Bottling and Priming 3 questions please

[Bertie Doe]

I had some issues with variable carbonation, some bottles were very heady, others were flat. I put this down to NOT stirring when priming into the secondary fermenter. The next batch I gently stirred, this cured the variable carbonation but created cloudiness.

I decided to revert to my old method of bottle priming with 2.5 g per bottle. I saw one of those Hydroponics syringes on Ebay at £2.50, to inject a sugar-syrup to prime. It was adverised as reusable but the accompanying sleeve said "Discard after use" and printed on the body was "Single Use Only"

Q1 Has anyone used these things and had any hygene issuses with them or can I assume soaking them in VWP etc, will do the job?

Q2. After calculating abv from the sg and fg, how much % alc would you add on, assuming 2.5 g sugar per 50 cl bottle?

Q3. How high should you fill each bottle? Hopefully I can post a pic, about 10% of my bottles are clear. TIA

 

[Oneflewover]

Hi. I have avoided batch priming for several reasons. Having had 3 kids we have oodles of syringe dispenser thingys for Calpol. I've taken to sanitising one of these to prime each bottle with a pre-boiled sugar solution. It takes a bit of trial and error to get the sugar solution volume correct for the batch size (adding sugar to water obviously increases overall volume) but I am happy with the results and can prime 40 odd bottles pretty speedily too.

Q2, dunno. Is there not a calculator on the site?

Q3 I tend to leave about an inch at the top of the bottle. Too much = risk of oxidisation?

 

[ACBEV]

It was adverised as reusable but the accompanying sleeve said "Discard after use" and printed on the body was "Single Use Only"

It should not be re-used if injecting stuff into your arm, bum or guinea-pig. Re-using for injecting into a bottle is fine, but not if you injected your guinea-pig first.

 

[Scottyburto]

A few quality of life points from my humble experience.

Use a lil bottler theyre about £6-8 and worth every penny.

Use a calpol syringe they have 2 notches 2.5ml & 5ml.

Do ur math first; there are calculaters that will tell u the exact amount of sugar (& type) for a specific co2 amount.

For example
5g granulated sugar per 500ml bottle & i need 40 bottles is 200g of sugar.
I weigh 200g, put in a sterile jug & *top up to* 200ml with boiling water and stir until its fully disolved.
I cling film the jug & cool this in fridge/freezer.
While its cooling i fill the bottles with the "lil bottler"
I use the calpol syringe to measure 5ml of sugar solution and squirt slowly into each bottle.
(Top fast/hot = fobbing/mess)
When uve capped the bottles just give them a gentle shake/turn to mix.

 

[H0PM0NSTER]

I just use a measuring spoon and small funnel (bought a neat little stainless steel set with 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 and 1 tsp). That way you can quickly add the right amount of sugar without the fuss of making up a sugar solution. I use golden caster sugar and add this to each bottle before filling with beer.

Definitely invest in a bottling stick - less oxidisation risk than filling from a tap and it leaves the perfect amount of head space in each bottle (just fill until the beer reaches the top and when the bottler is removed it leaves just want the right amount of space in the bottle)

 

[Mavroz]

Don't understand how people are going so wrong batch priming.
Takes a minute to weigh out, a minute to add water,stir and dissolve and seconds to mix into the brew in the bottling vessel.
I have just done my 7th brew using this method and have had consistent results with the amount of dextrose I have used for each brew.
Never had cloudy beer due to mixing the priming sugar into the brew.

 

[Oneflewover]

Don't understand how people are going so wrong batch priming.
Takes a minute to weigh out, a minute to add water,stir and dissolve and seconds to mix into the brew in the bottling vessel.
I have just done my 7th brew using this method and have had consistent results with the amount of dextrose I have used for each brew.
Never had cloudy beer due to mixing the priming sugar into the brew.

Sounds like you transfer beer from FV to a separate vessel for mixing the priming solution?

 

[MattN]

Q1 Yes
Q2 .3%
Q3 2cm

 

[braziliain]

Batch priming is the winner for me and I have had great results. I always prime in a separate bottling bucket and stir gently after adding in the priming solution.

That said, when I used syringes to prime bottles I got them from Boots the Chemist. If you ask for oral dosing syringes at the drugs counter they are 60p each and just the right size .

 

[Mavroz]

Sounds like you transfer beer from FV to a separate vessel for mixing the priming solution?

Yes. Dex Solution in the bottom of a separate vessel I use with bottler before siphoning brew out of FV into this vessel.

If you are mixing the solution into a FV then stirring/mixing it in you will stir the trub at the bottom up. This is why the brew is cloudy if doing this.

 

[Oneflewover]

Yeah, I don't want to do either. I reckon my method is easier, more reliable and less risky. But each to their own!

 

[Scottyburto]

I use the syringe method for small batches and use a plastic presure barrel for batch priming when doing 5gal.
Sugar in barrel first syphon onto sugar so it swirls without splashing!

 

[hichaechoc]

I'm with HOPMONSTER and keep it simple. 1 litre PET bottles from the G&T habit, held in a wine box and a funnel to direct a teaspoon of sugar into each one before I start filling. The bottle gets shaken when the label is applied, job done. The wine box really makes life easy for bottling, moving and storage. I use something like https://www.wbc.co.uk/budget-12-bottle-transporting-box.

 

[Mavroz]

I can only guess you are bottling straight from the FV then.

 

[Oneflewover]

I can only guess you are bottling straight from the FV then.

Yup. Works for me as I say.

 

[Bertie Doe]

Many thanks to all for the info and tips on bottling, cloudiness etc - what a group. On Monday the postman arrived with some goodies - a sparge arm (will use on next brew) and an Easy Bottler, which I used yesterday on bottling the above batch of Ringwood O.T. But thanks for the Lil Bottler recs - isn't it great to have a hand free. No stirring the trub and it came out gin clear. The extra 0.3% for priming will bring it up to 5%, only 0.5% short on Graham Wheeler's recipe.
Cloudiness on some previous batches. Looking back thru' notes, It occured when I was doing 2 brews and did not therefore have a secondary fv, so primed in the primary - ouch. I've now cured this problem by using an old Youngs Fermentation Bin and replacing the Youngs' tap with the above Easy Bottler. If I cut 3" from the EB, I can still get my taller bottles underneath.
A month ago I started 2 brews. For the first time. For the first time, I used 75 g of Light Spray Malt, dissolved in 500 ml of boiling water, inside a 2.5 litre plastic can. On cooling, I introduced the yeast (one of those bulk beer/wine yeasts). Within a couple of hours, the can was bulging and the cap had to be eased. This starter was split 2 hours later into the 2 fermenters.
Yesterdays Ringwood OT (19 litres, total grain 4.6 KG) was nice and clear and tasted great but will leave for a month in bottles. The other brew was Hop Back Summer Lightning (23 ltres, total grain 5.2 KG) but it's still in the primary fermenter. Don't know why it's a week behind the Ringwood but it's on it's last legs and should go into the secondary at the weekend. I'm tempted to use a spraymalt syrup to prime the Hop Back, if it's likely to speed things up?? I may do a bottle prime or a batch prime. I'll keep you posted and thanks again. The pic should show the bulging starter can .

 

[Mavroz]

Yup. Works for me as I say.

And may i ask how do you not draw the trub and other sediment from the bottom of the FV into the bottles when bottling? My dad did this 30 years ago and it definitely didn't work for him.

 

[Oneflewover]

And may i ask how do you not draw the trub and other sediment from the bottom of the FV into the bottles when bottling? My dad did this 30 years ago and it definitely didn't work for him.

Sure.
1) use a yeast that flocculates well
2) thoroughly cold crash then disturb only minimally thereafter
3) prop the FV up on an angle carefully
4) slowly lower the racking cane (with sediment trap) into the beer in stages as it is siphoned off.

I think 1 and 2 make the biggest difference.

 

[Cwrw666]

And may i ask how do you not draw the trub and other sediment from the bottom of the FV into the bottles when bottling? My dad did this 30 years ago and it definitely didn't work for him.

I also bottle straight from the FV, using the tap. The trub is an inch below this but you do occasionally get a floating lump of yeast into a bottle - this just settles out on conditioning. No problem.
I'm also a funnel and half a teaspoonful of table sugar guy who simply doesn't care if one bottle is ever so slightly more fizzy than the next one.

 

[Mavroz]

I Use supplied yeast with brew kit.
I Take 2 or 3 hydro readings on separate days before bottling to ensure fermentation has finished.
Mix a dex solution, cool and put into bottom of bottling bucket.
Put filter bag over top and into bottling bucket. (Belt and braces to catch any trub / rogue hops etc)
Set syphon to correct depth just above trub in FV.
Draw liquid into bottling bucket so it mixes with dex solution.
Remove filter bag.
Attach bottling wand to bottling bucket tap.
Fill bottles, approx 43 per 23 litre brew.
Cap bottles (laborious), put bottles in crates and move crates to warm place for 2 weeks before transferring crates to cool storage.

Job done. No mess, no cold crashing, no tilting buckets, no shaking bottles, very little sediment on clearing, consistent carbing on each bottle opened.

Works for me.