For the sake of adding an n-th opinion, I'll add mine to the mix. Firstly, that article is great: Read it, learn it, and follow it.
Here's what I do: Keep in mind, you may need to adjust numbers slightly to suit your environment/tastes.
1. Remind yourself that there are no stupid questions, only stupid people. Stupid people are the ones that
don't ask questions. (Not to be confused with stupid opinions, which are those that conflict with mine
)
2. Check that fermentation has stopped. Once you're sure, wait a couple more days, and check it again. Then ask yourself, "Has it
really stopped?" (Can't stress this one enough, but it applies to
all bottle carbonation).
3. Measure out about 120-140g of table sugar (more or less depending on desired carbonation). I find that dex takes too long to ferment, especially in winter. Table sugar will be carbonated in a week; two tops). Before people shout out, "you shouldn't rush a good beer", faster carbonation means you can start tasting your beer earlier, and get a feel for how it is changing with time - it's an excellent educational experience. Table sugar has been known to impart a slightly "cidery" flavour, but unless you're making award-winning beers with highly controlled fermentation conditions, you're not going to notice it with the quantities needed for standard carbonation pressure.
4. Add sugar to 300mL of water, and bring to the boil for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. It's normal for the solution to discolour slightly at this point, but you shouldn't have black scorch marks on the bottom of your saucepan. If you can still see grains of sugar, then you may need to add a little more water - bring to boil again.
5. Add sugar solution to the bottom of an empty,
sanitised fermenter - your priming bucket. The priming bucket should have a
closed tap in place (check it again!), but no sediment reducer.
6. Connect a sanitised hose from primary fermenter, and let it coil around neatly near the edges, in the bottom of your priming bucket. Try to keep the end of hose away from the plastic "block" that the tap connects to, as this may cause splashing.
7. Remove the airlock from the primary, and turn the primary tap until beer starts slowly flowing. Let the beer trickle out really slowly until the end of the hose is well submerged. You can now gently turn the primary tap to increase the flow, which should start a slow whirlpool in your bottling bucket.
8. Turn the primary tap off as soon as you see bubbles entering the hose.
9. Gently stir the priming bucket with a sanitised paddle or spoon, being careful not to splash it. This will help to distribute the sugar evenly.
Tips:
* I carefully tilt my primary fermenter as it gets towards empty to get more out of it.
* Placing the lid loosely on the priming bucket while you're transferring to reduce exposure to nasties.
* Sanitise everything you need before you start: priming bucket, hose, paddle. You don't need to sanitise the saucepan or whatever you're using to hold the sugar while you're weighing it.
* Bottle as soon as you can to prevent strata layers from forming (the sugar may sink slightly over time). If you must leave it in the priming bucked for an hour or so, make sure it's covered, and give it another gentle stir before bottling.
