Priming With Brewing Sugar

[benny_bjc]

Hi,

I used coopers brewing sugar to prime my bottles and was wondering if this is ok as I have noticed a bit of sediment in all the bottles a few days after priming? Is this normal?
Is there any way I can tell if the beer is becoming carbonised without opening it?

thanks

 

[wambesi]

Hi,

I used coopers brewing sugar to prime my bottles and was wondering if this is ok as I have noticed a bit of sediment in all the bottles a few days after priming? Is this normal?
Is there any way I can tell if the beer is becoming carbonised without opening it?

thanks

Hi, the sediment is normal, all bottle conditioned beers will have a layer of sediment so dont worry about that.
The brewing sugar should be ok but it is a mix of both dextrose and maltodextrin, the latter which is not fermentable so you may find some bottles may be more carbonated than others but see how you go!

Next time I'd recommend using plain dextrose until you want to get a little more adventurous then start experimenting!

Enjoy!

 

[hanzie]

No there is no way to tell if your beer is carbed other than drinking one. Its hard work isn't it...

I put at least 1 beer in a PET bottle so I can just squeeze it to feel If its carbed.

Hanzie

 

[wambesi]

I put at least 1 beer in a PET bottle so I can just squeeze it to feel If its carbed.

Something I do with every batch also...

 

[solidghost]

Why not just use normal sugar? It won't change much of the flavour anyway.

 

[chovain]

Why not just use normal sugar? It won't change much of the flavour anyway.

Absolutely right. And in my experience, white table sugar ferments quite a bit faster. My bottles seem to be pretty much ready to go after 2 weeks with table sugar, but it takes up to 4 with dextrose.

 

[benny_bjc]

I used brewing sugar because I had it near by and needed to use it up. Next time I will stick with normal white sugar.

 

[Adric Hunter]

i would also advise just priming with cane sugar, i tried an experiment useing castor sugar to prime one bottle and dextrose in the other. I honestly could not taste a difference, white sugar's cheaper than dextrose and it dosn't clump together and get stuck in my priming funnel like dextrose does.

 

[Luka]

I've used brewing sugar to bulk prime before and had no problems with it. I mainly use dex but this one time I didn't have any handy so made do with brewing sugar, beer turned out fine.
Cheers

 

[tgilbert]

So is it really necessary to prime each bottle individually? I don't bottle much any more - mostly keg these days - but it occurs to me that you could prime the brew in the conditioning containers, mix thoroughly and then decant into the bottles. Any particular reason why that would not work?

Tony

 

[chovain]

So is it really necessary to prime each bottle individually? I don't bottle much any more - mostly keg these days - but it occurs to me that you could prime the brew in the conditioning containers, mix thoroughly and then decant into the bottles. Any particular reason why that would not work?

Lots of people do that: It's often called bulk priming. It's what I do when I bottle. It's probably best not to use a vessel that you've been conditioning in though, as you'll stir up the sediment that you've gone to so much trouble to remove.

It's really a matter of personal preference though. I prefer it because I don't have to futz about with small measures of sugar, and making sure I don't get moisture into the measuring spoon. I just measure out the 150-200g of sugar, or whatever, boil with water, drop into a spare fermenter, then rack ready for bottling. The other advantage I find is that you get much more control and consistency with the carbonation levels.

Some people find it more work to do that, as it means more cleaning, and more potential for infection.

 

[capitalfinancial]

I was told that Dextrose will give a better finished beer in the glass regards to a compact longer lasting head. Ive tried both and to me the difference is minimal. I bulked primed and bottled today with cane sugar.