What Sugar To Bottle With

[govorko1974]

Hello fellow brewers....just a quick question for all those with more knowledge than me..( which isn't very hard) i have been botlling with coopers carb drops and have decided to just use normal sugar as it is cheaper and more readily available in my small town..my question is does it matter what type of sugar you use to bottle, do the different types affect the taste...ie raw sugar compared to white sugar or brown sugar...
cheers matt

 

[manticle]

There can be a difference in fermentability of different sugars but such small amounts generally won't affect flavour - just calculations. Ordinary table sugar or raw sugar is fine and close to 100% fermentable.

 

[MHB]

If you have a "sugar measure" like one of these

View attachment 43341 View attachment 43340

Then it is fairly important to just use common white table sugar, if you used caster sugar you will get more in each scoop, conversely raw sugar would give you less weight of sugar. It's down to the granule size, finer packs down more with smaller gaps so more mass.

These work well, other options like "Bulk Priming" are out there, but for someone starting out these are simple, reliable and remarkably inexpensive.

MHB

 

[woodwormm]

now i know why my bottles always used to be(kegging now) really fizzy.... i used caster sugar, so i guess i had more sugar in there than i thought!

my only tip is don't try and use dextrose... makes such a mess and is hard to get in the bottles due to the fineness of the powder (my bottles were always wet from no rinse sanitiser)

my 2cents.

 

[mwd]

now i know why my bottles always used to be(kegging now) really fizzy.... i used caster sugar, so i guess i had more sugar in there than i thought!

my only tip is don't try and use dextrose... makes such a mess and is hard to get in the bottles due to the fineness of the powder (my bottles were always wet from no rinse sanitiser)

my 2cents.

A small funnel makes a world of difference. Can prime 30 bottles in a very short time with no mess.

 

[Margwar]

A small funnel makes a world of difference. Can prime 30 bottles in a very short time with no mess.

Oh man that is a great idea... I made the move from Carb drops to Dextrose and have been making a hell of a mess. I was going to move to Bulk Priming but I will give the funnel a go 1st for sure... :beerbang:

 

[DU99]

the drops are easy ,but cost a bit more,but i might use a small funnel and use dextrose

makes such a mess and is hard to get in the bottles due to the fineness of the powder

sugar i have used with the red unit and tried bulk priming..but shortly will be going into kegs

 

[Sydneybrewer]

I use white table suger and that red sugar measure shown above, cheap and very easy method.

 

[Midnight Brew]

This website http://www.aussiehomebrewing.com/HomeBrewi...rewingTips.html has a great source of info on different priming sugars and volumes. It's also well worth the reading of the Bulk Priming section for future use if it suits your needs. Although this is a guide its a very good source of a basic start using different sugars to prime. Also this site contains a calculator for the bulk priming section to bulk prime to style.

http://www.aussiehomebrewing.com/AlcoholCh...Calculator.html

Cheers and happy expermenting.

 

[warra48]

I use caster sugar, and one of those red measures, and also use a small funnel to tip it into the bottle.

However, I use only 1/2 to 2/3rd of the volume of the measures, and it gives me plenty of carbonation.

I double check the total amount of sugar used by weighing my sugar container before and after priming.
The BeerSmith Carbonation tool gives me a very good idea of the level of carbonation of my brews.