Amount of sugar for bulk priming

[ashy]

I have had a few problems with my bulk priming of my last two beers. One being over gased and the other under. I now they have fermented out properly due to the time allowed and checking the readings prior to and after racking it. Having shonky scales hasn't helped, but I have now rectified this problem by buying a quality set. I work on 8gms of normal suger per litre. I normally start out with 23 litres but after racking it I end up with approx 22 litres of the golden amber to bottle. My question is should I base my 8 gms per litre on the original 23 litres I start with or the end result prior to dumping the beer onto the liquidfied suger.

Any tips would be grateful.

This is my first post for a couple of years and being member number 10 it is great to see how this site has grown in such a short time.

Dogger Dan do you have any other interests apart from BEER

Thanks

Ashy

[Paleman]

If in doubt Ashy, just prime your bottles.

I'll get my butt kicked here, but i cant see any advantage in bulk priming whatsoever.

But for this,..........It may be quicker.

Hell i'd rather, prime my bottles with the correct measure, and have no risks. Than bulk prime, and carry the burden of all the variables.

Thats me, and my opinion. I'm open to change.

[gregb]

Here is another option for priming:
http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... php?t=1302

Cheers,
Greg

[Beerpig]

I'm with Paleman on this

Less cleaning & sanatising

Cheers

[Tipsy]

I find bulk priming more accurate. Sometime I've over or underdosed bottles by manual priming,(not paying enough attention and forgetting where I'm up too). The best thing I could recomend when bulk priming is to give it a pretty good stir. Some people are to overly concerned about oxidation. Also cleaning is not a worry as you only have to rinse the fermenter in hot water as there isn't any crud, it takes all of about 20 seconds.

[Tipsy]

Oh and to answer your question Ashy I use 180g for a 23lt lager and I lose a little beer from bulk priming.

[Beerpig]

Posted: Sunday May 28, 2006 11:17 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh and to answer your question Ashy I use 180g for a 23lt lager and I lose a little beer from bulk priming "


Another reason not to bulk prime

Waste not, want not

Cheers

[Wassa]

Ash,

in answer to your question....bulk prime for 2 litres....that is what you're gonna bottle.

[Shaun]

I'm with paleman bulk priming is not worth the effort.

[Terry]

Before I moved, I used to bulk prime at the rate of 180g per 22L brew and the results for me were consistent and the tcarbonation was just right for me. When I moved interstate I had to give away my racking fermenter to a friend and haven't replaced it so now I bottle prime. The results thus far have been disappointing, way undercarbonated on every brew so far, but I use the wife's cooking measuring tablespoon to measure out the priming sugar. It has only occured to me now that I haven't measured the mass of the priming sugar for each bottle so even though I use this spoon to measure tha same amount for each bottle, it would seem that I am underpriming. I'll have to check that next time.

In my experience I have had better results bulk priming.

[Beerpig]

Grab a double ended priming scoop from the supermarket or home brew shop

Big end for long necks (750ml), small end for stubbies (375ml)

Cheers

[Chris]

Good rule of thumb is 180g max of dextrose. 160g better suits many styles.

I'd use malt though- 200-240g (depending on style) works well.

[chris.]

6gms per litre for me.

[ashy]

I have been around the mark with these amounts so hopefully with the new scales I will get an accurate reading. It has only been the last two brews that I have had trouble with as plenty before this have come out fine

For all those suggesting I get a measurer and do individual bottles - I have done that and have graduated to bulk priming. It is far easier because you don't have to put suger into every bottle and then move them around to get the disolved suger thru your beer. Saves time and you get a constant result.

[Beerpig]

Each to thier own .................. good luck ................... rack on!

Cheers

[scblack]

Here's a link I use for bulk priming.

http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Metho ... uide.shtml

As for those who say you lose a little beer, I don't see thats the case. I melt the 180gm dextrose in 500ml of water, which compensates for the amounts left in each fermenter during the process.

But as Beerpig says - each to his own.

I'm happy bulk priming - results are much more consistent, and carb.drops are a waste of time(I've used them twice, and both times results were low carbonation).

[ACTbrewer]

Isn't that wierd, I always found the carbonation drops over primed my beers if anything.

[Tipsy]

As for those who say you lose a little beer, I don't see thats the case. I melt the 180gm dextrose in 500ml of water, which compensates for the amounts left in each fermenter during the process.

You're right on scblack, when I said I lose a little beer, i meant to emphasise LITTLE. I lose more when doing my s.g.

[Simo]

I almost always bulk prime, it just works with my washing, filling and capping method much better than measuring out individual bottles and getting sugar all over their necks etc.
I tend to change the amount of dextrose I bulk prime with depending on the style of beer.
for most of my light or amber coloured beers i'll use around 180g for a 22-23L brew
for dark ales and my bitter style beers i'll generally go down a bit, anywhere from 130-170 depending on how heavy the beer is, its colour, ingredients etc.

Personally i'm not really really picky on how carbonated my beer is, as long as it isn't obviously flat or way over gassed it's acceptable. Experiementing with different priming amounts for different beer styles is part of the fun.

[shane_vor]

I too, bulk prime. Why, because I use different size bottles when I do and also the measuring scoop I have seems, for some reason to underprime the bottles. That, and I can dump 200g of dextrose into a tub, disolve, fill that with wort then bottle. It's simpler, I like it that way.