Hey all,
I've spent a bit of time on here absorbing your knowledge (getting ahead of myself, really), and have just recently brewed my first batch. I'm fermenting my 2nd now! I'm not a great introduction-type guy, but I can say that I've really enjoyed my short time brewing! Also, Im usually more of a lurker on forums, but you all seem like a great group of folks that I can not only learn from, but also maybe add valuable input someday!
On to my question, if y'all don't mind (I've also linked the recipe/instructions I used from Midwest below): how does everyone mix their carbonating sugar mix with the wort/beer? I followed the attached instructions as best as I think a newb can, but they aren't absolutely clear on how to get the sugar into the wort/beer. What I did was boil the water and sugar, let it cool, pour it in the bottling bucket, and then siphon the wort from my secondary fermenter on top of the mixture (thinking that it would mix better than just dumping the mixture into the bottling bucket on top of the wort.
The good news is that all of the bottles we've opened taste fine (actually, good, believe it or not), but there's variation in the amount of carbonation with some of the bottles-- some are under carbonated, some perfect, and some that produce a 3/4 glass head. The odd thing is that I ended up with slightly less than 5 gallons (due to my trying to avoid extra sediment when I transferred to secondary), and I had assumed I'd run into over-carbonation issues. I know that one of the better solutions is to keg my beer, but is there a way to get consistent carbonation with the sugar/water mixture?
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/media/downloads/16/Autumn Amber Ale instructions.pdf
Thanks in advance!
Jeff
I've spent a bit of time on here absorbing your knowledge (getting ahead of myself, really), and have just recently brewed my first batch. I'm fermenting my 2nd now! I'm not a great introduction-type guy, but I can say that I've really enjoyed my short time brewing! Also, Im usually more of a lurker on forums, but you all seem like a great group of folks that I can not only learn from, but also maybe add valuable input someday!
On to my question, if y'all don't mind (I've also linked the recipe/instructions I used from Midwest below): how does everyone mix their carbonating sugar mix with the wort/beer? I followed the attached instructions as best as I think a newb can, but they aren't absolutely clear on how to get the sugar into the wort/beer. What I did was boil the water and sugar, let it cool, pour it in the bottling bucket, and then siphon the wort from my secondary fermenter on top of the mixture (thinking that it would mix better than just dumping the mixture into the bottling bucket on top of the wort.
The good news is that all of the bottles we've opened taste fine (actually, good, believe it or not), but there's variation in the amount of carbonation with some of the bottles-- some are under carbonated, some perfect, and some that produce a 3/4 glass head. The odd thing is that I ended up with slightly less than 5 gallons (due to my trying to avoid extra sediment when I transferred to secondary), and I had assumed I'd run into over-carbonation issues. I know that one of the better solutions is to keg my beer, but is there a way to get consistent carbonation with the sugar/water mixture?
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/media/downloads/16/Autumn Amber Ale instructions.pdf
Thanks in advance!
Jeff