Gentle stir before bottling?

[venquessa]

Very quick question, but should you gently stir the beer before bottling, if bottling direct from the bin? Not talking about stiring it up to the point the sediments lifts, but just a once or twice round with the spoon before starting to bottle.

I ask, cause I'm wondering if the still wort will have inconsistencies from top to bottom.

I'm fairly certain different bottles of my first batch tasted different.

 

[unionrdr]

Not if it's still in primary! That wouldn't be the cause of inconsistencies between bottles. That would be uneven priming for one reason or other.

 

[HopHeadGrady]

I would rack to a bottling bucket, the movement in that process seems to do the trick for me. You don't want to disturb the beer too much during this process.

 

[hogwash]

I rack to the bottling bucket, add my priming solution, and give it a stir (with a sanitized spoon, of course). I do this to help evenly distribute the priming sugar so I don't have gushers and flat beers all in the same batch. Haven't had any issues with it negatively affecting the beer and my carbonation has been much more consistent since I started doing this.

Avoid splashing as you don't want to introduce any oxygen to the beer.

 

[venquessa]

No secondary here.

It may have been inconsistent priming. Well they were all under primed for a start. It wasn't just a difference in fizz amount, but some tasted thin and watery, some tasted rich and malty.

 

[unionrdr]

In your 1st post,it sounded like you still had it in primary. In that instance you wouldn't stir. If it's in the bottling bucket,you can give it a few gentle stirs to be sure the priming solution is mixed well.

 

[E-Mursed]

A little different here....

Add priming solution to bottling bucket - siphon beer onto priming solution - no stir necessary - bottle as usual.

This has worked well for me and allows me to avoid aeration as much as possible.

 

[BamaRooster]

A little different here....

Add priming solution to bottling bucket - siphon beer onto priming solution - no stir necessary - bottle as usual.

This has worked well for me and allows me to avoid aeration as much as possible.

+1 :rockin:

 

[venquessa]

I'm working bottling direct from the fermentation bin using syphon tube (with sediment guard on the bottom).

I filled the bottles like I would fill a glass, starting with them on their sides, syphon tap at the neck, raising and lowering the bottle to get more or less syphon pressure.

Once filled to about an inch short I funneled (with my hand) 1/2 teaspoon of sugar into the bottle and capped it before it started to foam up.

These were/are 1 litre bottles, so... it should have been a full teaspoon.

This process will change as I am getting a bottler wand delivered soon.

 

[pksmitty]

A little different here....

Add priming solution to bottling bucket - siphon beer onto priming solution - no stir necessary - bottle as usual.

This has worked well for me and allows me to avoid aeration as much as possible.

This is what I do, as well. I just make sure that the beer goes into the bottling bucket with a circular motion. I'll usually give it a very gentle stir after that, just to be sure it's thoroughly mixed. I'll use my sanitized spoon to kind of pull the beer from the bottom of the bottling bucket to the top. Just a little ripple on the surface. No oxidation there!

 

[Rev2010]

Since I'm using Cooper's fermenters with the built in spigot I bottle directly from them and add the priming sugar to the primary. I do just like you asked, a gentle stir around 2-3 times then bottle. I've bottled by racking to a bottling bucket as well when I first started using priming sugar (used to use carb drops). Never noticed a difference between racking to a bucket or doing the sugar in primary and bottling from there.

A few weeks ago I bottled 2 brews the same day. For the sake of finalizing my curiosity I bottled one by doing the usual priming sugar into bottling bucket and racking into it. The other beer I added the priming sugar directly to the primary, gently stirred making sure not to disturb the bottom sediment, and bottled straight from the primary spigot. I popped up a few bottles of each over the past few days and both are perfectly carbed, perfectly consistent, and no additional sediment in the one I bottled from the primary.

So from now on I'll always be adding the sugar to my primary and bottling straight from the built in spigot. For one, it's super convenient. Additionally it's a little less cleanup not having to wash a bottling bucket. Oh, and for the record I don't do Cooper's kits or anything like that, I brew AG and prior brewed with extract.


Rev.

 

[venquessa]

I added the sugar to the bottle, after the beer, as I expected it would foam when the sugar is disolving. Was watching you tube videos (craig tube) and sure enough, he puts the sugar in the bottle first and... yep, it foams everywhere so he has to have 2 or 3 goes and filling the bottle.

 

[hogwash]

I should have said that I add half my priming solution to the bucket, begin to rack, add the rest when half full, then stir when it's done. I had done it this way without stirring and had mixed results, my carbonation is much more even with stirring. I'm not saying one way is right or wrong, this is just what works for me.