Bottle Priming

[tomsimmons]

I've a couple of days or so to go before bottling my first attempt at home brew bitter.

The brew is Young's Definitive Bitter, however I used brewing sugar rather than granulated and replaced 50% of that with Spray's dried malt extract.

When it comes to the bottling process it says 1 teaspoon of sugar per 1 pint bottle. I'll be using 1 litre bottles - as I have loads of them. I don't want a "fizzy" bitter, so I'm thinking 1.5 teaspoons of sugar?

Am I best using brewing sugar again at this point, or granulated?


Tom

 

[Spundit]

1.5 tsp (6g) of cane sugar or corn sugar (dextrose) per 1000ml will get you in the acceptable range and should be about 2.3 vol CO2. That is a nice "middle of the road" carbonation level. If you use corn sugar (brewing sugar) it will be just a tad less carbonated (probably not noticeable).

IME it doesn't matter which sugar you use. They will carbonate and taste the same.

I am not sure what your process is. If it makes sense, consider adding the sugar to your entire volume and then bottling. There are lots of calculators out there you can use to determine the exact amount of sugar you need.

Have fun

 

[tomsimmons]

@Spundit

Thanks for the reply, 6g of sugar it will be then.

I might do some with granulated and some with brewing sugar to see if I can taste a difference.


Tom

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Here is a priming calculator that I use: Homebrew Priming Sugar Calculator

One thing I like is that the the answer comes back with enough precision, that you can calculate additions for a single bottle. The volume is in gallons, so 1L = 0.264 Gallons. You can play around with the carbonation level to fit your style (say 2 volumes for a lower level, or 2.4 for a more standard level). It spits out amounts for Corn Sugar or Sucrose (your standard granulated Cane or Beet sugar) as well as other sugars.

I played around with weighing the amount I would get with a measuring spoon. The amount varied enough from scoop to scoop, even with trying to get the same level in each scoop, that I am more comfortable measuring out a specific amount with a jeweler's scale.

 

[bionicbelly]

Here is a priming calculator that I use: Homebrew Priming Sugar Calculator

One thing I like is that the the answer comes back with enough precision, that you can calculate additions for a single bottle. The volume is in gallons, so 1L = 0.264 Gallons. You can play around with the carbonation level to fit your style (say 2 volumes for a lower level, or 2.4 for a more standard level). It spits out amounts for Corn Sugar or Sucrose (your standard granulated Cane or Beet sugar) as well as other sugars.

I played around with weighing the amount I would get with a measuring spoon. The amount varied enough from scoop to scoop, even with trying to get the same level in each scoop, that I am more comfortable measuring out a specific amount with a jeweler's scale.

I got a set of these, and just wrote the weight in grams that each one measures. I think it was like 15 bucks or so, and I can prime 50 bottles in way less than ten minutes. The biggest one holds 3.5g, and they go down by about 0.2g per scoop. If anyone wants some, search "Lee powder measure kit"

 

[Jaybird]

View attachment 746872
I got a set of these, and just wrote the weight in grams that each one measures. I think it was like 15 bucks or so, and I can prime 50 bottles in way less than ten minutes. The biggest one holds 3.5g, and they go down by about 0.2g per scoop. If anyone wants some, search "Lee powder measure kit"

How cool! Great tool for people not doing full volume charges of sugar.

Cheers
Jay

 

[bionicbelly]

How cool! Great tool for people not doing full volume charges of sugar.

Cheers
Jay

If you cold crash, it is usually 1-2g depending on carbonation level. Even if you don't cold crash, these scoops (I have found) are quite a bit faster than measuring spoons even doing two scoops. But, I'm a bit OCD, so I have to scrape the top off a measuring spoon so I don't get to much.

 

[pocketmon]

I build an automatic sugar dropper to dose precise sugar solution into bottles.
Priming sugar calculation is built-in. Input temperature of beer, desired carbonation level, BRIX of sugar solution, and bottle volume, and it will dose precise dosage of sugar solution into the bottle.
It's precise and convenient.



I've programed secondary dosing control for tincture or spice but haven't built the hardware and tried, though.

The source is available here if you are interested.
https://github.com/vitotai/SugarDropper

 

[Herksey]

Nowadays I just fill the bottles with 10ml of sugar solution with a syringe. I make a sugar solution with proper amount of sugar calculated for 100 bottles and dilute it to 1000ml. Boil it and then just add the solution as I bottle. Consistent if nothing else.

The only variable is the temperature of the sugar solution which will make it more dense as the temp drops but I'm pretty sure it's unnoticeable at homebrew levels...