Clever ways to individually prime bottles?

[petrolSpice]

I'm trying to move towards no-transfer brewing which means cutting the bottling bucket out of the process. This means I have to add sugar to each and every bottle before racking in beer.

I found some 2.5g sugar cubes on Amazon which should work nicely for 12 oz bottles. However, if I have different size bottles or want more/less carbonation then this won't work as well.

So I've been thinking about dissolving carefully measured amounts of water and sugar together such that a simple measurement, such a teaspoon, would yield the exact amount of sugar per bottle. I could interpolate for odd-sized bottles. I would likely make more of mixture than required to ensure I don't run out.

Anyone do something like this with reasonable success? Tips?

 

[liquidcourage]

I'm not sure I would go to all that work when you can just use these? https://www.morebeer.com/products/carbonation-drops.html

 

[petrolSpice]

I'm not sure I would go to all that work when you can just use these? https://www.morebeer.com/products/carbonation-drops.html

I have seen those (or ones like it) and seems like an expensive solution. Also, they are 4.2g per drop which seems like an awful lot of sugar for a 12 oz bottle.

According to this calculator, 2.4 vol of CO2 in a 12 bottle requires 2.05g of sucrose: https://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

 

[grrickar]

Table sugar (cane sugar) is different than corn sugar, so while it may carb up it may change the flavor also.

 

[jwelch1103]

You can do that though I have not. It adds a bit more work but if you have the time....

I'd recommend using a dosing syringe to measure a solution of water/glucose (or sucrose if you wish). The solution can be easily sanitized by boiling.

Dosing syringes are generally graduated in mL (mililiter) with which solution calculation is much more simple in SI units.

 

[Yooper]

Table sugar (cane sugar) is different than corn sugar, so while it may carb up it may change the flavor also.

No, it's about the same thing. Dextrose (corn sugar) is a monosaccharide, though, so you need a titch less than you do with table sugar which is a disaccharide.

 

[petrolSpice]

No, it's about the same thing. Dextrose (corn sugar) is a monosaccharide, though, so you need a titch less than you do with table sugar which is a disaccharide.

Really? The priming sugar calculator I posted above suggests that more corn sugar is needed than cane sugar.

 

[Aristotelian]

I use standard sugar cubes and weigh out one per bottle. Then use a priming sugar calculator and figure out how much extra sugar I need and bulk prime with that amount. I use a bottling bucket but I don't see why you couldn't just carefully add the bulk priming solution directly to the fermenter can give a swirl.

 

[billl]

Can you? Sure. I think most of us have had to prime bottles individually before. ie for a 1 gallon test batch.

Should you? I sure wouldn't make it a habit. You trade an easy and reliable process for something that takes more work and is more prone to error.

 

[liquidcourage]

Can you? Sure. I think most of us have had to prime bottles individually before. ie for a 1 gallon test batch.

Should you? I sure wouldn't make it a habit. You trade an easy and reliable process for something that takes more work and is more prone to error.

I guess this is what I was assuming. I assumed the op was kegging and had a little left and the priming drops would be quick and easy.

If the op wants to Individually prime every bottle a batch produces than I guess it would work but that's way more work than I'm willing to do.

 

[kh54s10]

I find it so much easier to use the bottling bucket. The added advantage is that as carefully as you siphon you get a little trub. I find that it settles during the bottling and is on the bottom of the bucket rather than in the bottles.

I also agree with billl. It is far more accurate to measure out what you need and mix it into the full batch than try to measure the small amount for a single bottle accurately.

If I were to prime individually I would just use priming tabs.

 

[molybdenite]

In the past I've used carbonation drops with good results in 12-oz bottles. I got a good level of carbonation, certainly nothing excessive. The drops I used were around 3.3 g each. The package says they are a mixture of sugar and corn sugar.
For the last three batches I primed with a sugar solution instead of the drops. These were all one gallon batches, ten 12-oz bottles each. Not a big deal to prime the bottles individually.

I used this online calculator, http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/, and it said I needed 1.5 g of sucrose per bottle. That batch turned out very undercarbonated. This was before I went back and looked at how much the carbonation drops actually weighed. For the next batch I used 3 g of sucrose per bottle and that worked well.

To make the sugar solution I heat up 100 ml of water and mix in 36 grams of sugar (enough for 12 bottles).
Then I boil the solution for a minute to sanitize it and drive out dissolved oxygen.
Then I top it up to a total volume of 120 ml with some more boiled water.
So I end up with 3 g of sugar per 10 ml of solution. And I put 10 ml into each bottle.
I use a tiny measuring cup that probably came with a bottle of cough syrup.

10 ml is very close to 2 US teaspoons.

 

[tim_c7]

I'm trying to move towards no-transfer brewing which means cutting the bottling bucket out of the process. This means I have to add sugar to each and every bottle before racking in beer.

I found some 2.5g sugar cubes on Amazon which should work nicely for 12 oz bottles. However, if I have different size bottles or want more/less carbonation then this won't work as well.

So I've been thinking about dissolving carefully measured amounts of water and sugar together such that a simple measurement, such a teaspoon, would yield the exact amount of sugar per bottle. I could interpolate for odd-sized bottles. I would likely make more of mixture than required to ensure I don't run out.

Anyone do something like this with reasonable success? Tips?

Hello petrolSpice,

This guy from breweveryday.com has shared a very precise way to measure sugar for bottle conditioning. He has a good write-up and a video on the process. I think it satisfies your need. I hope it helps.

http://breweveryday.com/these-bottling-techniques-will-change-your-life/

 

[petrolSpice]

Hello petrolSpice,

This guy from breweveryday.com has shared a very precise way to measure sugar for bottle conditioning. He has a good write-up and a video on the process. I think it satisfies your need. I hope it helps.

http://breweveryday.com/these-bottling-techniques-will-change-your-life/

Brilliant!

I'm going to look for more experience with this. I'm curious if using sugar instead of gun powder can cause issues.

 

[z-bob]

Hello petrolSpice,

This guy from breweveryday.com has shared a very precise way to measure sugar for bottle conditioning. He has a good write-up and a video on the process. I think it satisfies your need. I hope it helps.

http://breweveryday.com/these-bottling-techniques-will-change-your-life/

I wish I'd thought of that! I have a couple of extra powder measures.

But for 12 oz bottles, a Domino sugar cube is just about right (and they fit in the neck) and for a 1 liter bottle I use two C&H sugar cubes. Those are the bottle sizes I use for almost everything.

I might try the powder measure next time I run a batch of 750ml bottles.

 

[petrolSpice]

I wish I'd thought of that! I have a couple of extra powder measures.

But for 12 oz bottles, a Domino sugar cube is just about right (and they fit in the neck) and for a 1 liter bottle I use two C&H sugar cubes. Those are the bottle sizes I use for almost everything.

I might try the powder measure next time I run a batch of 750ml bottles.

I have the Domino cubes on the way. They seem like they will work great for 90% of my brews in 12oz bottles.

Do the C&H cubes fit into the bottles well? One of those would be good for 22oz bottles.

 

[Chanoc]

Has anyone thought on using a reloading hopper???
Once properly set up, you don't need to weigh every "load"



Ha...
I've just read the link....

 

[BBBF]

What about using graduated pipette to add the dissolved sugar to each bottle. The larger bottles get more sugar water.

 

[z-bob]

I have the Domino cubes on the way. They seem like they will work great for 90% of my brews in 12oz bottles.

Do the C&H cubes fit into the bottles well? One of those would be good for 22oz bottles.

No they don't fit, use two Domino cubes in a bomber. C&H cubes will fit in a PET bottle with a twistoff cap.

 

[petrolSpice]

What about using graduated pipette to add the dissolved sugar to each bottle. The larger bottles get more sugar water.

This was my initial plan... I would carefully measure water and sugar to create a mixture where a fixed volume of the mixture (e.g. a teaspoon) would yield the exact amount of sugar needed per bottle.

I would want to make more of the mixture than needed just to allow for errors in measuring, total beer volume, head space in bottles, etc. To do this I would simply scale up the mixture by say 20% and dump out any leftover.

The clever part is creating the mixture such that a simple measurement (teaspoon) gives the correct sugar mass. I created a spreadsheet to do this, so seems do-able.

But I'm going to try the 2.5g sugar cube method first as this is WAY easier, even easier than using the bottling bucket.

 

[popsicleian]

I am a big proponent of the 2.5g sugar cubes--they have worked extremely well for me. If I need to fine tune carbonation, or adjust for odd-sized bottles, I use these either instead of or in addition:

http://www.homebrewing.org/Brewers-...Rs0A9RLDUFCF0K_DoqIJs0gYJZG0SpWOP0aAiEy8P8HAQ

They say it takes 4 for "medium" carbonation. I find that one of those plus a sugar cube works really well for 16 oz bottles, for example.

I have a spigot on my primary, and I feel like being able to bottle directly from that without having to transfer, measure/boil sugar, etc. is a huge time saver.

 

[Coathanger]

I've used carb drops on many occasions and have had consistent results. That being said, it definitely ups your overall price per bottle.