Undermixed priming sugar?

[HomerJR]

Guys,

Just bottled an As-Yet-Unnamed IPA. Took a gravity sample, tasted wonderful, can't wait till it's carbed and conditioned a little.

However....

Boiled the priming sugar (2/3 cup for 5 gallons), poured it into the bottling bucket, racked onto it, and started bottling. Got done, had about half a pint left, so I poured it into a glass to enjoy it, and it's EXTREMELY sweet. Obviously the priming sugar solution did not adequately mix in.

So what am I in store for? Some undercarbed, some overcarbed? Bottle bombs?

From now on, my bottling bucket's getting a gentle stir, oxidation be damned!

 

[Kerberbb]

RDWHAHB, if anything it could be undercarbed, but don't worry.

 

[mosquitocontrol]

It is sweeter then expected because the sugar hasn't fermented to carbonate the wort. Typically bottles won't be completely uniform in carbonation, but its not a huge difference as you think it is. I'm sure they will all be fine.

 

[TipsyDragon]

+1 Rdwhahb

 

[HomerJR]

Mosquito,

No, this was WAY sweeter than 2/3 cup of corn sugar diluted into 5 gallons would be. This is a sugar solution that stayed at the bottom of the bucket. Hopefully no bottles toward the end of the process got over-primed.

I've always heard, though, that racking onto your sugar solution would thoroughly mix it. Clearly this is not the case. Next time it gets a gentle stir.

Not worrying on this end, just curious. Always RDWHAHB!

 

[TipsyDragon]

next time coil the siphon hose so it creates a slight swirling. taste a sample once the racking is done and another at the very end when you have that half bottle left. see if its the same sweetness.

 

[Revvy]

It's extremely sweet because you added sugar to it, but haven't given enough time for the yeasties to actually eat the sugar so they will fart co2 and carb the beer.

Just like making coolaid, you added sugar to the liquid.....the only difference is that with beer, the yeast will make the sweet taste dissapear when they consume it. And that's NOT instantaneous.

It's not a matter of it not mixing, despite what some noobs think, it DOES integrate very fine on it's own. If you don't believe me, next time add a couple drops of food coloring to your primaing sugar and watch it.....or just trust that a small volume of liquid placed in the bottom of your bucket and racked with the hose at the bottom of the bucket, will mix just fine into 5 gallons of liquid.

The only thing anyone really ever needs to do is simply relax, and give you beer the time it needs above 60 for the yeast to do their jobs...they will do it if given enough time.

read this and relax.... Of Patience and Bottle Conditioning.

 

[HomerJR]

Hey Revvy,

I get the whole patience thing, I've got no issue with that. I know how much sugar I put in, and I KNOW that it wasn't mixed completely. You ever have a cup o' coffee with sugar, and there's sugar at the bottom that didn't get stirred in, and the last sip is really sweet because of it? That's what it was like.

I haven't been brewing for decades like a lot of you guys, but I'm no noob. I've read many of your very excellent posts, and have heeded many of them. In fact, my bottling procedure is very much like the one that is stickied in this forum. I appreciate all the time, effort and expertise that you contribute to the homebrewing community. But unless you were in my kitchen, and tasted the last half-pint in my bottling bucket, you're just going to have to take my word that it was way sweeter than it should have been.

Let's look at it like this: I used 2/3 cup of corn sugar. That's roughly 11 tablespoons, or 33 teaspoons. Divided among approximately 50 12 oz. bottles, that's about 2/3 of a teaspoon per 12 ounces. That's not a heck of a lot of sugar. The taste was way beyond that. The sweetness of 2/3 teaspoon in 12 ounces would likely be detectable, but not overpowering. This was almost overpowering.

Next time, just to be safe, I'm going to give it a gentle stir. Not enough to introduce air into the beer, but just enough to mix the sugar in a little better than just racking alone does for me.

 

[Revvy]

Again, the carbonation process involves yeast eating sugar. If you add sugar to your beer, and 5 minutes later you taste it, it's going to taste sweet.

That's because in 5 minutes they yeasties are not going to have a chance to eat the sugar you added. I mean it's that simple...It's sweet because you haven't given the yeast a chance to make the sugar dissapear.

That's all there is to it....If you want to argue about it or worry about it, that's your perogative...but the point is the sugar is not going to be consumed/converted to co2 that soon, so of course it's going to taste sweet.

But when it's carbed, it's not going to....to make something taste sweet in beer, you have to use an unfermentable sugar like lactose...because yeast eat sugar to make alcohol and co2.......

Now if you tell me in 3 weeks that the beer is sweet, I am going to ask you if you added lactose or splenda by mistake, or mashed high.....but not on the day you bottled it, because the yeast haven't had a chance to ferment it yet...so of course you are going to taste it....

That's it, there's nothing else to say.....In three weeks when you pop the first one, you will smack your head and say "how silly I am to have worried, and argues with Revvy." Because it's not going to be sweet then, and they will be carbed up just fine.

 

[HomerJR]

Again, the carbonation process involves yeast eating sugar. If you add sugar to your beer, and 5 minutes later you taste it, it's going to taste sweet.



That's it, there's nothing else to say.....

Would you be able to tell the difference between 2/3 teaspoon and a tablespoon? I bet you would, and so would I. I get that it makes it sweet. It's supposed to. It's HOW sweet it made it that is the issue. It's just too bad that I didn't taste the first bit out of the bottling bucket so I'd have something to compare it to.

 

[Revvy]

I'll say it again differently....I bottle my beer. There is usually a half bottle's worth of beer in the bucket, I drink it, it tastes sweet because there is sugar in it. I don't crap my pants about it....It doesn't taste as sweet 3 weeks later, because the yeasties have eaten that extra sugar in order to fart the co2 that I need to carb my beer. That's all there is to it......

 

[HomerJR]

I'm done. I'm tired of repeating myself. If it happens again I'll overnight you a sample.

 

[mordantly]

I'm done. I'm tired of repeating myself. If it happens again I'll overnight you a sample.

deal!....................

 

[Wyldjim]

I think we all taste the last bit, and I think he's saying he is noticing something sweeter than usual.

I think it's a failure to communicate. :cross:

I've seen, guides and instructions that insist you should stir, sometimes after every few bottles. (A gentle stir with sanitized spoon shouldn't hurt).

I've always just stuck my hose in and gotten the swirl going. The only time I've stirred is when I've forgotten to add my sugar solution.

Maybe if you did not dissolve your sugar completely. A little sat on the bottom? Or so carefully racked it was sitting on top? (No coil, swirl?).

Either way there is nothing you can do about it now, so why worry? Wait 3 weeks and learn from the process

 

[alcibiades]

youre right, next time swirl it a bit. Ive messed up a couple batches by not making sure the priming sugar was uniform throughout. It will be fine though....you'll just have some overcarbed and undercarbed bottles.

Another trick I've picked up is to add half the priming sugar at the beggining of the rack, and half towards the end.

 

[Stuntman]

When I used to bottle, I would take the pot from the stove (already sterile, it was boiling). Put cool wort into it to cool it, by the time it got down below 70 degrees, I figured that there was plenty of yeast left to eat the sugar. I always used the pot (sterilized already, just come off the heat) to pick up wort and gently pour it back into racking bucket several times. All bottles were even in carbonation, LHBS told me to do it this way. It always tasted sweet...as I just put sugar in it. Though you didn't swirl, listen to Revvy, three weeks and you will have a great beer.

 

[joeybeer]

I think I had the same problem with a porter that I bottled and am drinking now..
I've drank about 12 bottles, and 7-8 had about 1/4 inch head after a normal pour.. the other 4-5 had a 1 1/2 inch head.. I know porter should be closer to the 1/4 inch head mark, but it's the lack of uniformity that bothers me.. I'll give it a stir next time...

 

[HomerJR]

UPDATE:

Today I bottled an IIPA. Instead of racking onto the priming sugar solution, I simply racked my beer into the bottling bucket, poured the sugar solution in, and gave it a few gentle stirs. About halfway through bottling I gently stirred it again.

Got to the end, poured the last half pint into a glass and took a sip. There was detectable sweetness, but not like the overpowering, sweet-tea-like sweetness of the brew that generated this post.

I'll be stirring it in from now on. At least until I get a suitable fridge to use for kegging.

 

[HomerJR]

Update:

Since that day in February when I started this thread, I've taken to gently stirring my priming solution into the bottling bucket. Before using this procedure, I occasionally had conditioning/carbonation problems. Since then, every batch has conditioned and carbonated perfectly.

Coincidence? I say no. If racking onto the priming solution works for you, rock on! But if you're experiencing uneven carbonation issues, then give your bottling bucket a gentle stir to make sure everything is evenly mixed.

Happy brewing, everyone!