Priming sugar strait to bottles

[Demus]

I've used the carbonation tabs with success for the 12 pack or so I like to bottle before kegging my 6 gallon batches. It occurs to me a measured amount of corn sugar strait to the bottles should do the same thing. Anyone done this? How much per 12 oz bottle?

 

[GrogNerd]

that was how it was done back during prohibition and that's where you hear stories about bottle bombs from over-priming

bulk priming is just so much easier & safer, even for small batches

if you do want to go with adding to each bottle, NB priming calculator recommends 2.15±.10 grams per bottle for 2.4 volumes

 

[solbes]

If you use a bottling bucket, you will not beat boiling the amount of sugar in 1 cup of water, then adding to the bottling bucket just as you are starting to rack. The racking will mix it up nicely and you will have superior carbonation consistency. Its also a lot faster than measuring out sugar into individual bottles.

That said, for my lambics I do not have a spare bottling bucket, and do not want to risk infecting all the rest of my bottled batches. So I added 2/3 tsp of white table sugar to each bottle along with some yeast granules. A funnel helps make sure it all goes into the bottle. Turned out fine I guess, no issues with carbonation and no bombs.

 

[Demus]

I'm not going to use a bottling bucket for 12 bottles; just looking to save a little coin over the carbonation tablets...

 

[hannibalmdq]

I'm not going to use a bottling bucket for 12 bottles; just looking to save a little coin over the carbonation tablets...

https://shop.dominosugar.com/Sugar-Cubes/Dots-Sugar-Cubes-1-lb

The glory of mass produced quality control. Right around 2.5 vols in a 12 oz bottle. Fits perfectly down the neck.

 

[hannibalmdq]

Or if you want to get fancy, that guy who is doing a 1 gallon brew every day for a year uses a powder measure for filling ammo shells to measure out precise amounts of cane sugar for different volumes of CO to each style he brews.

Something like this.

 

[Demus]

https://shop.dominosugar.com/Sugar-Cubes/Dots-Sugar-Cubes-1-lb

The glory of mass produced quality control. Right around 2.5 vols in a 12 oz bottle. Fits perfectly down the neck.

Now you're talkin'! Have you done this?

 

[hannibalmdq]

Now you're talkin'! Have you done this?

Almost every batch that doesn't require a non-standard carbonation level. I do 2.75 gallons, which means I normally end up bottling about 2.4 gallons into a case and change.

I go one step further and sterilize my bottles by wrapping the opening in foil and baking them. I try to do this in large batches whenever I have a night free.

Bottling night often consists of pulling a case of sterile bottles, scrubbing my hands well, then dropping a cube in each bottle, and raking straight from the carboy into the bottles through a sanitized auto-siphon fitted to a racking cane. Cold crashing prior to bottling definitely helps so the trub is nice and packed down. I can be done in as little as 20 minutes.

I also label the last few bottles because they inevitably end up with a little more of a dusting of yeast on the bottom.

But yes, it works very well. The cubes are standardized by weight so you know exactly what your getting. I do use a bottling bucket every once in a while, but it has more to do with wanting to get a different carbonation level for a specific batch or maybe racking off fruit or a massive dry hop or something like that where I don't want to risk getting a bunch of trub in the bottles.

 

[Oberon67]

I'm not going to use a bottling bucket for 12 bottles; just looking to save a little coin over the carbonation tablets...

Maybe the right number of Smarties would work.

 

[GrogNerd]

or Mentos

or Jolly Ranchers

or Life Savers

 

[eadavis80]

This is what I do:
To carbonate 1 gallon of beer:

1/10th of a cup of table sugar (sucrose)
6 ounces of water
Bring to a boil for 5 minutes – cover lid
Let cool to room temp
Pour solution into sanitized 1 gallon glass jar
Rack beer on top with mini auto siphon
Bottle with small bottling wand

 

[vanishingpint]

If carbonation tabs have been successful why not just keep using them ?

 

[Demus]

If carbonation tabs have been successful why not just keep using them ?

They are pricey, and it takes me quite a while to use them all up. Since they aren't sanitized in any way I really don't like having them sit around for a long time. At least the sugar cubes could get used up for coffee...

I'm all about saving time and money where possible when it doesn't adversely effect quality. Bottling bucket method is cheap, but time consuming and risks oxidation and sometimes is inconsistent if the solution doesn't fully mix. I like the convenience and speed of putting the sugar strait into the bottle. I'll report back on my results...

 

[feinbera]

Maybe the right number of Smarties would work.

You might be onto something, here... bottle a geueze, and, bam instant lambic!

Why, yes, I've got grape lambic, lemon lambic, and, er... red? Strawberry or cherry or something, here, try it, you tell me what red is, I can never remember.

...seriously, though, those sugar cubes do look like a bit of a time-saver if you're only doing a six-pack or two at a time. I'm sticking to my bottling bucket for the 50+ bottles it takes for a full batch, though.

 

[eadavis80]

At first I kind of wished I had bought the priming sugar tablets, but they're way more expensive than priming sugar. They would be easier though. That being said, you get like 60 in a pack, but you can prime 6 x's the amount of beer with a .99 bag of priming sugar. I actually find 1-gallon batches just annoying and tedious, so now I'm glad I didn't buy the tabs. I'll just throw my leftover priming sugar (after what will be my last 1-gallon batch) in a recipe to up its ABV.

 

[Demus]

How about a priming sugar solution boiled and injected with a syringe directly into the bottles? Let's face it, going strait from the fermentor/secondary to bottles saves time and reduces exposure to o2 and other contaminants. Not to mention all the threads about priming sugar not mixing thoroughly in the bottling bucket.
Thoughts?