Priming Sugar

[Robjess]

Hey guys.. Im a newbie and I have a question.

What sort of sugar should I use to prime my bottles with? Someone told me to use caster sugar but then I read somewhere that you shouldnt use that you should just use normal refined white sugar..??

[Dogger Dan]

Dissolve 20 grams of dextrose into some boiled water and then add it to the 23 litres of beer to be bottled. (transfer it odd the yeast bed first) Give it a stir careful not to introduce to much atmosphere and then bottle. every bottle will have the same CO2 levels

Dogger

[Damo]

Dogger Dan had a typo error, i am sure he will agree that it is 200 grams of dextrose.
Castor sugar and white sugar is the same thing. Castor sugar is just milled to a smaller grain size.
White sugar is fine to use to prime your bottles.

[guest]

when i first started i just used normal raw sugar.. nothing wrong wtih it.. now i use dextrose.. dunno if i find the diff in taste.. but i feel that dextrose gives a better head.. dunno if i am right or not...but either raw or dextrose or caster sugar will do i suppose

[Oliver]

Hi Robjess,

The technique Dogger refers to is called bulk priming. Basically you carefully transfer your beer to another fermenter just before bottling (to leave behind all the crap at the bottom) then gently stir in the sugar mixture and bottle.

An important thing in all this is to be careful not to splash things around too much, as getting oxygen in your beer at this stage is bad.

Bulk priming saves time, as you don't have to prime each bottle with a teaspoon of sugar. The downside is that you need a second fermenter (what am I talking about ... there's no downside in having a second fermenter!).

I really should give bulk priming a go some time.

Oliver

(And yes, Dogger did mean 200g)

[Dogger Dan]

Sorry guys I fat fingered that last naught and was out by an order of magnitude. shift the decimal one to the right.

the correct version is 200 grams as you have noticed

Dogger

[guigui]

and so about the type of sugar
what do you recon for the second fermentation?
white, raw, glucose?

[sluggerdog]

Guigui - Dextrose

I have found personally that 200 grams is too much for a 23 litre batch, I use about 160 - 180 max (but that is personal preferance)

[Robjess]

So should the amount to use in each bottle or in your batch be the same whether it is white sugar, caster suger or dextrose? Or do you adjust the quantities depending what you are using?

Also.. how much should I use for a Grolsch sized bottle? They are not the normal standard size.,. I think they are 473ml or something. I cant do a bulk prime due to only having 1 fermenter available.

[guigui]

last time i se white sugar, but my beer was not fizzy enough.
do you think with glucose, my beer will be more fizzy?
i use priming cup so it is not a question of weight but volume.
do you think, the same amount in volume of white sugar is not as good as glucose for fizzying a beer?

[Oliver]

Robjess,

Since the Grolsch bottles are about two-thirds the size of a 750ml bottle, try putting about two-thirds as much sugar in each bottle

As I've said before, I tend to underprime my beers (based on the "one teaspoon of sugar per stubby" rule). I use about one teaspoon per longneck.

Maybe that might do the trick for you in a Grolsch bottle?

And to guigui, if your beer was not carbonated enough last time, just add a *little* more sugar to the next batch. (If last time you used a level measure, maybe this time try a rounded measure.)

Cheers,

Oliver

[Robinelle]

Hi

I use Grolsch bottles and add 5mls of caster sugar, this gives what I would call high carbonation, stopper gives a definant pop and when poured into glass, bubbles and head last for extended period. A bit champagne like really, but I like it.
I worked it out based on some books/guides say 7mls for a 750 long neck and a Grolsch is aprox 2/3rds of that so 5 is 2/3rds of 7, well almost.

[GTI86]

Hi
I use a wide varity of bottles 375 330 500 750 800 1.25 2.5 usually
use carbonation drops but plan to bulk prime soon ie when I run out of
drops they seem to work fine but cant compare never primed with sugar
before bulk priming sounds a lot cheaper and easyer

[Robjess]

Thanks Rob (and everyone else).

A mate at work gave me a 1.5 ltr Grolsh bottle today - what a beastie that is!

[Dogger Dan]

Yeh,

I have two 1.5 s and I love them. Wish I could get my mitts on about 40 more

Dogger

[Robinelle]

Guys, I bought three 1.5Ltr Grolsch for myself as Xmas presents. Wife was really impressed, but made it easy for her instead of finding present.

Each one came with 2 X 250ml Glosh beer glass's, which I dutifully keep cold in the fridge ready for action.
What a blast, two beuatifull glasses of HB from each of those lovely green babies.

[Robjess]

Where did you pick them up at? Im in the market for some more also..

On a seperate topic, I just bottled my first Ginger beer, I think it was a morgans.. anyway it was just bubbly as a bottled it.. is that normal for ginger beer?

[Robinelle]

I found them in David Jones bottle shop . Not usually a place I shop, but when I saw them it was love at first site .

[Andy]

Picked up one of these bad boys recently.

http://www.grolsch.co.uk/GrolschShop/de ... &prodid=12

Perfect for a nice cold glass of beer, maybe even a grolsch!

[grabman]

Not a bad looking gadget Andy! You'll have to let us know how it goes. It looks like with the glasses hanging down they may get in way of shelf below!

Grabman