what does priming

[roastedkiwis]

just bottled my first batch of beer the recipe says i have to add half a teaspoon to each pint "priming" why do you have to do this and what does it do the only thing i can think of it just give the beer live and a head

 

[Evan!]

The sugar gets fermented in the bottle. Fermentation gives off CO2 as a byproduct. Since the bottle is capped, the CO2 has nowhere to go, so it gets dissolved into the liquid and thus your beer is carbonated.

 

[Nurmey]

The sugar you use to prime causes a mini fermentation which is what carbonates your beer. Without it, you would have a flat beer. Next time boil up your sugar with a couple cups of water and add to your bottling bucket. This allows the sugar to mix more evenly throughout the entire batch. The sugar in the bottle method is inaccurate at best and dangerous at worst. If you get a little too much in one bottle it can cause a bottle bomb.

Welcome to HBT! Stick around and learn all sorts of amazing beer trivia.

 

[Revvy]

What is happening is that you are feeding the yeast in the beer some more sugar, once they eat the sugar they will basically "fart" out CO2...which since you have capped the bottles the co2 will be trapped in the headspace of the bottle.

As more builds up and is trapped by the cap, it will look for the path of least resisitance and go downward...which means into the beer...the beer will become saturated with CO2 which will fist scrub the beer clean (conditioning) and it will also carbonate the beer...

There is some more info and a nifty video here...https://www.homebrewtalk.com/558191-post101.html

Your best bet though is to look at how most of us prime, rather than adding sugar to each bottle of beer, we dissolve the sugar in water, and add that with the beer to our bottling bucket, that way all the beers get even mixture...

Read this;

How to Brew - By John Palmer - Priming and Bottling

 

[climateboy]

Palmer highly recommends carbonation tabs...does anyone use those?

 

[Nurmey]

I've used carb tabs several times without problems. Usually when I kegging part and bottling part of a batch. They are pre-measured for the proper amount os dextrose so very easy to use.

 

[pfgonzo]

I've used carb tabs several times without problems. Usually when I kegging part and bottling part of a batch. They are pre-measured for the proper amount os dextrose so very easy to use.

Quick question. I've just started looking at kegging as an option. How does the flavor differ (if any) between bottle priming and kegging/force carbonating?

[edit] I said flavor above, but really, I'm looking for whatever differences (bubble size, head retention, or whatever) there are between the two.

Thanks!

 

[Bach7210]

Quick question. I've just started looking at kegging as an option. How does the flavor differ (if any) between bottle priming and kegging/force carbonating?

[edit] I said flavor above, but really, I'm looking for whatever differences (bubble size, head retention, or whatever) there are between the two.

Thanks!

There are several carbonation tables out there that suggest the amount of CO2 based on beer style. It also accounts for temperature, size and length of the beverage line, volume of liquid, etc. It can get pretty anal if you want it exactly precise. I'd do a search on the forum for carbonation, or just look in that topic area.

Once you get the math down on kegging, I haven't noticed any difference from bottle conditioning.