Bottle conditioning using Prime Dose tablets

[maplemontbrew]

I've been seeing these tablets offered on the Northern Brewer site and was wondering if anyone has had a chance to try them out?

 

[garcia]

Doubt anyone has used them, as they are new. They are expensive; about $10 to bottle a 5 gallon batch.

 

[natefrog255]

I like the concept, but not the price. I can't justify adding $10 to my batch when I haven't ever had too flat or bottle bombs before. I'll continue to use an online priming calculator for when I bottle.

 

[FB12]

I thought about trying these when i start kegging soon. I usually have 5.5 gal. batches, so when kegging i'll have enough extra to fill 4 or 5 bottles also. Sounds easier than boiling/cooling a small amount of water & sugar.

 

[ja09]

I thought about trying these when i start kegging soon. I usually have 5.5 gal. batches, so when kegging i'll have enough extra to fill 4 or 5 bottles also. Sounds easier than boiling/cooling a small amount of water & sugar.

I'm intrigued for the same reason... carbing a limited amount of bottles, 1g batches & variations, and basically any time not using a bottling bucket or keg. The description makes it sound like there's yeast in the pill as well, which makes it even more intriguing, and potentially awesome for big/aged batches.

Anyone plan on using them soon?

 

[Pratzie]

Just saw this today and was wondering the same as well. I've been kegging a lot lately but theres always a chance of bottling.

 

[stewart194]

I just ordered my kegging system a few days ago, and I can't wait to try it out, but I also like setting a 12 pack of bottles aside from each batch and storing them for a long time. Potentially to give out as Christmas gifts if they age well.

Instead of using a beer gun or homemade one...I wonder if you could just bottle 12 beers straight from the keg and use these instead? I wonder if they would take care of the oxygen that might be left behind after doing this, or just help them age better in general?

 

[ja09]

I just ordered my kegging system a few days ago, and I can't wait to try it out, but I also like setting a 12 pack of bottles aside from each batch and storing them for a long time. Potentially to give out as Christmas gifts if they age well.

Instead of using a beer gun or homemade one...I wonder if you could just bottle 12 beers straight from the keg and use these instead? I wonder if they would take care of the oxygen that might be left behind after doing this, or just help them age better in general?

Any long term aging will be extremely sensitive to even a little oxygen, so that wouldn't work. You can jam your bottling wand in a picnic tap, which works pretty well as a cheap gun, but I wouldn't trust it long term.

Your best bet, if you have a 3/8" auto-syphon, is to attach your bottling wand and bottle 12 before you transfer to the keg. You can keep the bottling wand attached while transferring to the keg if you'd like. Or use a bottling bucket, which would kinda suck for only 12 beers

 

[stewart194]

Any long term aging will be extremely sensitive to even a little oxygen, so that wouldn't work. You can jam your bottling wand in a picnic tap, which works pretty well as a cheap gun, but I wouldn't trust it long term.

Your best bet, if you have a 3/8" auto-syphon, is to attach your bottling wand and bottle 12 before you transfer to the keg. You can keep the bottling wand attached while transferring to the keg if you'd like. Or use a bottling bucket, which would kinda suck for only 12 beers

Thanks for the reply. I agree, using a bottling bucket to bottle 12 beers, then transferring into a keg is what I'm trying to avoid. When I said long term storage I guess I really only meant a year or less. I've read the sticky thread about making a home made beer gun. Sounds like people who have used this have had good results.

Anyway, maybe I'm being lazy...but if I could just bottle 12 beers from the keg with a regular faucet, and drop one of these tablets in each beer that would be great. And bottling beer, you are leaving that 1 inch of head space which contains oxygen. It is surely the priming sugar that restarts fermentation a bit, which creates CO2 and gets rid of the O2 correct? If so, wouldn't these do that also?

 

[smccarter]

I started kegging a few months ago. I've got a few friends that I give beer to in the bottle and really didn't want to have to figure out how much priming sugar to use for 6 bottles, so I bought of of the tablets. They work. I'd say the only problem is that the beer seems to be just a bit over carbinated.

I bought 2 pounds, which will last me quite awhile at the rate of 2-6 bottles per batch. If I decide to bottle an entire batch, of course I'll use priming sugar and not the tablets.

 

[natefrog255]

I thought about trying these when i start kegging soon. I usually have 5.5 gal. batches, so when kegging i'll have enough extra to fill 4 or 5 bottles also. Sounds easier than boiling/cooling a small amount of water & sugar.

Yes, after thinking about it this would be a nice option to bottle a 12 pack and then keg the rest.

 

[ja09]

Just went to Midwest's retail store and picked these up for $9.99. Not sure why the price is double online and which is wrong, but I'll report my results when I get a chance to use them

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/prime-dose-priming-sugar-and-yeast-carbonation-capsules.html

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[MeBrew2]

"And bottling beer, you are leaving that 1 inch of head space which contains oxygen. It is surely the priming sugar that restarts fermentation a bit, which creates CO2 and gets rid of the O2 correct? If so, wouldn't these do that also?"

I've read it's good to set the cap on the bottle for about 10 minutes before crimping to drive off the o2. The co2 doesn't get rid of the o2 if the cap is tight though.

 

[Beerfly]

Just went to Midwest's retail store and picked these up for $9.99. Not sure why the price is double online and which is wrong, but I'll report my results when I get a chance to use them

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/prime-dose-priming-sugar-and-yeast-carbonation-capsules.html

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Home Brew mobile app

$10.00 would be worth the investment for high gravity beers that may not work with normal priming techniques. $20.00 on the other hand adds 20 cents to each beer which is not reasonable in my book. For small batches you can still get the hard sugar drops they sell for that purpose and save a lot of cash.

 

[ja09]

Just used these the other night on a 1g variation of a 10.4% RIS that was brewed 9 months ago... really putting them to the test. They do contain saccharomyces, although midwest wasn't sure what strain. Really hoping they have a high alcohol tolerance, because the description implies they do.

Prime Dose is effective in the treatment of many bottle-conditioning ailments ranging from inviable yeast, big beers with ABV too high for the original yeast to ferment any further, or poorly mixed priming solution.

 

[jonmohno]

"And bottling beer, you are leaving that 1 inch of head space which contains oxygen. It is surely the priming sugar that restarts fermentation a bit, which creates CO2 and gets rid of the O2 correct? If so, wouldn't these do that also?"

I've read it's good to set the cap on the bottle for about 10 minutes before crimping to drive off the o2. The co2 doesn't get rid of the o2 if the cap is tight though.

That's how I bottle, I leave them all loose till they are filled then cap. You would think though that that little bit of yeast would take that oxygen then munch on the sugar just like after pitching yeast-needs oxygen then goes to town.

 

[Beerfly]

Just used these the other night on a 1g variation of a 10.4% RIS that was brewed 9 months ago... really putting them to the test. They do contain saccharomyces, although midwest wasn't sure what strain. Really hoping they have a high alcohol tolerance, because the description implies they do.


I wonder if using these would be similar to adding priming sugar and champagne yeast at bottling.

 

[FoCobrewguy]

Hey beerfly how did these turn out on the ris? I am really interested in using these for mead and cider batches where I am only doing 1 gallon brews and want to try some still and some carbed. Figure it will only be a few cents per bottle so not worried about that but with a mead being in the teens for abv want to make sure they will work.

kf

 

[Devilsnight]

Ya, Any update? I picked up a bottle for a couple 1gal test batches i have going. It talks about adding two tabs per bottle in the catalog but, there is no info on the bottle at all. I'm probly bottling a RyePA tommarow so I guess I'll try 2 per bottle and report back in a couple weeks.

 

[ja09]

They seemed to work pretty well and did carb my 10% ris. However, they're a little low on carbonation, but they might just need more time. I'll write a little more in depth after I open the next bottle and try to snap a pic.

 

[Beerfly]

I added 1/2 packet of S05 to my priming solution for a 6 gallon batch of Bourbon Ale. Hoping that does the trick.

 

[laughableman]

I brewed a pumpkin ale in the Fall that never carbonated properly. I just opened all the remaining bottles and dropped two prime dose capsules into each one to see if that fixes it. Will let you know in two weeks.

 

[FB12]

I kegged a Pale Ale about a month ago & had 3 bottles extra. Used 2 per bottle & tried them last week. They were almost too carbonated for my liking. After several minutes in the glass, seemed to level out just about right. I'll try 1 per bottle next time & see what happens. Prost!

 

[mikeyk12]

I brewed a pumpkin ale in the Fall that never carbonated properly. I just opened all the remaining bottles and dropped two prime dose capsules into each one to see if that fixes it. Will let you know in two weeks.

I read on a forum post once that pumpkin ales take forever to carbonate. A guy said his didn't carbonate for 3 months. I would google pumpkin ale carbonation and you'll find loads of info.

 

[thatjonguy]

I miscalculated on some priming sugar recently and got these for at problem. I added 1 to each bottle and it seems to be in the correct range. Cheap they are not but they do work.

 

[natefrog255]

So you used 1 tablet per bottle? I thought the recommendation is 2 but that would be awesome if 1/bottle works. I have a gift card at NB and am thinking of trying these out since no cost to me.

 

[thatjonguy]

Yeah, I accidentally primed to 1.9 vols, of targeted 2.6. So I figured one per bottle would do the trick. These would be super handy for sour and high gravity beers with bottle issues.

 

[laughableman]

I read on a forum post once that pumpkin ales take forever to carbonate. A guy said his didn't carbonate for 3 months. I would google pumpkin ale carbonation and you'll find loads of info.

Thanks. I will certainly look that up. As for the prime dose tablets, they seemed to do the trick. After 2 weeks, good carbonation in the beer.

Head retention is not great, but I think that has more to do with the glass than the beer?

 

[JINKS]

sub

 

[Skydog60]

So I used Prime Dose on a Saison that was 3 months on primary. Used 2 capsules per 12oz bottle after 2 weeks conditioning the beer is well carbonated. Unfortunately the capsules have not dissolved . Anyone else experience this problem?

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Looks like one of those "airport smuggler" X-rays.

 

[NorthRiverS]

I've used these, they work fine.....

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/fermenters-favorites-fizz-drops-8-oz.html

NRS

 

[eulipion2]

Reviving a dead thread, but I have a tripel that undercarbed. Chilled the bottles in the freezer (to retain existing carbonation), then added a Prime Dose capsule to each bottle, and returned the beer to 75F. It's been almost a month, and the bottles look like anti-pollution ads of plastic bags floating in the ocean. Has anyone figured out a timetable of when these things will fully dissolve?

 

[bnairuni87]

I had the same problem. I will not use them again.

 

[Conejwsr]

I have used the Prime Dose capsules. The first 2 or 3 times I used them, they worked just fine. Now the last 4 batches I have done the capsules didn't dissolve. The first two of the four batches were being stored in a friend's basement (65 f) so I didn't know that it had happened, so the second two batches I am keeping at home, conditioning at around 70-72 f. Lets hope the warmer temps will allow them to dissolve.

 

[geoffey]

If they haven't dissolved within a couple hours at 70f I'd contact Northern Brewer and ask for a refund.


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[eulipion2]

Well, I had two bottles I was using to test carbonation levels, poured them out, and the undissolved caps clogged the neck. When poured out I had these intact condom-like capsule halves floating around in the beer. Looked gross, felt gross (accidentally tried to drink one...)

I think for the rest of the batch I'm going to open the capsules and dump the contents into the beer.

 

[ocluke]

I wish I would have read this thread before bottling 2 batches of 2+ year aged sour beers this weekend. I really hope the vegetable capsules not dissolving isn't par for the course. One of the bottles was a magnum in a style that requires high carbonation, so that bottle required 12 capsules. That's going to be a lot of vegetable capsule to chew through!

I was going to contact the manufacturer with some questions about them, but my best Google ninja skills pull up nothing for "McKenzie Brothers" with "Prime Dose" in the city of "Roseville, MN." I find it curious that there is no phone number, website or email address for the company on the packaging.

 

[eulipion2]

I wish I would have read this thread before bottling 2 batches of 2+ year aged sour beers this weekend. I really hope the vegetable capsules not dissolving isn't par for the course. One of the bottles was a magnum in a style that requires high carbonation, so that bottle required 12 capsules. That's going to be a lot of vegetable capsule to chew through!

I was going to contact the manufacturer with some questions about them, but my best Google ninja skills pull up nothing for "McKenzie Brothers" with "Prime Dose" in the city of "Roseville, MN." I find it curious that there is no phone number, website or email address for the company on the packaging.

I think you'll be fine. Apparently it was just one batch. And of course it was the one batch that I got mine from. I'm sure if you bought yours recently they'll dissolve completely.

 

[teddy4xp]

Bought mine through northern brewer and they gave me a refund because mine never dissolved. There are several lots that had issues during manufacturing...caused the capsules to be too thick