Bottling & Priming questions

[w0zza]

Ok, 1st up im currently brewing brew #3 & I wanna try & get it better than brew #1! Yeah yeah, I realise brew #1 isnt great for most but the taste wasnt too bad but it was flat as a tack! Anyhow, with brew #1 I used Sucrose for priming & I gave the bottles a shake but found after 2 weeks the sugar was sitting in a pile on the bottom of my bottles! Obviously it tasted like crap until I gave the bottles a swish before drinking & they became drinkable & now after a few weeks its pretty good! Only prob is, its still flat! So, I decided to use dextrose in brew #2 (which isnt ready to drink yet) but ive noticed it too has piles of sugar sitting on the bottom of the bottles! ARGH! So...my questions....

1. Which is better, sucrose or dextrose?
2. I mainly use stubbies, would long necks be better? For what its worth, the missus gave me 15 PET Coopers bottles for my birthday & I have found them to be more gassy.
3. If I opt to Bulk Prime instead of priming each bottle, would this help?
4. or am I being too impatient?

Any help/advise would be appreciated!

[wambesi]

1. Which is better, sucrose or dextrose?

For priming apparently it does not matter that much, but dont use sucrose in your actual brew as the main sugar. Carb drops are another easy method of priming too.

2. I mainly use stubbies, would long necks be better? For what its worth, the missus gave me 15 PET Coopers bottles for my birthday & I have found them to be more gassy.

I use stubbies, longnecks and PET bottles all with no dramas. Glass is better for long term storage and I havn't found any noticible differences between them (Although many others will say there is).

3. If I opt to Bulk Prime instead of priming each bottle, would this help?

Yes as you will be dissolving all the sugar then adding it to the brew, I have yet to try this method myself though.

Just remember that when bottling you will always have a layer of sediment on the bottom of the bottle, this might not be the sugar at all and depending on ingredients and type of brew this may be alot or hardly anything.
With the carb drops I never ever shook or inverted the bottles but with the dex I usually invert a few times and a quick shake to help dissolve it.

[rwh]

How warm are the bottles? If they're not warm enough, the yeast will go to sleep and not carb your beer up.

[w0zza]

I move them inside so they would be around 20 deg but at night when the heater is off the temp would drop on these colder nights. I use a heater in the fermenter to keep that at 20 deg, how can I keep them warm enough in the bottles for a few weeks?

[Boonie]

In a cupboard with a light globe. Cover the beers as light apparently wrecks the beer.

Leave 'em for a week.

Cheers

Boonie