I am trying to understand a little bit about science process between Fermentation (when sugar is turned into alcohol) and Priming (when fermentable sugar is turned into). I have done several batches of cider now and notice that every time fermentation transforms all sugar in juice into alcohol making it Very dry. Therefor i was thinking of stopping fermentation process early when there is still some 20% of natural sugars left in juice, but the question is: If I stop …

I am trying to figure out how Priming Sugar calculators work under the hood and just gave this illuminating article a read. Most of it makes sense, however the author talks about each different priming sugar having a different "yield rate" and I am wondering if that metric is the same as the Dry Yields I see for each ingredient on BeerSmith. For instance, Honey is listed on BeerSmith as having a Dry Yield of 75%. Does that mean, that …

How prominent might I expect the flavors of honey to be, if used as a priming element for beer? I am thinking about it in terms of an all-grain pale ale variation, perhaps with honey or biscuit malt for the flavoring element, instead of crystal... And let's also presume some quality honey, not the supermarket mass-produced stuff.

I've finished coldcrashing this cream ale I've been brewing, I took some samples and they tasted great, so I've moved it to an airtight container and added sugar for carbonation. I checked it the next day and these weird tentacle looking things started growing on it. Could this be an infection starting or is it just the yeast doing yeasty things? Photo Photo Also, it doesn't seem to have released any CO2 yet, the pressure gague remains at 0.

Completed my first fermentation of home-brew bitter which finished at 2.5% alcohol after 2 weeks. Transferred the beer to a pressure barrel and added a level teaspoon of sugar per pint to start secondary fermentation along with extra pressure using a screw on CO2 "bomb" for a couple of seconds. After about a week ( probably longer that normal due to the fact that the barrel was in the loft where it was quite cold ), the beer started to …

I have some hard cider nearly ready to be bottled, and I am wondering if using pasteurized sweet cider as a primer would be a reasonable option. That is, I would mix in an appropriate volume of sweet cider to my fermented cider, bottle it all, and the fermentation of the added sweet cider would be sufficient to carbonate the bottles. I see the following potential benefits/drawbacks: Pros More bottles of cider from a single fermented batch Can tweak the …

Okay, how much danger am I in? I used a Mr Beer kit...and bottling added priming sugar. Unfortunately I got on the wrong line - having 500ML bottles, I added the priming sugar for 1 liter bottles. 2 and 1/2 teaspoons and it called for only 1 teaspoon.

The "Why is our beer not carbonating?" question mentions "sugar tablets". I am aware of a product called "prime tabs", but as far as I can tell that product is not longer being produced. I have used Cooper's Carbonation Drops. They're pretty good, but I would rather find something with greater granularity. Does anyone know of any such thing?

A friend of mine used plastic bottles with plastic caps (like coke bottles) for bottling. He used sugar (Granulated Sugar of Sugar Beet) for priming. It turned out those plastic bottles have problems with caps and the bottles lost too much CO2. The bottles have very liitle to no carbonation right now. He wants to recover those bottles somehow. He does not have any equipment for CO2 flasks or tanks, so he will use sugar or malt for this purpose …

I'm VERY new to homebrewing. This is my first 5gal batch. I moved from primary to secondary after 1-2 weeks. I then (due to life, work, forgetting to order bottles) have left the beer in the secondary for 1.5 months. It is an IPA. I'm wondering if I should pitch additional yeast when I bottle or is there enough active yeast to carbonate? Thanks!

This was the first time I primed my cider when bottling for carbonation. I exclusively wild ferment and press my own apples. I added what I think was enough sugar (ca. 120 g for 25 L), and bottles were stored at room temperature (ca. 16ºC) for 3 weeks. Yesterday, I put one bottle in the fridge and left it overnight. I popped it open today and to my surprise, no bubbles. What would you say is the reason for this? …

My wild fermented cider from freshly pressed apples has been on the carboy for almost one and a half months now. Cider is cloudy and there's still some very, VERY occasional airlock activity (once or twice a day?). I assume by now most fermentation has stopped. I've been trying the brew, and it's great. I like the taste it has now and don't think letting it ferment for longer will make a big difference. I would like my cider to …

Alright, so I've gone and over-primed a 5 gallon amber batch when bottling. Surprisingly, there is limited solid information available so I figured I would ask for feedback and then post the results hoping this proves useful for others. Details: 5 gallons of Amber ale, bottled into 12oz bottles 3 weeks in primary fermenter at 65-67F, so initial fermentation certainly done (no OG/FG sorry) Appx ABV 6-7% Primed with 1lb of DME instead of 1.25 cups (so somewhere between 2.5-3x …

I'm probably being too paranoid here, but what's the best way to make sure the priming sugar (I tend to use corn sugar boiled in a few cups of water for 5 minutes and then cooled) is thoroughly mixed into the beer without oxidizing it? I'm afraid if I agitate it too much I'm going to oxidize it and add off-flavors, but I've had some batches where the bottles are unevenly primed. My current process is to pour the 70-80°F …

One of the biggest time consumers I have on bottling day is cooling down the sugar to room temperature. So I have been thinking about sanitizing a small container the day before bottling, dissolve the sugar there, and seal the container. The solution should cool overnight and be ready to add to the bottling bucket the next day. Is this wise? And on that note, I was thinking about doing the same for the gelatin I use to clear my …

I have brewed at least a couple hundred 5-gallon batches of ale over the last 20+ years. For the vast majority of these batches, I have kegged in corny kegs and force carbonated using 30 PSI and shaking for a few minutes, or more often in the last 10 years, by setting the regulator at ~12 PSI for a week. For the last 3-4 years, I have been bottling more batches for a few reasons: It is easier to send …

After experiencing midnight explosion in 5L keg few year ago, i researched for safer ways to prime. Ever since i was measuring dextrose and adding in each bottle per its volume (and desired CO2) and filling up directly from the fermentation container. I started to wonder if there is a shortcut and if this technique is considered sterile. After much reading, i find many people use a bottling bucket to add sugar/dextro in a batch after boiling. I do have …

I am used to bottling my beer and do bottle conditioning. However, I just bought a few 5l mini kegs for the next batch which is currently fermenting. From what I have read from different sources, you need less sugar when conditioning in a mini keg than in a bottle (it varies from source to source, but it ranges from 75% to 50%, or even only 33% of the amount of sugar per liter that you would use for bottle …

I am getting ready to bottle my 6 month old sour. I used WLP648 on primary. I’ve been reading up on this on other forums, but I get mixed insights: some people say to just go ahead per normal, others pitch additional yeast and some other say you shouldn’t be using regular bottles due to Brett attenuating fast (risking bottle bombs). Anyone can shed some light on this?

I brewed a trippel, added priming sugar, and bottled it, but my bottle capper broke after only a few bottles. I placed caps atop the remaining bottles but won’t be able to seal them until I can replace the capper. These bottles will have set like this for four days. What can I do to make sure this batch carbonates? If I add a bit more primer, how much is enough? Thanks for any help!