Batch priming Wherry - and adding fruit flavours?

[jimsx]

A couple of newbie questions ...

I have my first wherry kit on the go (which is fermenting well) and should be ready to transfer to keg or bottles at the weekend.

Given the pain of priming individual bottles, I was thinking of batch priming into a keg (using dextrose) initially - and then (because I only have a tap on the keg and not the FV) transferring some / all immediately to bottles. Obviously, I will try to take care not to introduce too much oxygen at the transfer stage - but is using this two stage process just asking for trouble & likely to lead to problems. Would I be better off going straight to bottles?

Also (don't laugh!) I was thinking of doing some experimentation with a few of the bottles as I really like some of the Badger "fruity" beers - such as Poachers Choice (damson & liquorice) and Golden Glory etc.

I have seen comments on these forums about adding fruit syrup (such as Lowicz Raspberry) - but I also have some cordials including Belvoir Elderflower etc. For the sake of ruining a few pints, I though it worth adding some fruit flavour to a few of the bottles "to see what happens".

Does anyone have any experience of this? Would there be too much sugar from the batch priming already / should I only batch prime the none-fruity ones - and if so how much syrup should I add to each unprimed pint bottle instead of the sugar/dextrose.

I've also thought about possibly playing around by using a spoonful of treacle or shredless orange marmalade to one or two bottles - probably totally bonkers but worse case is that I lose a few pints of beer (& I'll have another 30 or so anyway - plus a St Peters Ruby Red Ale kit to get started on next) ... Or has anyone ever tried using fruit flavour tea-bags - would it work?

I guess there is only one way to find out ...

All comments / thoughts appreciated (be nice!) )

 

[RobWalker]

do it the other way around - once you've bottled your few bottles, batch prime the remainider of the batch and keg it. you can just put the sugar into the keg and rack straight onto that if you want, you won't have any issues with it dissolving tbh.

calculate how much sugar is in 100ml of the liquid you wish to use, then 10ml, and calculate how much to add to your bottles. use the sugar in the cordial to prime.

I'd much prefer to do a gallon of it personally in a demi john - you can add what you like that way (pulped fruit, spices, cordials etc) and if it's good you got 8 bottles of it! :

 

[Steve]

The other way to do it with cordials is to just add them to the glass when you pour and that way you can experiment more with amounts and ratios to get the flavour you want. It will sweeten the beer a bit but then you may find that the amount you would need to add to get the flavour you like would contain too much sugar to put in the bottle and cause over carbonation. However if you find out you like for example 50ml of cordial per pint next time you could put 2 litres into the FV and let the sugar ferment out.

Either way there's no harm in trying. Adding a bit of different flavour to a few bottles isn't going to make it undrinkable.

 

[jimsx]

Many thanks for your replies.

If I leave the remainder in the keg and just prime that, do I then use a CO2 "top up" to stop the kegged beer from "going off" once I start drinking it / taking it from the tap?

Obviously, with bottles there isn't a problem - but I thought that once air starts getting into the keg you have a fairly limited time in which you have to drink it - plus I don't like my ale gassy - I prefer it fairly warm & flat-ish ...

Love this forum! It's just free knowledge!