priming sugar

[brockettbrews]

how much priming sugar should you use in a five gallon batch??? Is it better to put the sugar in the bottles or put it in your bottling bucket???? What I have been doing is filling a 5 liter keg than addding 5 oz of priming sugar and that seems to be working.

 

[cowgo]

I use 5 oz. On bottling day I boil it up in a bit of water and then cover and let it cool. By the time I'm ready to bottle it's cool enough to pour into the bottling bucket. I then rack the beer out of the carboy on top of the sugar water and commence bottling.

 

[JuanMoore]

5 oz of sugar for 5L of beer is way too much! I'm surprised you haven't caused a keg to explode doing that. 5 oz of priming sugar is on the high side for a full 5 gal batch of beer.

How much sugar you add depends on your desired carbonation level. There are tons of free online priming calculators out there that will even account for the carbonation leftover from fermentation. The most accurate and even way to add the priming sugar is like cowgo said, boil it in a little water to sanitize, add to the bottling bucket, and then rack the beer on top. It's also a good idea to gently stir to make sure it gets distributed through the beer evenly.

Here's a good priming calculator-

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

 

[Yooper]

For most beers, I use 1 oz of priming sugar (by weight) per finished gallon of beer, although I've gone up to 1.20 oz/gallon for beers I've wanted a bit higher carbed. That works great for all beers for me.

 

[grndslm]

5 oz of sugar for 5L of beer is way too much! I'm surprised you haven't caused a keg to explode doing that. 5 oz of priming sugar is on the high side for a full 5 gal batch of beer.

The most accurate and even way to add the priming sugar is like cowgo said, boil it in a little water to sanitize, add to the bottling bucket, and then rack the beer on top. It's also a good idea to gently stir to make sure it gets distributed through the beer evenly.

ABSOLUTELY!!!

My friend went thru several batches and never wanted to "disturb the yeast". I said, "To heck with the yeast, we need consistent carbonation!!"

I'd still like to know why it's a "no no" to splash and oxidize, but at least gently stirring has given us GREAT carbonation on all the various bottles we've used. 5 oz of sugar is INDEED on the high side of carbonating 5 gallons. Soo.... 5 liters should need less than an ounce of sugar.

I guess we'll try 3 ounces of sugar for the next 5 gallon batch and move from there.

 

[brockettbrews]

in the 5 liter keg i used 2.5 tablespoons. then the rest of the beer i put 5 oz of sugar in and bottle.

 

[Yooper]

ABSOLUTELY!!!

My friend went thru several batches and never wanted to "disturb the yeast". I said, "To heck with the yeast, we need consistent carbonation!!"

I'd still like to know why it's a "no no" to splash and oxidize, but at least gently stirring has given us GREAT carbonation on all the various bottles we've used. 5 oz of sugar is INDEED on the high side of carbonating 5 gallons. Soo.... 5 liters should need less than an ounce of sugar.

I guess we'll try 3 ounces of sugar for the next 5 gallon batch and move from there.

3 ounces of sugar for 5 gallons is pretty low- the beer won't be flat, but it will seem to be fairly flat.

Splashing the beer can oxidize it, by aerating it. Once fermentation starts, oxygen can change the flavor of the beer and not to the good. You want to absolutely minimize ANY splashing or potential for oxidation.