass, and there will be almost no head at all no matter what style you are pouring!

 

I stir. My first few batches were carbonated unevenly. My one and only bottle bomb came from batch #1. Some bottles were very under carbonated. I just give it a few slow stirs to make sure it's all distributed evenly. If anything I think my light ale is under carbonated using recommended amounts. That is still something I am trying to tweak. I use cane sugar now too.

 

This is not always sufficient, you should always gently stir it in, the solution is heavier than the beer and you could risk the chance that some of the sugar solution could have sat on the bottom of the bucket even though you racked on top of it.

 

I rack a few inches of beer into the bottling bucket first. Then add the priming solution. Sometimes I still give it a dozen or so gentle stirs with an upward motion just to be sure.

 

I will also put a +1 on not stirring. I just siphon it with the priming sugar and I might even move the tube around in the bucket a bit for the hell of it and it has worked perfectly fine for me I have pondered stirring it a bit but that just introduces another piece of equipment that could contaminate the beer or something.

The way you pour it does make a difference but if the beer is overcarbonated, it's like every sip is an explosion in your mouth and you really build up some burping pressure lol. I just don't really enjoy the beer when it's like that and unfortunately you can't adjust the carbonation after the fact like you can with a keg. I find the calculators useful and personally use Beersmith at the moment and it has given me the exact carbonation that I was looking for in my last 2 batches