priming methods bulk vrs by the bottle

[Byrdbrewer]

Cheers fellow home brewers.

I am new to home brewing ( about a year or so ) and have always primed my bottles before bottling. I'm considering using the method of batch priming, adding the sugar solution to the bottling bucket and filling the bottles, mostly to save time and effort. My concern is two fold, 1- that the bottles will not consistently have the same amount of sugar in each bottle (and will under carbonate, or worse explode) , and 2- that I will aerate my beer by stirring in the solution. What are your thoughts on this quandary, and what have you found to be the best way to bottle? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[MikeinAK]

A lot people, including myself, when they bulk prime, dissolve the sugar in a small amount of boiling water, let it cool a bit, pour into the bucket, rack the beer on right top, and then bottle. No extra stirring is needed, so there's no extra chance of aeration involved and I've never had issues with consistency in carbonation between bottles.
I've never primed bottles individually, so I may be blowing smoke out my a**.

 

[JakeTheHopDog]

I prepare my sugar, boil and cool. Then start racking to my bottling bucket. When I have 2-3 inches of beer in the bucket, I add the sugar solution. Everything seems to mix pretty well from there, but I mix it a bit with my spoon, careful to not add any air bubbles, and bottle away. No problem so far.

 

[yodalegomaster]

Most people do it this way, You need to stir it up good without adding a much O2. O2 exposures is way over rated as a source of off flavors, unless it's getting older. I would not worry too much about this, it's about having fun.

 

[meddin]

I think 'bulk priming' is a more accurate way to prime as well. I boil a little water with priming sugar, add to bottlin g bucket, then sipohon onto that.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Done properly (using the methods above), bulk priming usually leads to more consistent carbonation than priming per bottle. For consistent dosage when priming per bottle, use carbonation drops/tabs by Munton's or Cooper's.

Because carb drops are a bit expensive in comparison to bulk sugars, I don't recommend them for priming an entire batch. I do think they have their place if you're kegging most of a batch and bottling a small quantity.

 

[Byrdbrewer]

Done properly (using the methods above), bulk priming usually leads to more consistent carbonation than priming per bottle. For consistent dosage when priming per bottle, use carbonation drops/tabs by Munton's or Cooper's.

Because carb drops are a bit expensive in comparison to bulk sugars, I don't recommend them for priming an entire batch. I do think they have their place if you're kegging most of a batch and bottling a small quantity.

YA I agree - I usually bottle a six pack or two of 12 oz bottles as taste testers to try while conditioning the rest of my 22 oz bottles. I guess the tabs would come in handy for that if I start kegging.

 

[StMarcos]

A decent syringe would work well too. I use this method for priming just a few bottles. Actually the last time I used the bottling bucket (for brewing) was probably 5 years ago. It's pretty beat up and had housed various marine critters and more recently fertilizer. A corny makes a good bottling 'bucket' too.

 

[Cliff897]

I bulk prime.

1.) in a little pot: Boil water or some beer from the carboy ( usually I can use the extra water to top off my carboy).
2.) Add 4 - 5 ounces corn sugar to water and let dissolve and cool.
3.) pour cooled priming water into the bottom of the racking carboy or bucket.
4.) rack from the secondary fermenter into that racking carboy or bucket: Using a hose long enough to get to the bottom of the bucket or carboy so in no time your hose outlet end is submerged and your flow is rotational.
5.) Let the rotational flow do the mixing.
6.) When the rack off is complete jam a clean stirrer (mine's just a length of capped copper 1/2" pipe) into the beer and stir gently.
7.) Bottle

 

[Bearocalypse]

2 cups of water, 3-5 oz of priming sugar (depending on type of beer/desired carb), boil, cool. start racking to bucket, continue racking and slowly pour without making much of a splash, finish racking.

I have never stirred. I have never had a bottle explode or be under carbed. A little aeration may not harm it, but it definitely doesn't help it.