Priming

[Horse Head Brewing]

Heya people

Just started brewing since Xmas and got 2 batches bottled but was wondering the best way / what to use to prime bottles. Read a heap on different things to use eg. some reckon raw/brown suger for English Ales. The two batchs i bottled i used carbonation drops from Copper Tun and some from Coopers. Batch 1 Nut Brown Ale, Batch 2 Mongrel kind of Lager (added hops and liquid malt). Was not wrapped with Copper Tun as they were all different weights and some would not fit in bottle....dont want to over prime as only using 650ml bottles. Also wondering how much to use for 500ml bottles as got a fair few of them. Using 2 drops per 650ml bottle.

Dex is meant to give smaller bubbles but i prefer a good amount of carbination. Read bulk priming with Dex is an easier way to go.

Sorry probably dumb questions as really new to this, but better being safer than sorry ( especially if beer grenades go off in the house, wife will not be happy ).


Any help would be appreciated
Cheers HHB

[Bum]

You can bulk prime with any fermentable (probably worth avoiding any sort of carb drop with this method, though). Bulk priming makes bottling much more flexible. A little bit more stuffing around but better allows for varying bottle sizes.

Personally I don't see much difference between the commonly used priming sugars so tend to use either dex or caster sugar. Horses for courses, naturally. Not sure I've ever noticed any difference in bubble size with varying sugars but I don't carb very high so maybe I wouldn't.

[Guru]

I just use castor sugar in each bottle. I tried the carbonation drops once and half of my bottles ended up being over carb'd.
Haven't tried bulk priming yet, but what I'm doing now is working so haven't bothered.

[earle]

I just use plain ol' white sugar. I figure the amount is so small its likely to make very little difference to the finished product. There's many other things that will make a much bigger improvement to your brews such as cleanliness, temp control and leaving your brew in the fermenter for a long enough time, quality ingredients, ......

In terms of measuring for different size bottles I use a sugar measure that has one end for 375ml and the other end for 750ml. I think I saw one at the HBS that also had a measure for 500ml. I think it was Warra who has used a scalpel to recalibrate a scoop by increasing the length of the slot in the side. I recall he posted some photos but can't find them.

[rotten]

When I used to bottle I tried drops, dex, raw sugar, although I mainly used castor sugar. If I ran out of castor sugar whilst bottling I would use raw sugar and mark them so I knew which ones they were, I never picked any difference. Carbonation was always more consistent when measured though. I didn't try bulk priming.

Cheers

[emnpaul]

The thread with the priming scoops is here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9784&p=105721

Still into bulk priming myself but each to their own.

[Bum]

I bulk prime but if I had a single, standard bottle size I'd be scooping all the way - too easy.

[Horse Head Brewing]

No probs thnx heaps guys.
Think gonna go for the castor suger for now, cheap and easy and will get scoop asap.
Will wait till i get a few brews done then might try to bulk prime.....Thnx again for the info.

[aydanrogers]

I bulk prime and I only have one fermenter and I haven't had any dramas with carbon issues or even cloudiness. I use dex but I might try dry malt next.

[Horse Head Brewing]

Thnx for that
Think castor suger or dex seems the way to go.
Thnx emnpaul that link you posted i just looked up and is well worth reading thnx again