I think I’m ready to bottle

[joncarpet]

My first brew has been sitting in the FV for 2 weeks now, and I’ve been very patient. It’s a Wherry kit but I used wilko yeast.

I think its gone ok. After a couple of days a layer of scum like substance was sitting on the top, the lid had bulged and there had been movement in the air lock, although I didn’t see any bubbling.

I’ve taken a couple of gravity readings and that's stable and hasn’t stuck, which is good. And in the FV there's a definite layering: it looks paler/ lighter at the top. At the bottom there is a layer of something – about a cm in depth.

The sample I took looked like cloudy beer. Smelt a bit like beer. And tasted a bit like beer.

My bottles are being cleaned and ready for filling.

Is there a preference for what sugar to use? Normal granulated sugar or some brewers sugar from Wilko?

 

[Ciaran12s]

I only ever use normal granulated myself. Works absolutely fine but I can't compare it against other sugars.

 

[GerritT]

I use brewing sugar (100% glucose) sometimes, dry malt sometimes ("better mouthfeel", so I have read), occasionally white El Cheapo sugar (pale ales need that dryness, I read somewhere), once honey because the recipe said so (dissolved in some warm water). It all worked out, not enough brews and brewconsistency to really be able to judge.
Nowadays I tend to under-prime though. Had some nasty blasters in the kitchen, missus was not happy. Use the calculators.

 

[Thumper]

Fermentable sugar is fermentable sugar, any will do the job. You're not putting enough in at bottling stage to significantly alter the taste. 1 teaspoon per bottle is the generally accepted rule of thumb, I believe.

 

[treebeard]

Hi joncarpet. Use the calculator here for priming levels. It also suggests levels of carbonation for different beer styles at the bottom.https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

 

[Thumper]

Lol whoops, looks like my porters is going to end up with 3 volumes of CO2 :lol:

 

[chub1]

I just use granulated and use the calculator to batch prime,it's so much easier imho. A teaspoon per bottle should do you if doing it per bottle.

 

[dad_of_jon]

My first brew has been sitting in the FV for 2 weeks now, and I’ve been very patient. It’s a Wherry kit but I used wilko yeast.

I think its gone ok. After a couple of days a layer of scum like substance was sitting on the top, the lid had bulged and there had been movement in the air lock, although I didn’t see any bubbling.

I’ve taken a couple of gravity readings and that's stable and hasn’t stuck, which is good. And in the FV there's a definite layering: it looks paler/ lighter at the top. At the bottom there is a layer of something �" about a cm in depth.

The sample I took looked like cloudy beer. Smelt a bit like beer. And tasted a bit like beer.

My bottles are being cleaned and ready for filling.

Is there a preference for what sugar to use? Normal granulated sugar or some brewers sugar from Wilko?

I use wilkos brewing sugar, it's finer but i've also used maple syrup and brown demerara sugar. Yeast prefer to eat monosaccharides so glucose should carbonate quicker than sucrose(sugar) which is fructose+glucose.

This does go some way I believe that when people say 2 weeks to carb my beer is ready in 7-10 days.

Many on the forum use regular sugar.

 

[LarryF]

I only bottle but differently for different beers but always with ordinary table sugar. Lagers (pseudo) I bottle into 600ml bottles with 1tsp of sugar. Stouts and dark ales I bottle into 500 ml bottles with 1/2tsp of sugar. Gone off the lighter ales at the moment but I'd probably go 600ml bottle with 1tsp.

 

[Drunkula]

Chris White from Whitelabs says use table sugar and I'm not arguing with him.

 

[Thumper]

I just use granulated and use the calculator to batch prime,it's so much easier imho. A teaspoon per bottle should do you if doing it per bottle.

That's what I used, but according to that calculator that would be 3 volumes, which seems high.