Priming Stubbies

K9 · Post by K9 » Friday Aug 19, 2005 6:54 pm

Over the years, I have primed my stubbies (individually) with white table sugar. Recently, I have also used castor sugar, Is this the right stuff to use and how much does it alter the taste of the end product ? If I'm using the wrong stuff, what should I be using and why?

NTRabbit · Post by **NTRabbit** » Friday Aug 19, 2005 7:28 pm

Right now, certain people are feeling an overwhelming urge to stop what they are doing, find a computer, login to the forums and post the words "bulk prime with dextrose" on the first thread they find.

Personally, I individually prime all my bottles with dextrose, using my variety of 330ml, 375ml, 500ml and 750ml priming scoops.

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Saturday Aug 20, 2005 12:25 am

Hey NT,

Just to disappoint you,

Keg it, and artificially carbonate.

K9,

I would use dextrose. Castor sugar will generate some off tastes, often referred to cidery.

I like Bulk Priming, it gave me a more uniform carbonation and I never had to worry about how much to put in, 200 grams per 23 litres. I have cut away and been kegging mine for some 5 years now.

Just me though, if you feel the need to add sugar to every bottle, feel free to, its as much your hobby as it is mine.

Dogger

gregb · Post by **gregb** » Saturday Aug 20, 2005 7:28 am

Castor sugar is just white sugar but smaller crystals.

Individually priming with sugar is fine, the quantaties are small enough to not make that much of a difference.

Personally, I bulk prime with Dextrose, but that was because I was having trouble individually priming.

Cheers,

Greg.

Shaun · Post by **Shaun** » Saturday Aug 20, 2005 4:03 pm

I'm with NTRabbit stick with what you are doing, before kegging I used white sugar in each bottle never had a problem.

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Saturday Aug 20, 2005 4:41 pm

Dogger,

I'm going to bottle for the first time in about a week. I've been using kegs so far with 75 grams of dextrose and this results in plenty of CO2, in fact the first third of the keg can be a little too lively before the preassure drops. The point I'm getting to (eventually!) is that 200 grams seems quite a lot for the same quantity of beer but in bottles. As I want bottles of beer and not grenades, could you confirm the 200 grams.

Thanks

undercover1 · Post by **undercover1** » Sunday Aug 21, 2005 6:00 pm

Andy,
There's a chart knocking round here somewhere, maybe on the bulk priming thread, that gives suggested quantities of dex per litre for various levels of carbonation.
Personally, I agree 200g for 23l is too much, use 175g when I bulk prime myself.

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Sunday Aug 21, 2005 9:47 pm

Guys,

We used to use 200 g

For me personally, I liked 3/4 cup which I think is about 175g. Just some folks like well carbonated beer

Dogger

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Monday Aug 22, 2005 5:48 am

Thanks guys, think I will go for 175 grams and see how I like it. I can always use more or less next time to preference. That's why we home brew ain't it, to get the beer WE want.

Andy

umop-3p|sdn · Post by **umop-3p|sdn** » Monday Aug 22, 2005 2:40 pm

Ever since it got colder, I've been using dextrose to individually prime each stubby. I'm not sure if it's a mental thing, but I find that they're more carbonated after the same period of time (3 weeks) as when using white sugar.

I'm about to make the move to bulk priming though, as it seems less of a hassle