BOTTLING - PRIMING SUGAR ADDITIONS

[WilliamMunny]

Hi. I've been brewing for years with little issues. Here's one I wanted to get some thoughts on. I just brewed my German Wheat recently and bottled today. Now I can nail my post boil volume very close to the 5 gallon mark every time, usually erring toward the higher end. This time I some how ended up with quite a bit more. Without having my carboy marked I had to estimate about 5.3 gallons. So I measure out my priming sugar to hit a 2.75 carb level, boiled it, cooled it and placed it in the bottling bucket to syphon over it like always. When I was finished I ended up with 6 full gallons. I was going to just leave it be but I couldn't help myself and boiled up another 1/2 oz roughly, cooled it and slowly poured it in with no splashing. Then I took my stainless sanitized spoon and gave it a few very gentle stirs, put the lid on and then rocked it back and forth gently to try and mix it in. I let it sit for at least 10 minutes after that. At the end of bottling I was all excited to drink the final partial bottle as always and it tasted like pure sugar water! I'm guessing I simply didn't mix it enough after the late addition of sugar. So I took the last five bottles, put them in a bucket in case they explode and am hoping for good results on the rest. I'm thinking most of it should be carbed ok, maybe just a bit under the proper levels for a hefe. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[RPh_Guy]

Sounds reasonable.

FYI I carb my hefe to 3.6 volumes.

 

[thehaze]

It will have enough carbonation to be enjoyable, but will not match the higher CO2 volumes, you usually find in Hefes.

I usually use 7-8 oz sugar for 6 gallons of Hefeweizen. That puts it at around 2.9-3.1 vol CO2, which is OK for me, especially because I bottle.

 

[WilliamMunny]

Yeah I keep mine around 2.75 because every time I shoot for 3.00 or higher I get a few gushers. I found if I shoot for 2.75 and let it carb for an extra week I get decent results.

 

[deadwolfbones]

After some bad experiences with priming sugar not dissolving into the beer evenly and/or incorrect fermenter volumes, I started priming each bottle individually and I've never gone back. Works great for me.