How long for priming sugar to diffuse with no stirring?

[mcleanmj]

I've had great success bottling NEIPA by bottling directly from a spigot on my primary fermenter, and by adding 0.5 - 1 tsp ascorbic acid to the priming sugar. What I've been doing is mixing up a set volume of water/sugar solution and injecting a small amount into each bottle prior to filling. I'd prefer to batch mix the priming sugar. I'm considering pulling out the airlock stopper and pouring the priming sugar into the beer through there but then not stirring. My concern is poor diffusion of the sugar and I have no idea how long it might take to properly diffuse? Anyone ever done such a thing? Thanks in advance!

 

[day_trippr]

I would be concerned as well. Imo, that's a recipe for crazy **** happening. Think a mix of flat bottles and grenades. Bad juju.

Sugar won't readily diffuse, it'll basically settle, and with zero agitation is highly unlikely to approach anything close to even distribution.
I would pre-mix the primer with a small amount of sanitized beer or water, add it to the fermentor as quietly and quickly as possible, and try to mix it in without disturbing the trub.

Could be challenging depending on how hard the trub has packed, but in the end I think it's the saner approach...

Cheers!

 

[mcleanmj]

Dang, that was my fear. I guess I might just stick with the bottle by bottle priming. A good NEIPA is worth the effort.

 

[Shalenkur]

I would use a traditional bottling bucket and bottle filler......maybe I'm jumping to conclusions but if you aren't using a bottle filler on your spigot then you are getting more oxygen exposure than using bottling bucket/filler anyways.

 

[Vale71]

It will diffuse but very slowly, which raises the issue of the yeast in suspension eagerly waiting for a chance to feast on it. By the time it's uniformly distributed in the beer most if not all of it will have already been fermented making priming in this fashion impossible...

 

[Senza]

Why not just use a botteling bucket and batch priming?

 

[mcleanmj]

Thanks everyone,

I actually ferment NEIPAs in a large bottling bucket and fill the bottles directly from the spigot with a bottle filler. Works like a charm, no oxygen problems. From what I've read many times, transferring to a bottling bucket can easily oxidize the beer.

Here's a great link:

http://secretlevelbrewing.com/how-t...xt=5.-,Bottle your NEIPA,as you can and voila!

I also go so far as to purge the fermenter headspace with CO2 when dry hopping. I've also purged the bottles with CO2 prior to filling, but I think thats overkill. In my experience the other keys to bottling NEIPA are to fill the bottles completely to the top (no, it doesn't over or under carbonate them) and to add a little ascorbic acid when bottling.

Cheers

 

[Miraculix]

Thanks everyone,

I actually ferment NEIPAs in a large bottling bucket and fill the bottles directly from the spigot with a bottle filler. Works like a charm, no oxygen problems. From what I've read many times, transferring to a bottling bucket can easily oxidize the beer.

Here's a great link:

http://secretlevelbrewing.com/how-t...xt=5.-,Bottle your NEIPA,as you can and voila!

I also go so far as to purge the fermenter headspace with CO2 when dry hopping. I've also purged the bottles with CO2 prior to filling, but I think thats overkill. In my experience the other keys to bottling NEIPA are to fill the bottles completely to the top (no, it doesn't over or under carbonate them) and to add a little ascorbic acid when bottling.

Cheers

You might want to add a few mm of space, otherwise you risk bottle bombs if the liquid expands due to temperature changes