Bulk Priming

[GerardR]

Hello

 

Can anyone tell me how much sugar (table sugar) to use and water when bulk priming coopers mexician creaves.

Also just to let you no brewing sugars i used when fermenting 500g of extra light spray malt and 500g of Coopers BE2.

 

[Muddy Waters]

Hi Gerard,

 

I'd go with 180g if it is 23L batch - Coopers recommend 8g per litre.

 

Opinions vary on this subject but 6-8g per L is a good rule of thumb for a regular beer.

[Luke]

Hi Gerard,

I usually use around 130g of table sugar when bulk priming (around 21l). That's about 6 and a bit grams per lt.

[GerardR]

Cheers lads [biggrin] can you tell me how much water to add or does it matter i was thinking of maybe 250ml of water [unsure]

[rossm]

G'day Gerard, I have never bulk primed so don't take this as gospel, but I wouldn't think you need to add any water, if you add the priming sugar to the second container it should mix in as you add the beer....might want to wait until someone who bulk primes confirms this though.

[Muddy Waters]

I'd use around around about 1 cup of boiling water - maybe a touch more (or add your sugar to boiling water on the stove). Just enough to dissolve it thoroughly. If you don't dissolve it it will not provide an evenly primed beer. I use dextrose when bulk priming as it dissolves much easier.

 

Make sure it is thoroughly dissolved then add it to your bulk priming vessel. I use another fermentor and connect them with food grade hose tap to tap. The action of the beer entering creates enough movement to mix the sugar solution with you beer - you are then ready to bottle away [biggrin]

[MatthewS4]

Be careful not to burn the sugar.

I boil 1-2 cups of water on the stove, once boiling turn the heat off and add the sugar and stir until disolved. Throw into brew and stir. Since I do this in the primary and bottle directly from there I usually do this first thing and then clean the bottles and anything else that needs to be done to give the yeast and hops some time to settle back out. Also I always pore half a glass of beer to flush any hops or yeast out of the tap before connecting up a bottling wand. Some always seems to be in the tap just waiting to clog up the lines if I do not do this.

 

I always use 200 grams of sugar for 23L (close to 8g per L) as some will always be left on the sides of your pot so dont worry about getting it exactly perfect.

[Slurtis Staggersalot]

I do what Muddy does, basically... I siphon from the primary into a bucket I have designated as my bottling bucket. The siphon runs from my primary to a tap at the bottom of my bottling bucket. I prime at a rate of 8g per liter, I'm beginning to think that 8g is excessive and will be dropping to 6g the next time I bottle. I use Dex to prime. My brother recently had a bulk priming disaster using the same basic method of running the beer into the dissolved sugar and swirling a bit during the process. He caught it early with only one or two explosions. He found that some bottles were over primed and others were nearly flat. I am now an advocate of a stir with a sanitized spoon [biggrin] I don't want any explosions going on here [rightful]

[GerardR]

Thanks for all the help and replys.

I was just going to boil a kettle of water and add a cup full of boiling water to a sauspan then the sugar and disolve and let it cool and add to the second fermentor and then use my auto syphon to transfer the beer and be ready for bottling,

Should i let it settle after transfer or just bottle straight away?

[PB2]

If you are confident that the sugar solution is evenly mixed, bottle immediately.

[Sven]

I use the following calculator for bulk priming and it has been spot on: Bulk Priming Calculator

 

I weigh the dextrose it suggests then pour a cup of boiling water straight from the kettle and swirl until it has dissolved.

 

Pour that into an empty fermenter, hook up a catering grade hose from its tap to the original fermenter's tap and turn them on. The beer going into the second fermenter will swirl the bulk primed dextrose evenly.

 

Disconnect when it's done and bottle. That method works superbly.

[GeorgeB]

Hi Gerard,

 

I'd go with 180g if it is 23L batch - Coopers recommend 8g per litre.

 

Opinions vary on this subject but 6-8g per L is a good rule of thumb for a regular beer.

 

So, using this formula, I would use about 184 grams of dextrose to bulk prime my 23 litre batch of Coopers Wheat?

 

[Muddy Waters]

That'd be fine George a few grams here or there isn't going to make a lot of difference over a 23L batch so you don't have to be too exacting.

 

I should mention that in the case of a wheat beer you could go as high as 9-10g of dextrose (9g white sugar) per litre to get an authentic carbonation.

 

For the wheat I'd probably use around 210g for 23L. Personal preference plays a big part in carbonation. If you'd like a bit more spritz next time add a bit more dex and vice versa.

[Martyn]

I'm getting a bit curious about this bulk priming lark.

 

What are the pros and cons over using the carbo drops?

 

Once you've dissolved the sugar in hot water then dropped it into your fermenter, do you stir it or let it settle?

How long do you leave it in the fermenter before bottling?

Do you do it just before you bottling?

 

I've seen the rates people use per litre and also posts about not having an evenly fizzed beer, how would you prevent this?

 

Cheers,

 

Martyn.

[Muddy Waters]

Carb drops are easier if using regular sized bottles - I fou're not bulk priming is more stress free.

 

I just dissolve my dextrose and add it to my 2nd FV and transfer the beer, tap to tap, onto the sugar solution. The moving liquid should mix the sugar evenly. Otherwise gently rock the FV or gently stir with a sanitised brewing spoon.

 

Once mixed bottle away. Bob's your uncle.

 

If you bulk prime even carbonation happens by default.

[Martyn]

Cheers Muddy, I bottle into Cooper's pet longnecks so will stick with carbo drops until I get any irregular sized bottles. I was just curious.

 

Cheers,

 

Martyn.

[WaynoW]

I use the following calculator for bulk priming and it has been spot on: Bulk Priming Calculator

 

 

I weigh the dextrose it suggests then pour a cup of boiling water straight from the kettle and swirl until it has dissolved.

 

Pour that into an empty fermenter, hook up a catering grade hose from its tap to the original fermenter's tap and turn them on. The beer going into the second fermenter will swirl the bulk primed dextrose evenly.

 

Disconnect when it's done and bottle. That method works superbly.

 

Hey Guys,

With this bulk priming calculator, what figure should the 'Desired volume of CO2'be generally?

 

I am trying to lower the level of sediment that I am getting in my bottles. I am looking at cold crashing, racking off and bulk priming my brews from now on.

Cheers

Wayne

 

P.s. using 360ml stubbies.

[Guest]

depends on the style of beer mate

 

try this link to see what you need Styles and Volumes then plug that into the more user friendly link above if conversion aint your thing.

 

Yob

 

and just by the way... im down to between 100-120 grams for a standard 23Lt (APA's) which is low but bloody nice... nice head but not too fizzy..

[Canadian Eh!L]

I've done my last few beers using this bulk priming calculator. I'm finding good results. For a while I thought higher carb levels meant better head... Wrong! I'm finding more malt or specialty grain and less carbonation. LBBB... (Less Belching, Better Beer).[wink]

[Hoptimus Maximus]

For a while I thought higher carb levels meant better head... Wrong! I'm finding more malt or specialty grain and less carbonation. LBBB... (Less Belching' date=' Better Beer).[wink']

 

When I started home brewing and had a beer or two with poor head retention I also mistakenly believed that simply increasing the amount of carbonation would create a better head.

Whilst there is a link between head retention and carbonation you can get good head retention in some under-carbed beer and poor head retention in some over-carbed beers. Problems associated with poor head retention are often not related to the level of carbonation.

It also seems that the level of carbonation (over or under) can adversely affect not only the head but also the flavor of the beer.

Temperature shock can be an issue when pouring beer. If the glass into which the beer is poured is colder than the beer then you can "knock out" some of the carbonation from the beer and give a poor result.

[Hairy]

Some people in France in the late 1700's had problems with head retention too. Although that was probably related to the invention of the guillotine.

 

I agree with the comments about carbonation. I use one carb drop per PET for my English Bitters and they produce the best head on my beers.

[DylanI]

Hey all

 

I've got a dunkelweizen furiously bubbling away. I've been looking up the carbonation levels of wheat beers, and they're quite high.

 

The suggested volumes of CO2 ranges between 3.6 - 4.8. As a guide, for a mid range of 4 volumes of CO2, that's 300g per my 23L brew, or 13g/L.

 

Has anyone primed with this much sugar before? Will I be making bottle bombs? I guess I could use the lower end of the suggested range...

 

Any comments/thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

-Dyl

 

PS, nice one Hairy.