Yay or Nay: Boil Water w/ Priming Sugar?

[Dynachrome]

I just eyeball my amount. If I can't get the sugar to dissolve, I add a little more water. Like I said, it is probably about 2 cups (1 pint) of warm water.

+1

I use one cup of fairly warm water. The yeast will do their thing.

 

[drkaeppel]

+1 to boiling sugar with water. However, 15 mins is a little excessive, I think. There's no harm in boiling for that long if it gives you peace of mind, but 5 minutes is more than enough to kill off any bugs.

I typically just bring it to a boil, turn off the heat, then cover it until I am ready to put in in the bottling bucket.

 

[rico567]

I boil 5 oz dextrose in a pint of water (I just get it to a boil, I don't pay any particular attention to the time) and throw it in the bottling bucket after the siphon starts. This is simple, has proven to do a very good job of mixing the sugar solution in with the beer.

 

[ImperialAlchemist]

The amount of sugar is a little misleading because you want different a volume of co2 for a different beer, right? I just checked with several online carbonation calculators and they all gave me a pretty consistent number based on the volume of co2 I wanted for my specific style of beer. Hope it turns out right. It's an oatmeal stout and all the carbonation charts called for 1.7-2.3 volumes of co2. I added enough priming sugar for 2 volumes.

 

[rico567]

The amount of sugar is a little misleading because you want different a volume of co2 for a different beer, right? I just checked with several online carbonation calculators and they all gave me a pretty consistent number based on the volume of co2 I wanted for my specific style of beer. Hope it turns out right. It's an oatmeal stout and all the carbonation charts called for 1.7-2.3 volumes of co2. I added enough priming sugar for 2 volumes.

Yeah- I just prime all my beer 5 oz. corn sugar (dextrose) to 5 gal. beer. I know that different styles are supposed to dictate different levels of carbonation, but this works for me.....

 

[ImperialAlchemist]

Yeah- I just prime all my beer 5 oz. corn sugar (dextrose) to 5 gal. beer. I know that different styles are supposed to dictate different levels of carbonation, but this works for me.....

Ah, man... Hope I used enough. 2.18 oz in a 3 gallon batch. By your already tested method I should've used 3 oz. I guess I'll learn something either way.

 

[beowulf]

I usually siphon into my bottling bucket, which has measuring marks. None of my carboys have measuring marks so I wait until I get it to the bottling bucket, measure, then calculate my priming sugar at that time. This way I can be fairly precise. Based on highest ferm temp and bottling bucket volume, I use one of the online calculators to determine amount of priming sugar. I do target CO2 volumes based on style, but it's usually between 2-2.5 volumes....maybe 3 if it's a saison.

Then I measure corn sugar and boil with 1 pint of water for 5-10 minutes (usually while I'm prepping the bottles). Cool the priming mixture a little, then dump into the bottling bucket. I stir the mixture gently in one direction for a few seconds, let it settle then stir gently in the other direction. Take care not to stir too vigorously and create a lot of foam.

As an example, for 2.2 volumes with 5.25 gallons of beer fermented at 67F, I used 3.7 oz of corn sugar. Just bottled an IPA like this today.

I usually use this calculator: http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html

ImperialAlchemist - I think you're pretty close...depending on your highest sustained fermentation temp, you may end up with a little more than 2 volumes (maybe 2.2 or so), but I think you're in a pretty good range. I wouldn't sweat it...just enjoy in another 3 weeks

 

[gospurs]

Actually, the alcohol in the beer will kill the nasties. The point of boiling the sugar (5 minutes will do) is to make the sugar easier for the yeast to eat and start carbonating.

Forrest

First, it's certainly possible for a beer containing alcohol to be colonized by nasties, as many bugs (acetobacter, lactobacillus, periococcus) can survive just fine in the weakly alcoholic solution that is beer - just ask anyone who's had a Flanders Red or similar.

Second, in what way would a short boiling of the sugar make it easier for the yeast to metabolize it?

 

[smalltownbrewer]

I use a cup of boiling water from the kettle with my priming sugar, so it dissolves and then throw that into the beer, hasn't failed me yet. I usually weigh the sugar out on a scale after I have figured out how much to use with a brew calculator.

 

[unionrdr]

I get 2C of water boiling while I weigh out my priming sugar per style. I let the water boil 10 minutes or so not just to kill nasties,but get the chlorine,etc out of it. Then turn off the heat & stir in sugar. No need to boil it,as pasteurization happens at 162F. Tyhe water is hotter than that,so steeping with a lid on is fine till it cools down & you're ready to go.

 

[cdeme123]

My process is similar. 1-2 cups of RO water boiled for about 10 minutes. Be sure to gently stir into beer to get it uniform throughout and not to introduce Oxygen.

 

[fratermus]

Second, in what way would a short boiling of the sugar make it easier for the yeast to metabolize it?

I suppose one might make the admittedly-tangential argument that cracking the sucrose to glucose+fructose using a boil and acidifier could make it somewhat easier (or at least different) on the yeast.

Or that killing any undesirable micro-orgs in the sugar would reduce competition/stress on the yeast making for less expensive consumption of the sugar.

 

[lexstarwalker]

Just to add a little more info to the convo

If you're using dextrose, there is no fructose, it's only D-Glucose. Sucrose (table sugar), on the other hand, is a molecule of 1 fructose and 1 glucose.

Boiling kills microorganisms in the water and allows the sugar to dissolve in the water more quickly. Also, the warmer the temperature of the water, the more sugar it can hold in solution. You can dissolve sugar in room temperature water, it will just take longer. Boiling can also get the chlorine taste out of your water (if you're using tap water).

If you're just concerned with dissolving the sugar, 5 minutes or less of boiling would definitely be sufficient. However, if you're concerned with killing microorganisms, 15 mins would be safer. There are many microorganisms that can survive a 5 minute boil. I'm not sure how likely it would be that one of these would be in your water, but if you're worrying about contamination in the first place (which we all do), better safe than sorry. It's amazing the number of microbes that are floating around in the air. I imagine this is why some sources recommend 15 mins.

Also, yeast don't metabolize fructose directly. They must convert fructose to glucose. This takes energy, so if you're going for maximum efficiency, you're better off using dextrose.

 

[smyrnaquince]

I always microwave my water. Sounds like I should do a stovetop boil instead to bubble off the chlorine?

As far as how long to boil to kill what might be in the water:

CDC says 1 minute: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/water-treatment.htm
Fema says 1 minute: http://www.fema.gov/plan/prepare/watermanage.shtm
EPA says 1 minute: http://water.epa.gov/drink/emerprep/emergencydisinfection.cfm

There is no reason to boil for 5, 10, 15 minutes to "be safe." Especially when you consider that you are boiling tap water that is already fit to drink.

 

[MMJfan]

I always cool my sugar solution after boiling for about 10 minutes. And I too just dump it into my bottling bucket and then rack the beer on top of it by siphoning the beer into the bottling bucket. Have had good carbonation results everytime...

 

[tuesunsommiel]

what's the likelihood of contamination if the sugar was just dumped into solution?

 

[gospurs]

The probability is 6/(pi^2). In all seriousness, I have no idea. But it's a bad idea for other reasons - solid sugar dissolves pretty poorly into water at room temperature, so it would be difficult for you to be confident that the priming sugar had distributed properly throughout your batch and not just sank to the bottom like a stone. You could stir it or something, but then you'd run the risks of infecting the beer with your stirring implement or oxygenating it with the stirring. Long story short, adding priming sugar to beer really isn't the best element of brewing to experiment with; there's a consistently effective and safe method out there, and I suggest you use that. My 2c...

 

[unionrdr]

Most of the nasties that usually infect beer are killed in a few seconds at pasteurization temps of about 162F. Anything more serious than that likely won't servive the low oxygen/alcohol environment. The alcohol can damage their cell membranes.

 

[homebrewdad]

what's the likelihood of contamination if the sugar was just dumped into solution?

Very minimal risk, as very little will grow on plain sugar - this is why you can store it in a canister on your coutertop and it be safe to use indefinitely.

However, dry sugar is MUCH worse at mixing than a boiled sugar solution. If you dump in dry sugar, you run a much higher risk of some beers being flat, while others are bottle bombs.