First time brewer

[petescoupe68]

G'day gents
In a moment of madness I bought a fast ferment beginners kit from a local supplier a few days ago. The included wort is from the All Inn Brewery range. I chose to go with the Consequences Lager, so we will see how that goes later this week. Just a quick question. What size bottles do most of you use? I favour drinking out of stubbies and have been collecting empties for a while now. Should I be using the supplied carb drops, but as most stubbies these days are only 330ml, would I be better off just using sugar or dextrose when I bottle? I don't want to end up with broken glass everywhere and have heard all the horror stories.
By the way, what a great resource this forum is. I've learnt heaps in just an hour.

 

[spryzie]

I've never had a problem using carb drops or sugar measures designed for 375ml in 330 or 345 ml sizes.

You will be pouring your beer into the glass to avoid yeast sediment.

Use anything to start. I have recently invested in 750ml swing tops and swear by them!

 

[Dr_Rocks]

If you don't want to bulk prime (I generally don't) you can get a sugar scoop like this one here:

https://www.nationalhomebrew.com.au/beer/capping-sealing-and-accessories/other-sugar-scoop

My only tip is try and keep it dry when bottling otherwise the sugar gets stuck to the scoop. I use one when I bottle but I do mostly use 750ml king brown bottles.

As for the sugar I just use plain old supermarket brand white sugar. My understanding is the yeast are just going to eat up the sugar to carbonate and any flavour additions due to priming sugar are generally not noticeable.

One last comment is that I generally leave the last 1cm in the bottle as it contains the sediment so I always pour my homebrew into a glass.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Some advice

Cooper use a priming rate of 5gm/1Ltr of liquid sugar

A sugar cube weighs 4.5gm which is near ideal for a 750ml bottle

Carb drops are designed for 345-375 bottles, so you would be over carbing them with 330ml bottles slighly ( definitely to much if you had a stout )

Different beers require different priming rates. Generally light Lagers & Ales can be carbed high...but Porters & Stouts need to be carbed low, which is achieved thru your priming rate

Honestly...Bulk priming is THE way to go and you will have much better control over your carbonation

Malt is the best primer ( cause it aint white sugar ) but you need a little bit more as it is not 100% fermentable like white sugar is

 

[Grott]

Welcome aboard. For the first brew and as it is a lager I'd go with the carbonation drops. The key to not having "bottle bombs" is to ensure fermentation has been completed, so do your hydrometer checks as stated over 24 hours.
Cheers

 

[mtb]

Siding with grott there, carb drops are about as controlled as you can get in terms of dosage per bottle.

 

[droid]

I wish I had starting kegging earlier....welcome mate

:beer:

 

[Roosterboy]

Bottling is a pain , but if you are grolsch bottles are good.

 

[petescoupe68]

Thanks for the good advice gentlemen.
I think I'll go the carb drops on this first one and start experimenting later as things go.

Cheers!!

I hope......

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Simplicity is your friend for all levels of Brewing.
Carb drops for bottling yes! because it eliminates the vulnerabilities of alternatives. Its a simple and sure bet but the same time its according to your bottle volumes.
500ml bottles are no go for carb drops for an example.
330 to 375ml bottles is 1 drop
630 to 750ml bottles is 2 drops.
Safe bet.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

You will be pouring your beer into the glass to avoid yeast sediment.

Sediment or nothing in my house