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Author Topic: Best way to prime your bottles  (Read 8105 times)

Offline kramerog

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Re: Best way to prime your bottles
« Reply #15 on: December 02, 2010, 03:32:57 pm »

My fermentations are always at least 6 weeks and my last couple of brews ( one of them did have excessive carbonation, the other was only bottled 3 weeks ago) have been primary only.

Try fermenting for 2-3 weeks only and then fermenting in the bottle under the same temperatures as primary for a week or two.  The yeast after 6 weeks will likely not be healthy resulting in inconsistent fermentations in the bottle.

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Best way to prime your bottles
« Reply #16 on: December 02, 2010, 04:10:02 pm »
Wow, five cups of water would dilute the beer a bit more than I'd want.  I haven't been bottle conditioning for many years, but if I did I would use the beer I was going to bottle instead of water to mix and boil the sugar.  I've been using beer from the batch I want to clarify for my fining additions in the keg also.  I just don't want to dilute the beer with water any more than I have to.
I agree five cups is a lot.  Jeff, are you saying you boil the beer?  I haven't bottled in a while either, but I was doing 2 cups of water or less.
Tom Schmidlin

Offline jeffy

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Re: Best way to prime your bottles
« Reply #17 on: December 02, 2010, 04:47:04 pm »
Wow, five cups of water would dilute the beer a bit more than I'd want.  I haven't been bottle conditioning for many years, but if I did I would use the beer I was going to bottle instead of water to mix and boil the sugar.  I've been using beer from the batch I want to clarify for my fining additions in the keg also.  I just don't want to dilute the beer with water any more than I have to.
I agree five cups is a lot.  Jeff, are you saying you boil the beer?  I haven't bottled in a while either, but I was doing 2 cups of water or less.

I bring a cup or two of beer up to about 180F in the microwave, being careful to watch so it doesn't foam over, then stir in gelatin and lay it onto the beer in the keg.  I don't think boiling is necessary because it's finished homebrew.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
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Offline Wheat_Brewer

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Re: Best way to prime your bottles
« Reply #18 on: December 02, 2010, 06:45:15 pm »
I've been using less than 2 cups for fear of diluting my beer, but I hadn't thought about my yeast health.  I do culture my own yeast which seems to be amazing for fermentation, but maybe there's not even healthy yeast left for bottling in a consistent manner. 

On a side note, how much gelatin do you use per 5 gallons?
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Offline jeffy

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Re: Best way to prime your bottles
« Reply #19 on: December 02, 2010, 07:37:20 pm »
I've been using less than 2 cups for fear of diluting my beer, but I hadn't thought about my yeast health.  I do culture my own yeast which seems to be amazing for fermentation, but maybe there's not even healthy yeast left for bottling in a consistent manner. 

On a side note, how much gelatin do you use per 5 gallons?
I use one package of Knox unflavored gelatine in 5 gallons.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
Homebrewing since 1990
AHA member since 1991, now a lifetime member
BJCP judge since 1995

Offline skyler

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Re: Best way to prime your bottles
« Reply #20 on: December 03, 2010, 01:13:18 am »
I'm surprised no one has mentioned these: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/munton-s-carbtabs.html

Offline mrbounds

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Re: Best way to prime your bottles
« Reply #21 on: December 03, 2010, 10:57:38 am »
I tried the Muntons carb tabs a while back and they left horrible white chunks floating on the surface in every bottle, so I have been steering clear ever since.

Offline Podo

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Re: Best way to prime your bottles
« Reply #22 on: December 07, 2010, 07:11:56 pm »
I try to estimate as closely as possible how much actual beer I'm going to end up with (I almost never get exactly 5 gal), and using that info, use my brewing software to figure out how much corn sugar I need.  I boil it in water for 5-10 minutes and then add it to the bottling bucket before adding the beer, so that when I add the beer, the swirling of the beer mixes it.  I have used that method for years and the only carbonation problem I've ever had was getting my sugar content right (and practice fixed that error), never in inconsistent carbonation.
So good once it hits your lips!