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I'm interested in bulk priming my beer so that i can use different sized bottles easily...however at the moment I only have one fermenter, meaning i can't just measure out the required amount of sugar, dump it into a fresh fermenter and siphon the beer on top. I read an article online somewhere that said you could do it in one fermenter, by pouring in the sugar, stirring very gently and then leaving for 30 mins or so before bottling as normal..anyone had any experience doing things this way?!?!?

Magoo,

sorry matebut i wouldn't like to do that. by stirring the brew you are:

(a) Stirring up the sediment at the bottom of the fermentation keg.
(b) Aerating the beer and allowing oxidation.
(c) Allowing infection to occur.

If you can't afford a new fermenter then go to Bunnings and purchase a new 20 litre pail with provision for a tap. fit a tap and thensterilise said paid and tap. Bulk prime and then bottle. Leave brew in bottle for 6 weeks to 3 months then drink and enjoy.

i have stirred my brews since bulk priming. very gently of course, and they have all turned out fine . No infections, no off tastes

Don't know how it would go with stirring up all the old yeast, but more power to you!

Magoo

Go for it, especially if you are will ing to wait the 30 min. You will have a great deal of sediment in the bottle but it wont hurt you.

Dogger

All the gurus say that after you syphon off to your other fermenter, you are to stir gently, so air is going to come into contact then anyway, so I wouldn't worry about that. I think it's not worth it I reckon. The price of a new fermenter isn't much, and people are always selling their old homebrew gear cheap. Alternatively borrow a mate's one for the day.

Try it once. If you like the results keep doing it, if you don't then look for another way.

Btw, you can get 20L food grade pails from Bunnings & Mitre 10 for as little as $10.

In what area at bunnings might these el cheapo fermenters be?

What do you find them near?

Sorry to go OT in your thread Magoo

I have bulk primed in the primary fermenter only once. The end result was satisfactory but you will get a lot of frothing when you add the priming sugar, hence leaving it for a while to settle.

I have seen food grade containers in Bunnings in the camping goods section for $15 for a 25 or 30L conatiner with a reasonably large screw top lid, but the opening is not as large as a normal brewing fermenter but large enough to be able to clean it out.

Terry wrote:I have bulk primed in the primary fermenter only once. The end result was satisfactory but you will get a lot of frothing when you add the priming sugar, hence leaving it for a while to settle.

I have seen food grade containers in Bunnings in the camping goods section for $15 for a 25 or 30L conatiner with a reasonably large screw top lid, but the opening is not as large as a normal brewing fermenter but large enough to be able to clean it out.

My bulk priming fermenter is exactly as Terry has described above. 25litre water container is how it is sold by them, has a bung, where the tap screws in costing $2 or so. All I would have to do, is drill a hole in the lid for the airlock and I would happily brew in it. Lid is not quite as big as a LBS fermenter, but fine for all uses.

Bunnings also sells the tubing I use to transfer the beer, costing $2 or less a metre - I use two metre length.

Ash wrote:In what area at bunnings might these el cheapo fermenters be?

What do you find them near?

Sorry to go OT in your thread Magoo

When I've seen the pails in BUnnings they have been piled up on the ends of the isles. They call them handy pails or something like that. In Mitre 10 they tend to be with the Eskys.

I've seen the carboys Terry talks about and they would do the job too, they just cost a little more and are a little harder to clean.