Priming question

[Priemus]

A few beers done, many many many ciders done on the cheap but a quick, hopefully easy, question about priming with dextrose.

In the past ive primed all bottles with half a teaspoon of table suger one bottle at a time, ive got it down for speed

While this has never been a problem with the Ciders, the beers I made have always had that "cidery" taste to them, it eventually seems to dissapear, but only after 4 or 5 months in the bottle.

Id like to consume after 4-5 weeks so I made an order online (i have to buy all my gear from horribly understocked online resellers) for some dextrose, so I wonder if I can do it the same way?

Can I just put the powdered sugers straight into the bottle and cap it? if so how much? still a half a teaspoon?

 

[carnevoodoo]

I doubt that the way you are priming is what is leading to your cidery flavors. I'm guessing you don't control your fermentation temperatures well enough and are getting some ester production that is leading to a cidery taste. Otherwise, it could be that you are very sensitive to acetaldehyde, which is abundant in young beer.

How long are you leaving your beer on the yeast? What is your process like at the moment.

 

[Priemus]

Like I said, the cider taste does filter out after several months, I assumed from reading other posts that it was a off taste caused by suger beets.

But I have always left the beers in the primary for about 3 weeks, basically wait until there is no more action on the air lock, then wait a week after that.

The temp is a fairy constant 16C (60f) degrees, hidden in the corner of the room under the bar.

 

[carnevoodoo]

hmm. well, sugar is sugar when it comes to amount. I have never gone bottle to bottle like that. I always dump my solution into a bottling bucket and rack from there, so I think if your system of 1/2 tsp. is working, you'll be fine. Yeast will eat the new sugar just the same as they did the old.

 

[Priemus]

I was looking through other threads to see if I was the only one doing this (apparently I am), and I did see that at least in the case of making a suger solution to prime people use varied amounts depending on the product, example 3/4 a cup dex 2/3 cup cain suger, 1.5 cups dme etc etc.

But I guess in such small amounts it should neither over or undercarb it enough to be a problem.

 

[Brewham]

Priming by the bottle is an invitation for disaster. A small mis-measure is a big percentage of the total. Better to prime the whole batch and gently mix it in so you get uniform fizz. Its easier and quicker too.

 

[Mooseknuckle2000]

Priming by the bottle is an invitation for disaster. A small mis-measure is a big percentage of the total. Better to prime the whole batch and gently mix it in so you get uniform fizz. Its easier and quicker too.

+1 on the priming the whole batch. For a ~5 gal. batch, I usually use 2 cups water and disolve 3/4 cup corn sugar on the stovetop, then cool a bit and slowly stir into my bottling bucket. Always seems to produces good uniform fizz for me.

 

[Priemus]

Never had a problem with it in a dozen or so beer/cider brews, I also eyeballed the measurement. Perhaps Ive just been very lucky.

Ill figure out a way to sterilise a big bucket then, hopefully that works out.

22 leters, 3/4 of a cup ill give it a shot, hope it works as well as the random amount of suger

 

[Malticulous]

I think it would be impossible to over prime using a half teaspoon. You need three or four times that much before it becomes a problem. I do it when I'm bottling less than a gallon and it works fine. For five gallons I'm more precise and weigh it on a scale, boil it in watter and mix it in the bottling bucket. It's been over a hundred batches since I last used dextrose.

 

[Brewham]

Ditch the table sugar (cidery) and use corn sugar. It is available as Priming Sugar in pre-measured small bags (5oz by weight) for 5 gallons. Costs .79 - .99 at HB stores. Since 22 liters is more than 5 gallons, you might need to add a little more than 1/2 ounce to maintain the same ratio.

 

[Malticulous]

Table sugar will not make your beer taste like cider.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/ad...ot-going-make-taste-like-freakin-cider-90498/

 

[Priemus]

I am ditching table suger for this one, what I did order from my online reseller here in Norway is "Dextrose monohydrat", I thought that was corn suger?

And yeah, Ill need more than 2/3 of a cup then wont I? 22 leters is closer to 6 gallons I think. I think i'll just round up to an even cup, shouldnt be enough to blow up my bottles or a 5l keg should it?

 

[Priemus]

Table sugar will not make your beer taste like cider.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/ad...ot-going-make-taste-like-freakin-cider-90498/

I dont (recently) use table suger as the only fermentable, not since that first ever can of malt with "add a bag of suger and wait a week" experiment a couple of years back.

But, my arguement is that the last beer I made, a pilsner tasted good straight out of the primary after sitting in it for 3ish weeks, bottled it with half a teaspoon of suger of table suger, waited another 3 weeks....cider.