Just putting sugar in bottles to prime

[Megalodon77]

Is there any reason I can't do this? The only reason I can think to do this is if the sugar has some non-desirable things on it. When making the sugar solution before I've noticed that sometimes the carbonation level is inconsistent. I want to have the cheapness of table sugar but I don't feel like spending about 4-5 bucks to prime every 5 gallons of beer in the bottles. I also have played with the idea of making an ice-cube tray thing to try and make priming tablets.

 

[Hobanon]

How are you priming? Some thorough (yet gentle) stirring and some time to sit (10-30mins) has always worked well for me. How thick is your solution? I always use 200% water weight to sugar so I know it's not too viscous.

 

[slym2none]

You can absolutely use regular table sugar. Some people use one sugar-cube, like Domino's Dots, for a 12-oz bottle, or you can just measure out 1/2 teaspoon of sugar per 12-oz bottle.

 

[z-bob]

It works just fine. I use 3/4 tsp of granulated white sugar per 500 ml bottle, but that's kind of fizzy; might be a little too much.

"Domino Dots" sugar cubes (smaller than C&H sugar cubes) will fit in the mouth of a beer bottle, and one will prime a 12 oz bottle, or two for a 22 oz.

 

[Megalodon77]

How are you priming? Some thorough (yet gentle) stirring and some time to sit (10-30mins) has always worked well for me. How thick is your solution? I always use 200% water weight to sugar so I know it's not too viscous.

I've primed all the ways and you can prime a bottle I think but I have mostly batch primed with a sugar solution(never using dme again). I've only done the priming tablets 3 times. I use a priming sugar calculator and plug and prime from there. The only reason I'm question the method is that sometimes the batch is really spotty. Some bottles will be well carbonated and some the carbonation is very weak. I like the carbonation tablets for their consistency but the price is too high.

 

[neilpcraven]

Depending on how many bottles you do, it can be a really tedious job but it works.

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

Nothing wrong with adding sugar cubes to individual bottles and there certainly shouldn't be bacterial issues.

I've also had inconsistencies with batch priming and it seemed to come down to difficulty mixing a viscous solution at the bottom of thinner cold beer. Now, I add the sugar solution AFTER the beer's already in the bucket (carefully of course) and when I stir, i make sure I reach the furthest corners of the bucket.

Otherwise, the ideas given above are also sound.

 

[FarmerTed]

Depending on how many bottles you do, it can be a really tedious job but it works.

It's definitely on the tedious side, but I prepare a sugar solution in water that I boil for a few minutes, cool, and then add individually to bottles with a syringe. I typically dissolve ~150 g of dextrose in ~320 g of water; I weigh the pan before and after the boil, so I know how much water weight was lost to evaporation (usually 15-20 g). I have a spreadsheet that I plug the weights in to, and it estimates the sugar mass by volume of solution. I usually end up adding ~6 ml of solution per 12 oz bottle. It takes maybe 20 min to prime the bottles. I do this because it allows me to fill the bottles directly from the fermenter instead of having to transfer to a bucket. On the whole, it's probably a little faster for me than using a bottling bucket, because it saves time on sanitizing a hose and a bottling bucket, and cleaning the extra equipment afterwards.