bdg0223
Member
Hello there, new brewer here with a mere 1 batch under my belt. Doing extract 1gal batches for reference in a siphonless LBMB.
So today I decided to use some fancy new 16oz flip top bottles. I foresaw two issues.
1) I knew my fizz drops wouldn't fit into the bottle.
2) I wanted to get the same level of carb in these 16oz bottles as in my first batch's 12oz capped bottles.
I researched all the sugar cube and priming sugar options to get the right Co2, ran my numbers using different calculators. All that.
And then my frugal instincts kicked in. Why waste those "precious" fizz drops? I could just heat 'em up in a tiny amount of water, get my proportions right (AKA use slightly more fizz drops than 1 per bottle) and just add the simple syrup into the bottles.
Here's where I learned I screwed up.
1) Fizz drops take a lot of time to dissolve in water, even when they're warmed on the stove. Eight fizz drops in 1/4 cup of water took about 25 minutes. I knew my initial calculation of 2tsps of syrup per bottle was thrown out the window due to evaporation.
2) After the water started to cool, I decided I'd sanitize a 1ml pipette to move the syrup from the stovetop to the sanitized bottles.
Well, cooling sugar gets sticky quick and my pipette quickly became inaccurate as the inside began to crystalize. And I just had to guess for the remainder of the bottles.
I tried to slightly undershoot my priming sugar additions so my apartment doesn't become a warzone, but I honestly have no idea exactly how much got into each bottle.
I did however think halfway through "wow this is such a bad idea," that I bottled a few 12oz with a standard fizz drop addition. So not all is lost.
But yikes. I think I'll just keep it simple next time. At least I got a few laughs and a story out of it.
Advice is welcome for priming sugar additions without adding directly to the beer and stirring up trub in the LBMB.
So today I decided to use some fancy new 16oz flip top bottles. I foresaw two issues.
1) I knew my fizz drops wouldn't fit into the bottle.
2) I wanted to get the same level of carb in these 16oz bottles as in my first batch's 12oz capped bottles.
I researched all the sugar cube and priming sugar options to get the right Co2, ran my numbers using different calculators. All that.
And then my frugal instincts kicked in. Why waste those "precious" fizz drops? I could just heat 'em up in a tiny amount of water, get my proportions right (AKA use slightly more fizz drops than 1 per bottle) and just add the simple syrup into the bottles.
Here's where I learned I screwed up.
1) Fizz drops take a lot of time to dissolve in water, even when they're warmed on the stove. Eight fizz drops in 1/4 cup of water took about 25 minutes. I knew my initial calculation of 2tsps of syrup per bottle was thrown out the window due to evaporation.
2) After the water started to cool, I decided I'd sanitize a 1ml pipette to move the syrup from the stovetop to the sanitized bottles.
Well, cooling sugar gets sticky quick and my pipette quickly became inaccurate as the inside began to crystalize. And I just had to guess for the remainder of the bottles.
I tried to slightly undershoot my priming sugar additions so my apartment doesn't become a warzone, but I honestly have no idea exactly how much got into each bottle.
I did however think halfway through "wow this is such a bad idea," that I bottled a few 12oz with a standard fizz drop addition. So not all is lost.
But yikes. I think I'll just keep it simple next time. At least I got a few laughs and a story out of it.
Advice is welcome for priming sugar additions without adding directly to the beer and stirring up trub in the LBMB.