Bottling: Carbon drops vs Sugar

The_B_Man

I will be bottling tonight/tomorrow and just realised I never bought my usual carbon drops.

So now I'm thinking of trying brown sugar, just to see how it works out. I'm just curious as to whether there is benefits to bottling with the drops, or brown sugar. Apparently brown sugar is better than white sugar anyway.

Has anyone here used both, and noticed any differences? The brew is a pilsener if that makes any difference, and either way I'll need to buy something, eg go down and buy a couple of bags of the drops tomorrow, or I can run over to the shops tonight and get brown sugar.

Cheers.

slayerking

TBH, Carbonation drops are just expensive glucose.
I've always used either plain old white sugar or glucose, maybe brown sugar once or twice.
With priming, its such a small amount it will have little if any effect on flavour.

~120g of sugar boiled in about a pint of water for 10 minutes, added to a bottling bucket and syphon the beer on top. Bottle from there. Always ensures a nice even carbonation through out the batch.

Use a carbonation calculator like this to calculate your desired carbonation.

The_B_Man

Well I don't have a syphon. I was going to just bottle directly from the Coopers fermenter via the tap at the bottom.

Can I just stick in a spoonful of regular white Siucra directly into the bottle, then fill it with beer?

slayerking

The_B_Man wrote: »

Well I don't have a syphon. I was going to just bottle directly from the Coopers fermenter via the tap at the bottom.

Can I just stick in a spoonful of regular white Siucra directly into the bottle, then fill it with beer?

Yep, a level teaspoon per 500ml bottle should do the job also.
Inverting the bottles a few times once there sealed also should help disperse/dissolve the sugar through out the beer.

Or if you can get to a cafe, fill your pockets with the sugar sachets, perfect sized portions of sugar for bottling!!!:)

The_B_Man

Effort of washing bottles tonight.

I had no time to actually bottle the brew so gonna do it tomorrow. Incidentally, while I was looking around the kitchen tonight, I saw I had a big bag of caster sugar. Is caster sugar better than normal sugar? Which would you recommend?

lil_lisa

It should be fine also, as long as its beet, cane or granulated sugar. Some corn sugars can add flavour to the beer which you might not necessarily want. You could also try a honey or syrup if you want to be adventurous

Do you guys cook (lightly simmer) your sugar before adding it? I find it helps it dissolve more evenly sometimes before bottling.

leggit

The_B_Man wrote: »

Well I don't have a syphon. I was going to just bottle directly from the Coopers fermenter via the tap at the bottom.

Can I just stick in a spoonful of regular white Siucra directly into the bottle, then fill it with beer?

Just prime the entire batch! The pain of priming individual bottles is something I've done once and will never do again!

Batch priming ensures a consistent level of carbonation across the entire batch too, and is just so god damn easy!

ian_m

Does anybody know how many spoonfuls of sugar are in one one carbo drop? Would it be safe to say one drop is equivalent to one teaspoon?

Khannie

You should just be able to weigh them and use an equivalent weight of sugar (or divide the bag weight by the number of drops to get the weight of one). I would guess that 1 drop < 1 teaspoon of sugar by weight.

sharingan

The_B_Man wrote: »

Well I don't have a syphon. I was going to just bottle directly from the Coopers fermenter via the tap at the bottom.

Can I just stick in a spoonful of regular white Siucra directly into the bottle, then fill it with beer?

That's what I have always done. It can be a hassle, especially if you are siphoning, but you are just using the tap, and if you have the bottling wand, that is useful too.

sharingan

leggit wrote: »

Just prime the entire batch! The pain of priming individual bottles is something I've done once and will never do again!

Batch priming ensures a consistent level of carbonation across the entire batch too, and is just so god damn easy!

Need a second fermenter to transfer into though, so you can leave the dead yeast behind.

But yes, way more practical in general (pats my new second fermenter)

leggit

sharingan wrote: »

Need a second fermenter to transfer into though, so you can leave the dead yeast behind.

But yes, way more practical in general (pats my new second fermenter)

Only have the one fermentor myself and never had a problem, just need to be a bit careful stirring it in as to not disturb the sediment at the bottom.

slayerking

lil_lisa wrote: »

Do you guys cook (lightly simmer) your sugar before adding it? I find it helps it dissolve more evenly sometimes before bottling.

I always boil the sugar solution for about 10 mins before adding to the bottling bucket and gently syphon the beer on top of it. No need to let it cool down.
It ensures all the granules are dissolved before adding to the bucket and also ensures the priming solution is nice and sanitary.

KAGY

lil_lisa wrote: »

Do you guys cook (lightly simmer) your sugar before adding it? I find it helps it dissolve more evenly sometimes before bottling.

I've been dissolving plain white sugar (about 100g depending on carb level) in 220ml of boiling water in a sanitized mug, then using a child's nurofen syringe to put 5ml into each bottle - less messy than pouring the granulated sugar and the boiling water sanitizes the sugar too. Seems to give good results, save for one slip up where I used too little water for half a batch

Philburns

I can't understand what is so hard about dumping a measure of sugar into a bottle. I have a bowl of sugar, a small funnel and a teaspoon measure on my bottling table and plonk a third to half spoon into each bottle just before capping (I make mostly bitters hence the low carbonation), then give the bottles a good shake after capping - nothing to it.

Degsy

I use a 10ml syringe to squirt the sugar/water priming mix into the bottles once the beer is inside..you dont need to shake it as its already disolved.

homerjay2005

im bottling direct from the fermenter to the bottles.

how do i ensure the sedament at the bottom and top doesnt get in, just stop bottling as the beer gets near to bottom or does it matter?

any good videos around for bottling without syphoning it?

BeerNut

Are you using a tap on the fermenter? It should be higher than the level of sediment so none from the bottom will get in. If it's not then the sediment will run off into the first bottle and you can discard that if you like.

homerjay2005

BeerNut wrote: »

Are you using a tap on the fermenter? It should be higher than the level of sediment so none from the bottom will get in. If it's not then the sediment will run off into the first bottle and you can discard that if you like.

ya i will be, so yes, i expect it all to be below the tap.

what about the dead yeast and other bits at the top of the fermenter? just throw away the last bottle also i assume?

BeerNut

I take it you can't see the beer going in so don't know when it gets cloudy. You could just leave the bottle aside: the yeast will settle to the bottom over time and there'll be drinkable beer on top if you pour carefully. I usually mark the last couple of filled bottles of my batches so I know not to give them to anyone, but I'm happy to drink them myself.