Priming Sugar question (how long to boil)

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berwick12

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I usually only boil the sugar for about a minute or two. I got side tracked and it was on the boil for about 8-10ish minutes will that affect anything?
 
I boil mine for 10 minutes, but stir it constantly so no burning or scortching.

I think 10 minutes is better to sanatize, then 2, but not sure.
 
I usually boil for however long it takes to set up my bottling bucket and get my bottles prepared. 15 minutes would be ideal for sanitation, but processed corn sugar is usually going to be safe enough for our use. Some people add the sugar directly to the bottles and skip the boiling process altogether, although I don't recommend that simply because it's harder to dilute in powdered form.
 
About 3 minutes for me, but I really don't think it hurts to boil it longer. Unless you're using untreated water I don't think it needs any more than that though.
 
I boil the water in the microwave and add the dextrose immediately after taking it out. The solution stays above 160 degrees for long enough to kill any bugs that may be hiding in the sugar.
 
I boil the water in the microwave and add the dextrose immediately after taking it out. The solution stays above 160 degrees for long enough to kill any bugs that may be hiding in the sugar.

I'm similar: I heat the sugar/water mixture to 170 on the stovetop.

FWIW, the FDA requires 15 seconds at 161F for HTST pasteurization. I just go to 170 to give myself a margin for error; it's overkill as far as sanitizing goes, since it stays above the recommended 161F for several minutes at least.
 
Iv'e Never boiled my priming sugar.Haven't made a bad beer yet(do to priming sugar:D)
 
when boiling the only thing that gets evaporated is the water, therefore you have a more dense amound of priming sugar. Basically as long as you dont scorch it, its all good. I usually boil mine for the time it take me to get all my bottles and gear laid out.
 
How do you prevent scorching it? I think I may have been doing this to the point of adding off flavors. In fact, to experiment I bottled a batch last week by using several methods of priming - boiled/not boiled, 2 kinds of sugar, and carb tabs. Results will be posted in a new thread in a couple more weeks.
 
How do you prevent scorching it?

To pasteurize, it has to be above 160F for 15 seconds. I bring the water to 170 and add the sugar, that leaves it safely above that temperature for well longer than required, yet nowhere near the range where you'd worry about scorching.
 
Technically, sugar is a preservative. Now that may seem counterintuitive to those of us used to sugar in a solution(i.e. homebrewers), but have you ever eaten a chocolate chip cookie that went bad? As such, you priming sugar does not need any sort of sanitation whatsoever. I've brewed somewhere around 15 batches of beer, and have yet to bring my priming sugar to a boil at all. I have yet to have an infection, a gusher, or a broken bottle. One trend I see amongst us as homebrewers is that we worry waaaay too much about way to little. It's like what Papazian was trying to say when he coined the mantra RDWHAHB. Just chill out, and quit worrying about the little details. People have been making beer since there were pharaohs ruling the planet, and I'll bet they did an excellent job. I'm starting my own beer brewing mantra: C.T.F.O.!
 
Well, there can be things in the bag of sugar other than sugar. So .....

Have you ever read what the parts per million of allowable rat feces is in food products? :D

That said I mostly add to some boiled water to disolve quicker. But safe is better than unsafe.
 
Cheers, I take it you work this out from the points per pound per gallon thingy for dextrose and assume that the water you boil it in is negligible?

No, I plugged 4oz dextrose into a BeerAlchemy recipe.:)

I'm not counting the water.
 
Technically, sugar is a preservative. Now that may seem counterintuitive to those of us used to sugar in a solution(i.e. homebrewers), but have you ever eaten a chocolate chip cookie that went bad?

Yes, and I've had infections grow on jelly before. It's not uncommon at all; sugar is excellent food for bacteria (and fungus--as brewers, we should all be familiar with yeast as one example!)
 
  1. boil.
  2. take off heat.
  3. add sugar.
  4. stir till dissolved.
  5. add to bottling bucket.
  6. rack beer into sanitized bottling bucket
(sugar can be added last instead but you must stir with sanitized spoon to mix into beer)

Inbetween steps 4 & 5, how long do you let the solution cool before you add it to the bucket?
 
The Egyptians used beer as a medication for illness, and it worked because the contamination in their brews produced a weak antibiotic.

I use beer a a medication as well. My condition, you ask??? Being the only man working on an OB/GYN hospital ward with 45 other women.:eek:
 
I use beer a a medication as well. My condition, you ask??? Being the only man working on an OB/GYN hospital ward with 45 other women.:eek:

Then you might enjoy this joke: What does a pizza delivery man and a gynocologist have in common? They both get close enough to smell it, but both will be fired if they eat it :D
 
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