Priming and teaspoons

[calumscott]

nothing to see here

 

[PD]

Buy a set of cooks measuring spoons....approx £1-£3 from shops like the range etc
they are a standard size and a levelled half teaspoon gives you 3gms if using granulated sugar.

 

[calumscott]

Buy a set of cooks measuring spoons....approx £1-£3 from shops like the range etc
they are a standard size and a levelled half teaspoon gives you 3gms if using granulated sugar.

PD, my dear fellow, a half teaspoon, levelled, if you'll note the experiment results above, will result in a 2.4g priming load... :lol:

 

[Baz Chaz]

Which is why I batch prime, far easier and a lot less burgering about :thumb:

 

[graysalchemy]

Sugar in Yorkshire must be different to that in Oxfordshire :lol: :lol: either that or they use Yorkshire spoons :whistle: :whistle:

 

[ScottM]

Buy a set of cooks measuring spoons....approx £1-£3 from shops like the range etc
they are a standard size and a levelled half teaspoon gives you 3gms if using granulated sugar.

PD, my dear fellow, a half teaspoon, levelled, if you'll note the experiment results above, will result in a 2.4g priming load... :lol:

I notice that with a normal teaspoon and a half teaspoon you got the same results? Surely that can't be right?

 

[graysalchemy]

Which is why I batch prime, far easier and a lot less burgering about :thumb:

The only way to get consistent results IMHO. :thumb: :thumb:

And easier :lol: :lol:

 

[ScottM]

Which is why I batch prime, far easier and a lot less burgering about :thumb:

The only way to get consistent results IMHO. :thumb: :thumb:

And easier :lol: :lol:

That's the thing I really don't understand. Other than not having another FV (go and get another one) what possible reason is there to sit and prime 40+ bottles individually? It seems mental to me.

I individually primed 3 times since I started brewing and I was so fed up after the first lot that I don't know how I managed to get through the other 2. One of them was also a massive failure with drops and some of the bottles were sporadic as I wasn't accurately measuring the spoonfulls. Oh, and the spoons don't fit in the bottles so end up making one helluva mess.

Madness, there's nothing queer as folk though eh

 

[calumscott]

Buy a set of cooks measuring spoons....approx £1-£3 from shops like the range etc
they are a standard size and a levelled half teaspoon gives you 3gms if using granulated sugar.

PD, my dear fellow, a half teaspoon, levelled, if you'll note the experiment results above, will result in a 2.4g priming load... :lol:

I notice that with a normal teaspoon and a half teaspoon you got the same results? Surely that can't be right?

Yup, it's true! A normal teaspoon levelled is the same as a half teaspoon measure. It's because the bowl of a normal, stir-your-tea, teaspoon is so shallow and wide.

 

[calumscott]

Sugar in Yorkshire must be different to that in Oxfordshire :lol: :lol: either that or they use Yorkshire spoons :whistle: :whistle:

You suggesting that a Yorkshire teaspoon is BIGGER than an Oxfordshire one...?? :wha:

:lol:

 

[ScottM]

Yup, it's true! A normal teaspoon levelled is the same as a half teaspoon measure. It's because the bowl of a normal, stir-your-tea, teaspoon is so shallow and wide.

I'm maybe reading it wrong but based on your table I see 2.5ml measure (1/2 tsp measure?) but I also see a half teaspoon separate from that. For the half teaspoon you wrote that it was your best guess?

From that I took it that you took out half a tsp of sugar, using a normal teaspoon, 10 times then divided the weight by 10.

If that's the case, were they heaped half tsp?

It's probably the way I'm reading the results but I would have expected a half tsp, even at best guess, to measure half that of a full tsp accurately levelled. I would have expected the levelled teaspoon to be far more than 2.2g also. This is what was throwing me off and making me look at the 1/2 vs full figures.

 

Which is why I batch prime, far easier and a lot less burgering about :thumb:

hi baz... :thumb: .

i agree 100% batch prime every time ...
no mater how big the bottle is ...
they all get the same amount of sugar... :clap: .


regards mick... :hat: .

 

[oldbloke]

Any cook knows a teaspoon-measure is 5ml, and an actual teaspoon is pretty random

 

[Rento]

[quote="Baz Chaz":238r5eey]Which is why I batch prime, far easier and a lot less burgering about :thumb:

hi baz... :thumb: .

i agree 100% batch prime every time ...
no mater how big the bottle is ...
they all get the same amount of sugar... :clap: .


regards mick... :hat: .[/quote:238r5eey]


Fair enough on the batch priming, but how much to use? I.e. How many grams per litre for say Lager, Ale, Stout etc?

I used my measuring spoons (from Lakeland) and get:

Dextrose
1 tsp (5ml) = 4g
1/2 tbls (7.5ml) = 6g

Granulated Sugar:
1 tsp (5ml) = 6g
1/2 tbls (7.5ml) = 8g

Caster Sugar:
1 tsp (5ml) = 6g
1/2 tbls (7.5ml) = 8g


I have been using carb drops at 4.2g each, 2 per 500ml bottle of Lager, 1-1.5 for Ale so I was thinking of going to 1/2 tbls as a general measure and using Dextrose.

Thoughts?

 

[Baz Chaz]

[quote="Baz Chaz":3igk78tp]Which is why I batch prime, far easier and a lot less burgering about :thumb:

hi baz... :thumb: .

i agree 100% batch prime every time ...
no mater how big the bottle is ...
they all get the same amount of sugar... :clap: .


regards mick... :hat: .

Fair enough on the batch priming, but how much to use? I.e. How many grams per litre for say Lager, Ale, Stout etc? [/quote:3igk78tp]

For a 23 ltr batch I use between 40g and 60g, recently more in favour of the 40g, but then it is left for a long time to condition because I've 'a shedload' of stock (Ok a Denload :lol: ) I don't brew lager so can't help you there, but ale and stout I used to prime as high as 80 or even 90g before I 'experimented'.

I would suggest you do as I did, when you bottle split the brew in 3 :idea: do some at the equvalent of 40g then 60g then 80g and you'll find which works for you :thumb:

Any cook knows a teaspoon-measure is 5ml, and an actual teaspoon is pretty random

Perhaps we should stop talking teaspoons :hmm: the 'standard' is as you say 5ml :!: but there are a number of variables, my experiments have all been done on weight, my level tsp actually weighed 3g, the heaped, as much as you gan get on it 8g, so when I did the experiment I aways gave the actual weight used :thumb:

 

[graysalchemy]

Weight is the only way of getting a consistent result IMHO.

I usually prime at a rate of 4-5g per litre and as much as 7g per litre for fizzy cider.

Sugar in Yorkshire must be different to that in Oxfordshire :lol: :lol: either that or they use Yorkshire spoons :whistle: :whistle:

You suggesting that a Yorkshire teaspoon is BIGGER than an Oxfordshire one...?? :wha:

:lol:

:wha: :wha:

I think I confused myself there, perhaps you have the yorkshire spoon or perhaps you brought yours from north of t'border :hmm: :hmm:

. In any case don't tell PD he is not using a yorkshire spoon.

:lol: :lol:

 

[calumscott]

Yup, it's true! A normal teaspoon levelled is the same as a half teaspoon measure. It's because the bowl of a normal, stir-your-tea, teaspoon is so shallow and wide.

I'm maybe reading it wrong but based on your table I see 2.5ml measure (1/2 tsp measure?) but I also see a half teaspoon separate from that. For the half teaspoon you wrote that it was your best guess?

Yes, the 2.5ml measure was a proper 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon. The "1/2 teaspoon" was me having a best guess using a normal teaspoon at what half should be...

From that I took it that you took out half a tsp of sugar, using a normal teaspoon, 10 times then divided the weight by 10.

If that's the case, were they heaped half tsp?

Well, erm, not really - more like what I would do for a half teaspoon of, say, dried chilli if I was cooking... So what you might do if you weren't really thinking about it and were just reading the instructions on a kit...

It's probably the way I'm reading the results but I would have expected a half tsp, even at best guess, to measure half that of a full tsp accurately levelled. I would have expected the levelled teaspoon to be far more than 2.2g also. This is what was throwing me off and making me look at the 1/2 vs full figures.

Well, ignore the "1/2 teaspoon" to start with and concentrate on the rest, they are as close I as can be arsed getting to absolute measures, they are defined and repeatable and the numbers stack up nicely.

Then think about the "1/2 teaspoon" in isolation - it's wholly subjective. My view of what half a teaspoon looks like will no doubt be different from yours or anyone elses. I just thought it would be fun to see where it came in the table.

 

[LeithR]

My commercially purchased cooking spoons are stamped with liquid measure, I think this is because this gives the level measures rather than heaped otherwise they convert 1ml = 1g.

1/4 Tspoon = 1.25ml
1/2 Tspoon = 2.5ml
1 Tspoon = 5ml
1Tbspoon = 15ml

 

[graysalchemy]

That is correct but the weight of sugar is not the same as weight of water, so even a measured volume is not an accurate measure of weight though there are websites where you can convert the a volume of common cooking stuffs into weight. I use it for baking so I can convert american recipes into scalable ones based on weight.

:thumb: :thumb:

 

[calumscott]

My commercially purchased cooking spoons are stamped with liquid measure, I think this is because this gives the level measures rather than heaped otherwise they convert 1ml = 1g.l

Erm... no they don't.

For water they do - 1ml of distilled water @ 20oC has a mass of 1g.

The density of sugar and any other substance will be different. It's just a bit of luck really that normal granulated sugar also worked out at 1g/ml... That will largely be down to particle size (so how much air is in your spoonful rather than sugar). Caster sugar will give you more mass of sugar, dextrose probably more still as it is quite fine.

:thumb: