Bulk Priming A Lager

[mahonya1]

I'm going to move from carbonation drops to bulk priming with dextrose. There are a few threads on here giving instructions for bulk priming by racking into a secondary fermentor with priming sugar prior to bottling, but what do people do with lagers? Do you rack into a third fermentor and add the priming sugar before bottling, or do you add the priming sugar into the secondary after lagering, give a gentle mix with priming sugar trying not to disturb the sediment on the bottom? Just curious as to what people do.
Cheers.

 

[stef]

I usually rack to a "bottling bucket" (which for me is another cube with a tap) for priming. Regardless of whether its an ale or lager.

I believe there are some people who add their priming mix direct to whatever their beer is in and bottle from that- i'm sure if you mixed it in really carefully and slowly you'd get away with it. I don't think its too much trouble just to transfer it to another vessel though...

 

[felten]

An alternative is pseudo bulk priming, where you mix up a bulk solution of sugar and water, and inject a measured amount into each bottle with a syringe.

There are a few threads/websites that discuss it in more detail if you want to search it.

 

[mahonya1]

I usually rack to a "bottling bucket" (which for me is another cube with a tap) for priming. Regardless of whether its an ale or lager.

I believe there are some people who add their priming mix direct to whatever their beer is in and bottle from that- i'm sure if you mixed it in really carefully and slowly you'd get away with it. I don't think its too much trouble just to transfer it to another vessel though...

So is the bottling bucket your third vessel?

 

[stef]

Yes. Can obviously use the first vessel again though (unless you have brewed since and have something else in primary).

Depending on the beer i would either ferment in primary, condition in primary and then rack to secondary for bottling

OR

Ferment in primary, move to secondary for conditioning, then rack back to the primary for bottling.

I would use the first method for most beers, second method for those which i am going to condition for a longer period of time.

 

[raven19]

So is the bottling bucket your third vessel?

Yes, otherwise mixing it in the secondary results in you stirring up all the yeast and trub that you have waited so long for to settle out.

 

[MaltyHops]

...
I would use the first method for most beers, second method for those which i am
going to condition for a longer period of time.

Pretty much what I do but I've started to wonder whether it would
be ok to not bother with a "bottling bucket" vessel - to just drizzle the
sugar mix around the beer, give it a gentle mixup (the sugar mix will
naturally disperse anyway though this could do with testing), then back
into the fridge for a day or so at around 1C, before bottling.

At such low temps, the yeast is not going to chew through the priming
sugar much (if at all) and the day or so in the fridge may let the beer clear
up enough to bottle?

I guess possible issues would be the CO2 blanket sitting above the beer
would have been lost when puting the sugar mix in and stirring but again,
at such low temps it might not be too bad.

 

[Bribie G]

What bottles are you using? If you are giving up carb drops mainly because of the outrageous rip off price but intend to keep on using PET bottles then these are your friend:

 

[mahonya1]

What bottles are you using? If you are giving up carb drops mainly because of the outrageous rip off price but intend to keep on using PET bottles then these are your friend:

View attachment 50397

I use whatever bottles I have - different sizes and some PET some glass, that's one reason for bulk priming. Another reason is i brew a lot of English style ales and find even 1 carbonation drop is too much.

 

[Stormahead]

Make sure its well mixed if you add to the secondary vessel. I've failed bulk priming a few times where we didn't mix the sugar solution thru the beer and ended up with the first 3/4 bottles undercarbed and then the last 1/4 a bunch of real fizzers

 

[iralosavic]

So you guys have no issues with natural carbonation after a long lagering period where you've siphoned the clear beer from off the trub twice (primary to secondary, secondary to a third vessle for prime mixing) to bulk prime?

I mean most of the yeast is left behind and the rest is probably dead or dormant, right?