All grain learners permit suggestions

[jbb3]

I wanted something fast but didn't want to spend $100 so bought a ThermoPop. I've been very pleased with it.

 

[FatDragon]

Don't just add dry sugar to the bottling bucket. Make a simple syrup by boiling your sugar in two cups of water for 5 minutes. Put it into the bottling bucket first then rack the beer on top. That should be plenty of mixing to get the beer into the bottles with an even priming solution. Unless you're taking 6 hours to fill 48 bottles.

It sounds like you are not getting the sugar dissolved into the solution before adding it to the bottling bucket. I had only one batch that carbed unevenly. I stirred the next one and it was even. I never stirred one since. They have all carbed evenly.

Priming bottles individually, IMO, it the best way to get uneven carbonation. It is too hard to measure the small amount for each bottle accurately.

It's possible that I'm not dissolving my sugar adequately - I boil water then pour it over my measured priming sugar and stir for a minute or two until the granules have all dissolved, but maybe it still hasn't diffused fully throughout the solution. Racking to the bottling bucket, I use the same move as all of you - tubing coiled around the bottom of the bottling bucket, priming solution already in place when I start racking.

I stopped boiling priming sugar after my second or third brew because it was a bigger pain than just stirring the sugar into boiled water, and I got myself in the doghouse when I accidentally forgot about some priming sugar on the stove and ended up with a smoky, black mess that my wife hated even more than I did.

As for priming directly in the bottles,, I measured out 1.6g in the 330mL bottles and 2.4g in the 500mL bottles (calculated specifically for that particular batch) using a scale that resolves to the tenth of a gram. I'm sure there will be a 5% swing here and there between bottles, but I've had gushers and undercarbed bottles from the same batch with the sugar in solution, so having one bottle carb to 2.3 volumes and another carb to 2.4 isn't quite as big an issue.

In my next few brews, I'll try priming sugar in a syringe for quicker bottle-by-bottle priming in one batch and boiling the sugar in solution for a few minutes and adding to a bottling bucket as usual with another and see how they go. I expect that the bottle-by-bottle dry sugar priming I did with my last batch will be pretty consistent, but it took quite a while, so I'd rather not make that my new standard method.

 

[Aonghus]

Is the Victory malt providing all the enzymes for the starch conversion in the mash? I was not aware it had that much diastatic power. I thought wheat needed help converting. I have only ever used a small amount of torrified wheat so have no experience with it as the main backbone of the grist.

 

[Scotty_g]

Is the Victory malt providing all the enzymes for the starch conversion in the mash? I was not aware it had that much diastatic power. I thought wheat needed help converting. I have only ever used a small amount of torrified wheat so have no experience with it as the main backbone of the grist.

Malted wheat is actually some of the hottest (most diastatic) malt out there. Victory is toasted enough that it has no enzymes left. The flaked wheat and crystal won't convert themselves either, but with luck there should be enough enzymes in the wheat malt.

 

[drksky]

It's possible that I'm not dissolving my sugar adequately - I boil water then pour it over my measured priming sugar and stir for a minute or two until the granules have all dissolved, but maybe it still hasn't diffused fully throughout the solution. Racking to the bottling bucket, I use the same move as all of you - tubing coiled around the bottom of the bottling bucket, priming solution already in place when I start racking.

I stopped boiling priming sugar after my second or third brew because it was a bigger pain than just stirring the sugar into boiled water, and I got myself in the doghouse when I accidentally forgot about some priming sugar on the stove and ended up with a smoky, black mess that my wife hated even more than I did.

The sugar needs to be boiled for a few minutes to completely break down the bonds which helps hold it in solution.

If you're dead set on doing a per-bottle priming charge, use Fizz Drops. I've found them to give very consistent results.

 

[kh54s10]

They don't take minutes, you are exaggerating. Those expensive little digital thermometers are just a gadget for "tools". Not needed at all for brewing and especially not needed for grilling meat. Meaning that I still wouldn't buy one, even if I won the lottery.

If the lab thermometer works for you, great.

Yes, I exaggerate a little. But for me it is well worth the price for the speed.
And well worth the money. There are now cheaper and still fast alternatives to the Thermapen.

 

[aStoutObserver]

I got a thermopen as a gift and honestly it is worth it's price to me.
I hated the constant fluctuation in temperature on my other digital thermometer and disliked my floating glass one for accuracy and ease. To me, the thermapen is a wonderful luxury upgrade. But to each their own

 

[FatDragon]

The sugar needs to be boiled for a few minutes to completely break down the bonds which helps hold it in solution.

If you're dead set on doing a per-bottle priming charge, use Fizz Drops. I've found them to give very consistent results.

I'll definitely boil my priming sugar for a couple minutes, then. That's probably the main source of my bottling bucket issues.

Priming drops aren't available (that I know of) in China, but I don't think I would use them anyway - they're way more expensive than a bit of sugar (even though that's all most of them are) and you can't customize them to a certain carbonation level.

My thinking is if I can find a way to prime in the bottle fairly quickly, and accurately (the syringe method should qualify if I can get it working), I can avoid the extra oxygenation and slight infection risk of racking to the bottling bucket. The time taken to prime the bottles will balance with the time normally spent racking to the bottling bucket, and I won't have to clean the bottling bucket afterwards, so it should be an overall plus in terms of time investment (less cleaning) and quality of the finished product (less racking and oxygen in the process).

 

[wilserbrewer]

The sugar needs to be boiled for a few minutes to completely break down the bonds which helps hold it in solution.

.

I'm sorry, I have always thought once it is dissolved and in solution the sugar will disperse rapidly and easily throughout the solution. What "bonds" are these you speak of?

 

[podz]

I got a thermopen as a gift and honestly it is worth it's price to me.

Well, yeah, the price was right ;-)

But having one won't make you a better brewer nor will it make you a better griller. It's like buying a 3-piece custom made pool cue before you're able to run the table with any old crooked house cue - the custom cue won't allow you to run the table and when you are able to run the table with a crooked house cue then you realise that a custom cue isn't needed, it's just a prop.

 

[aStoutObserver]

That's very true that it will not make you a superior brewer. It will however make your life (possibly) easier. And on a decently long brew day, we all want things a little easier.
We have sidetracked this conversation though.
To each their own as far as it comes to luxuries and comforts.

 

[jbb3]

That's very true that it will not make you a superior brewer. It will however make your life (possibly) easier. And on a decently long brew day, we all want things a little easier.
We have sidetracked this conversation though.
To each their own as far as it comes to luxuries and comforts.

What he said ^^^

At least the OP got the right take way from the beginning of thread.

...and hell just to keep brewing! This was my 2nd brew and I don't think it will turn out too bad really.

BTW, You don't have to use software either. You can manually calculate your mash & sparge volumes in order to produce the desired bottling volume. If I remember later, I'll PM you the spreadsheet I made/used to use to help calculate those volumes.