Advice on priming my bitter!

[BrewerRS]

I started a Wilkinson's Hoppy Copper Bitter on Thursday the 20th and it's bubbling away nicely. I added muntons beerkit enhancer and about 490g of golden syrup to ramp up flavour and gravity slightly (1044).

I plan to let it finish in the primary, add to secondary and leave for a while but my question is:

Should I batch prime or prime per bottle? ....And do I use sugar, dextrose or some more golden syrup and to what quantities?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers : enjoying a nice coopers stout atm :drink:

 

[danb]

I used to prime per bottles before and found it a ball ache but recently started batch priming and its a lot easier and hopefully the results will be more consistent. I would go with 85g of sugar for the priming.

 

[BrewerRS]

Thanks danb

I was hoping someone had tried the golden syrup route for priming. I want to get a little more of that flavour into the bitter. Forgot to mention that I also short brewed it to 20 litres if anyone was wondering... :whistle:

 

[danb]

not tried golden syrup but I primed a ginger beer with honey and there was no taste of honey at all after it was carbed up. not sure with the golden syrup though give it a go and let us know if any flavour carries through

 

[rpt]

The amount of sugar added when priming is so low that I'm not sure much flavour will carry through. I'd just use white sugar. Others may have a positive experience of other sugars though.

 

[BrewerRS]

Ok, so just normal sugar is probably going to be best?

What carbonation level should I be going for with a bitter? And how much sugar should I add? It's 20L, I have a bottling bucket and 500ml Cooper's Bottles.

Thanks! :hat:

 

[morethanworts]

+1 for just using white sugar for priming. If you want carbonation similar to most commercial bottled ales, then I personally think it's more like 100-120g per 23L, so a reduction to around 85g in 20L would actually be about right for the lower end of that.

 

[BrewerRS]

Thanks morethanworts,

How long should I leave it in the bottles before it's ready to chill? Is 18-21c warm enough (the temperature the living room sticks around), or should it be warmer?

 

[BrewerRS]

Thanks morethanworts,

How long should I leave it in the bottles before it's ready to chill? Is 18-21c warm enough (the temperature the living room sticks around), or should it be warmer?

Any advice on this?

 

[nigel6]

I think 100 -120g is far too high and indeed 85g for 20 litres will still be too high. I use http://webspace.webring.com/people/ms/s ... lator.html to batch prime and have posted a link where I have over carbonated an IPA based on the upper figures from this website. I would suggest that you need about 40g to prime without resu;ting in a very gassy brew.

apologies I dont know how to insert a link properly.

 

[RobWalker]

The amount of sugar added when priming is so low that I'm not sure much flavour will carry through. I'd just use white sugar. Others may have a positive experience of other sugars though.

I agree for bottles, kegging I could happily use another type of sugar, but I don't. Brown sugar is pretty cool for bitters etc.

A much more clever way to add flavour in the priming sense is to boil ingredients into the priming sugar mixture, IE ginger...elderflowers...late hops...etc! it's about the latest addition you can make, save pouring something into the actual glass when serving it :lol:

 

[morethanworts]

I think 100 -120g is far too high and indeed 85g for 20 litres will still be too high. I use http://webspace.webring.com/people/ms/s ... lator.html to batch prime and have posted a link where I have over carbonated an IPA based on the upper figures from this website. I would suggest that you need about 40g to prime without resu;ting in a very gassy brew.

apologies I dont know how to insert a link properly.

Sure, it's a matter of taste. Even by the calculator linked in there though, you'd need 95g of cane sugar in 23L at 18C to get a CO2 volume of 2.0, assuming the volume of 0.9 stated is residual in the beer. Even up to 2.3 is accepted for ales (122g sugar, by that measure), though I like it pretty high. Depends what you like!

Of course, if your brew were not to be totally fermented out before you prime, then it's going to boost things considerably, so make all the usual checks there: all this would be irrelevant.

 

[BrewerRS]

Ok, I've had amounts from 40g to 120g in this post :lol: .

I like my bitter on the less-fizzy side, like John Smiths and Tetley's. I know my brew may not compare to the ones pulled at the bar but I just want a good head (who doesn't?) and the best carbonation to be able to appreciate the flavour of the beer. I also won't be serving it too cold as I like my beer around 12-14C.

 

[andybrew]

Why not prime with 80g if its too fizzy use less next time. Home brewing is all about experimenting

 

[andybrew]

Why not prime with 80g if its too fizzy use less next time. Home brewing is all about experimenting

 

[BrewerRS]

Sounds good, think I will.

Thanks all.

 

[rpt]

For bitter I like 100g in 23L. I've done 80g and found it too flat. That's for bottles; hand pulled it would be perfect.

When you mention John Smith's and Tetley, are you referring to Smoothflow? That uses nitrogen to make the worst beer known to man.

 

[RobWalker]

Why not prime with 80g if its too fizzy use less next time. Home brewing is all about experimenting

gotta agree here, everyone told me 1tsp to a pint for wheat beer, I found 0.75tsp much easier to pour from 2L bottles (huge head!) and more to my personal taste :thumb: