Adding sugar to PET bottles

[parcel]

Hi Apologies for the newbie question

I recently brewed some Coopers Australian Lager which I was very pleased with, my friends thought it was Carling, (not sure if that was a compliment or not) but it was a little flat, I added 1½ carbonation drops per 500ml when bottle perhaps 2 would've been better.

My question is; I have some Wherry at the moment in the FV which seems to be coming on nicely, when I start to bottle it (using Coopers PET bottles) how much sugar should I add to each bottle and would using the carbonation drops again be a good idea?
Also is it ok to reuse the plastic caps?

Thanks in advance

 

[LeithR]

Hi there and welcome, no need to apologise for any questions that's the whole purpose of the forum, but can I suggest you use the search function (top right of page) you'll be surprised how much there is about each topic available already.

For a British ale you need to use 5g/1L (115G/23L) but rather than put it in by teaspoon to each bottle I strongly suggest you get yourself another FV and fit a tap at the bottom on the side and add the sugar after boiling in a small amount of water into the bucket then add the beer while not making any splashing if possible (so no air is added to the fermented beer, it might oxodise it) but ensuring that the sugar mixture mixes with the beer (it should swirl in the bucket) you then add a short piece of tube to the tap and fill your bottles (long enough to get to the bottom of your bottles) from there. It ensures that each bottle will be primed exactly correctly.

Yes you can reuse the plastic caps just sanitise them and rinse before fitting back to the bottle.

One word of caution, try to use brown glass bottles (free from most pubs if you request them) this will stop the beer from going off - known as skunking - light reacts with the hops. Its always a good idea to include a PET bottle in the batch so you can monitor how the brew is conditioning.

Good luck hope it all goes well.

 

[CaptainMallard]

We were all newbies once! And I'm still learning . . . so I'm still a newbie!

Well done on your first successful brew! :thumb: The first one is always very special

I have never used the carbonation drops, but they sound like a great idea because they are easy to use (just drop them in) and give consistent carbonation. I bought a pack as part of a starter kit that I gave someone for Christmas. However, I gather the instructions are 1 drop for a 330ml bottle and 2 for a 750ml bottle, which I guess is why you did 1.5 per 500ml bottle.

I started off by adding sugar to each bottle - the general starting point is 1/2 tea spoon for ales, and 1 tea spoon for largers, but this means using a funnel, and my measuring isn't too accurate, so I had varying levels of carbonation. I recently saw a post where someone had measured how much sugar was in each tea spoon - its different depending on whether you use granulated cane sugar or dextrose, because dextrose is finer so you get more in a level tea spoon. I could have that mixed up - I'll bookmark the page the next time I see it.

I've just started doing what Leith has been describing - batch priming. Dissolve sugar in water first, then mix with the whole lot, so you get an even distribution of sugar. Imagine trying to put 1.672 carbonation drops into each bottle!

To answer your question, Woodford Wherry is an ale, so you wouldn't normally have as much carbonation / sugar as a larger. You could:-

• stick with 1.5 drops per bottle[/*:m:20ost1nh]
• do some with 1.5 drops and some with more or less - you'll need to mark them so you know which is which[/*:m:20ost1nh]
• bottle with sugar and a funnel[/*:m:20ost1nh]
• batch prime - you need a second bucket for this because you don't want to stir up the sediment when mixing in the sugar. I did 9 brews before trying this, but its less hassle and more consistent than priming 40+ bottles[/*:m:20ost1nh]

 

[parcel]

Thanks guys,

I think I'll give batch priming a whirl :thumb:

 

[CaptainMallard]

One more thing ... at the risk of seeming very foolish ... my last set of PET bottles didn't feel very well carbonated, possibly because I hadn't screwed the caps on very tightly

(Explanation)
Most of my bottles are brown glass, but I do a couple of PET bottles so I can squeeze them to feel how well carbonated they are; and I do a couple (the last 2) in clear bottles so I can see how clear they have become.

 

[rpt]

I suggest getting a second FV with a little bottler fitted like this as a bottling bucket. This has a valve so that the beer only flows when the tube is pushed to the bottom of the bottle. Let the bottle completely fill and then remove the bottler. This leaves exactly the right head space. It makes bottling really easy.

Make sure you thoroughly dissolve the sugar solution into the beer. I originally used to pour the solution into the bucket and syphon the beer on top. But I found that some bottles were a little flat and others were gushers. So I now give the beer a good stir (but am careful not to splash).

 

[scotttc]

Another method of priming pet bottles is to use sugar cubes, they fit easily and are cheaper than carbonation drops. 2 for lager and 1 for ale

 

[Strongarm]

My lone experience of carbonation drops seems to be going OK. Put 1.5 in each 500ml bottle, were a bit flat after a week (on Saturday past) but bottles are starting to get very firm so I assume will be good in next couple of days. Well they should be fizzy anyway, will probably benefit for some more time conditioning.

I have just bought another FV though so going to try batch priming for next brew, will ferment in new Wilko FV then transfer to Coopers FV on top of sugar solution so I can use the tap and bottling wand.