Priming Bottles with Spray Dried Malt

[Benfleet Brewery]

Well, what a pain in the a**e that was. I bottled my St Peters Ruby Red this morning and decided to use spray dried malt to prime the bottles instead of sugar. I normally put 4g sugar in each bottle first so I can see if I’ve missed any and then fill them straight from the tap on my FV. Ok, there’s usually a few drips on the floor afterwards but nothing major. Today, however, I wish I’d worn wellies. I had no idea that gently sliding the brew down the side of a bottle primed with spray dried malt created a foaming volcano effect. It was like I’d poured a can of lager into a glass from three feet high. In order to get the beer to within 2 inches of the top of the bottle as I normally do I had malt foam everywhere. Never again. Normal sugar always from now on!

 

[Leon103]

Batch prime Every time

 

[Linalmeemow]

Spray malt is an expensive way to prime.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Batch prime Every time

I don’t find bottling from FV a chore usually. Just this time!,

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Spray malt is an expensive way to prime.

Agreed. Yep. Lesson learned I think.

 

[JonBrew]

Also get a bottling wand/stick to attach to your fv instead of just opening the tap and letting it pour down the side of the bottle. This will help reduce premature staling.

 

[Richie_asg1]

Last cider I bottled (still got my training wheels on) I batch primed into another open keg, then used a syphon tube from the top of that with bottling wand and made it a heck of a lot easier.
But I managed to loose the end of it in the last bottle I did, and even capped it before I realised my mistake. - There it was - sitting in the bottom of a perfectly capped bottle!

Carbonation could be a bit variable if you lost some?

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Also get a bottling wand/stick to attach to your fv instead of just opening the tap and letting it pour down the side of the bottle. This will help reduce premature staling.

Yeah, understood. I actually got a “little bottler” wand with my kit but first time I used it I found it doesn’t close off properly when you remove the bottle and continued to trickle my brew everywhere when changing bottles. I ended up having to open and close the tap every time so just didn’t bother with it after that. I’ve just emailed the company I bought it from. Hopefully they will replace it for me.

 

[Linalmeemow]

Yeah, understood. I actually got a “little bottler” wand with my kit but first time I used it I found it doesn’t close off properly when you remove the bottle and continued to trickle my brew everywhere when changing bottles. I ended up having to open and close the tap every time so just didn’t bother with it after that. I’ve just emailed the company I bought it from. Hopefully they will replace it for me.

You can get wands that are spring loaded to make sure they close between bottles - makes life far easier.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Yeah, understood. I actually got a “little bottler” wand with my kit but first time I used it I found it doesn’t close off properly when you remove the bottle and continued to trickle my brew everywhere

You can get wands that are spring loaded to make sure they close between bottles - makes life far easier.

My little bottler is spring loaded and does not leak between bottles it looks like you have a faulty one.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Thanks. Yes, it was a spring loaded one from home brew online. It should close off but doesn’t so is clearly faulty.

 

[GerritT]

Wand user here too, sometimes grains of sugar get stuck and it doesn't close after retrieval. I use mini sugar cubes, 2 grams each, per half liter. Fits exactly, no fuss.