Bottle priming

Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
Post Reply
Nigel1969

Bottle priming

Post by Nigel1969 » Mon Jan 28, 2013 8:52 pm

I'm planning on bottling my Woodforde's Wherry in a few days. I know a lot of people would prefer to barrel, but I don't have one. What would you recommend as type of sugar and how much. All bottles are glass 500ml.

pumblechook

Re: Bottle priming

Post by pumblechook » Mon Jan 28, 2013 10:45 pm

Hi. I did a wherry in bottles with just ordinary white sugar at 80g per 23 litre batch and it was spot on.

Enjoy!

Nigel1969

Re: Bottle priming

Post by Nigel1969 » Mon Jan 28, 2013 10:51 pm

Cheers, would this be around half a teaspoon per bottle. Also how long did you Condition mate?

pumblechook

Re: Bottle priming

Post by pumblechook » Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:02 pm

I tried going down the half teaspoon route and its too much for this style of beer, even using proper kitchen measuring spoons. I think a third of a teaspoon is more like what it would be if it was measured that way.

Loads of people on here batch prime by adding a boiled sugar solution to a secondary fermenter before siphoning the beer in on top of that and then bottling from there. This will evenly distribute the priming sugar throughout the batch and is probably way easier than trying to evenly put sugar in each bottle individually.

I'm massively fussy so I usually make a sugar solution of a given quantity, say 250 ml in total of sugar and water, and measure it into my bottles with a syringe. I just divide the liquid by the number of bottles and thats how much i measure off per bottle. Only takes me a couple of mins and I then know for sure how much is in each bottle. Plenty of people probably think I'm wasting my time but it works for me.

I gave this brew 2 weeks at room temp to carbonate and then 4 weeks in the cold. It was crystal clear by that point. I had a couple of tester bottles along the way and they tasted great but hadn't fully cleared.

Nigel1969

Re: Bottle priming

Post by Nigel1969 » Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:21 pm

Thanks for that, much appreciated. I've been very disappointed with my first two brews, they went straight down the sink. Will go with a third teaspoon, it don't matter if there's a little difference. Once again, cheers pal, )

crafty john

Re: Bottle priming

Post by crafty john » Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:35 pm

Nigel1969 wrote:Thanks for that, much appreciated. I've been very disappointed with my first two brews, they went straight down the sink. Will go with a third teaspoon, it don't matter if there's a little difference. Once again, cheers pal, )
What was the problem with your first two brews? Why did you tip them down the sink?

Nigel1969

Re: Bottle priming

Post by Nigel1969 » Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:50 pm

They just tasted awful, don't think they were infected, I just couldn't drink them. A Coopers Bitter, which was bitter, yuk. And Coppers stout, I spoiled it by adding 750g of molasses.

crafty john

Re: Bottle priming

Post by crafty john » Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:53 pm

Nigel1969 wrote:They just tasted awful, don't think they were infected, I just couldn't drink them. A Coopers Bitter, which was bitter, yuk. And Coppers stout, I spoiled it by adding 750g of molasses.
That much molasses certainly wouldn't help :shock:

pumblechook

Re: Bottle priming

Post by pumblechook » Mon Jan 28, 2013 11:58 pm

Nigel1969 wrote:Thanks for that, much appreciated. I've been very disappointed with my first two brews, they went straight down the sink. Will go with a third teaspoon, it don't matter if there's a little difference. Once again, cheers pal, )
No problem mate,hope this one works out for you. Wherry is a good kit. Other than how long to leave in the fermenter I pretty much stuck to the instructions.

I've read about your mishaps so hopefully third time lucky. Only thing I would say is to leave it to mature if its not great initially, don't chuck it. You'd be surprised how much difference a few months can make. :D

WorcesteRob

Re: Bottle priming

Post by WorcesteRob » Tue Jan 29, 2013 10:25 pm

I've just done a woodfordes wherry and used 100g of dextrose for the 23 lts, it's been in the warm since Saturday and probably will leave it there for a further two weeks at least. I can't wait to try the fruits of my labour.

Nigel1969

Re: Bottle priming

Post by Nigel1969 » Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:18 pm

I hope it works out nice for you.. I was specifically warned not to add anything to a Wherry. If you don't try, you'll never know, that's my motto.

WorcesteRob

Re: Bottle priming

Post by WorcesteRob » Wed Jan 30, 2013 9:56 pm

Nigel1969 wrote:I hope it works out nice for you.. I was specifically warned not to add anything to a Wherry. If you don't try, you'll never know, that's my motto.
Sorry, the dextrose was used for bottle priming only, not added to the FV :)

Post Reply