First batch... Ready to bottle! With a few questions...

[1977Brewer]

Yep, that works.. A lot of the 5g kits come with 5oz of corn sugar to use just that way. Dissolve it, bring it to a boil to sterilize, and then mix it with your beer just before you bottle. I don't know if you use any sort of bottling bucket with your kit.. if not be careful not to disturb the trub in the bottom as you add the sugar-water.

I've only used the priming sugar from the kits so far, but this time I'm going to try cane sugar. In the calculator link that was provided, you'll see "Sucrose".. that is common table sugar. I think I've read in previous posts that Cane sugar works better than Beet sugar, so you may need to pay attention to packaging, but it'd be a lot cheaper than corn sugar.

Maybe someone who has used table sugar can chime in?

I used pure cane in my first (2) 5 gallon batches. It's working great so far. I was drinking it a week after bottling, and it's carbed enough, getting better every day. It took the kit carb drops 2 weeks to even get halfway there. Sam's and Costco both have 10 lb. bags of organic pure cane for less than 5 bucks. I haven't done the per oz. cost on that but it's somewhere between dirt cheap and free. I only used it because we had it in the house and everyone thought it tasted like molasses but me.

 

[rodwha]

"I haven't done the per oz. cost on that but it's somewhere between dirt cheap and free."

I like that!

I used carb drops for the first several recipes I did as i didn't believe batch priming to work well. That was until I realized I forgot to but them one batch. I had table sugar, watched a video and read and then tried it. It worked just fine and was easy and much cheaper. So I did that for over a year.

But then a brewing friend of mine told me I ought to at least try corn sugar, that he felt it gave smaller bubbles and seemed to make a difference to him. So I bought corn sugar. I don't know that it's different enough to warrant the extra cost, and I asked what others thought.

It seems corn sugar is easier for the yeast to chew on, but ultimately it's not a big enough deal. I'm on the fence as to whether or not I'll be buying another 5 lb bag of corn sugar ($7.95) or going back to table sugar (in essence free as it doesn't count against my hobby funds).

 

[humpadilo]

When I bottled I would get my kits from Austin homebrew, because it was my LHBS. They would include a package of priming sugar in all their kits. They have a pre-measured amount for 1 gallon batches that you can use and they are less than a dollar.
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/Beer/Corn-Sugar/Micro-Priming-Sugar-1-oz.html#.VPd7aYZOLCQ

They way I would bottle is to dilute the sugar in boiling water and cool to room temp. Dump the the sugar solution in a sanitized bottling bucket then transfer beer to bottling bucket and bottle from there.

 

[brandon27]

I drank another one last night. Almost two weeks from the initial beer I had that I thought tasted like honey a bit still. I didn't really notice the honey in this one. I'm sure the extra time had alot to do with that. It's been bottled 4 weeks now.

Definitely over carbonated for me though. I opened the bottle, let it sit while I searched for a glass, I turned back and it was erupting like a volcano with a nice frothy foam slowly rolling out of the bottle. Oops. haha

It actually has me worried they might explode on me. I've got only 3 or 4 left to drink and it'll probably be gone by the end of the weekend, but still. How concerned should I be?

Damn it tastes great though! Got to say, really happy with the BBS Everyday IPA. I hope the Chestnut Brown Ale and the Bruxelles Blonde are as good.