single bottle priming. does it work?

[yewtah-brewha]

I've basicly done 3 batches 1 bulk, and 2 single bottle. I cant say i'm to impressed with single bottle priming. The last batch I did (mystery porter), the beer didn't foam up like my(mexican cervesa) I used both methods on the cervesa and single bottle priming on the porter. The porter didnt appear to release any co2 to eliminate the air. I used 1/2 tsp of corn sugar per bottle, I'm wondering if my bottles were not dry enough from the sanitiser I used, would a little bit of sanitiser left in the bottle have any effect on this. I dried them upside down for about 45 minutes. I hope this porter turns out drinkable!

 

[Captain Damage]

Per-bottle priming with bulk sugar is not the recommended method. Accuracy is essentially impossible. You're trying to measure out tiny amounts by volume, rather than weight. If you want to do per-bottle priming you should use carb tabs. There's also the issue that you're not sanitizing your sugar - but then again you wouldn't be sanitizing carb tabs and people don't have too much problem carbing that way.

That your sanitizer was damp likely had nothing to do with the low carbonation of your porter. If you're sanitizing with StarSan or other no-rinse sanitizer it's actually preferable that the bottles are still damp when you fill them.

How long has it been since you bottled? If it's been less than 3 weeks, just wait and they will probably carb up alright. But be aware that since it's impossible to measure precisely the same amount of sugar for each bottle, you will likely have some bottles carbed more or less than others.

 

[yewtah-brewha]

Thanks. I wonder why its so esential to sanitize the bottles if nothing pathogenic can live in the beer?

 

[shawnbou]

The short answer is that supposedly nothing that is harmful to humans can live in the beer (so don't worry), but infections that could ruin your beer can (so be careful).

But I have used carb tabs in the past without sanitizing them and it was fine.