What do you prime your bottled beer with and why

[TC2642]

White sugar all bulk primed in my bottling bucket.

[Chicken Dipper]

If I'm kegging then I boil 80 - 120 grammes of cane sugar or DME in approximately 200 - 250 ml of water or wort for 10 mins then allow to cool before adding, if I'm bottling then I use the same and a syringe or just use the 2.5ml end of a med spoon and use cane sugar or dextrose.

I've tried the lot, but the above are my usual methods, depending on what I have in and what I'm making

[Fuggled Mind]

I've tried the lot, but the above are my usual methods, depending on what I have in and what I'm making

So which type of beers do you use DME for and which do you use sugar for? Though I'm happy with DME and it gives good results, I'm wondering if I'd be happy using sugar again. I haven't used it since my kit days. I think its a given that my brewing has improved a bit since then.

Cheers

Jason

[Chicken Dipper]

Well, I guess I've used it mainly in darker beers, I can't tell you why, it just seems to fit to my mind. I can't say that it has any great impact on taste in my opinion which begs the question why bother?

If I'm making a big beer which will have a longer life, I always use DME, I think Graham Wheeler recommends doing so in his BYOBRA. I think he mentioned that it's better for keeping properties, but agin not sure why.

I'm afraid I'm not great at the science, but I just go with what I've got. I haven't ever had the scummy neck problem either with DME.

[Chicken Dipper]

It would be interesting to bottle half with sugar and half with DME just to see..

[mozza]

Oh I've used honey before. Honey works REALLY well. Not sure why I only tried it the once.

[Chicken Dipper]

As I remember honey gave a dry finnish, but not much flavour..

[Fuggled Mind]

As I remember honey gave a dry finnish, but not much flavour..

I was always curious about using honey but never knew how much to add, especially as I read that different honey varieties vary regarding fermentability. I was always interested in experimenting with golden, maple and agave syrups too though these are all more expensive than regular sugar and again, I never knew how much to add (and still don't).

I suppose it may be time to split one batch of beer into two different priming buckets, one with sugar, the other with DME and then I can decide if there really is a perceivable difference. If there is, I might be tempted to try priming with other sugars.

I generally use sugar - dextrose, cane, beet, dark brown, demerara, depending on the beer, the mood and what I have. But I must try using DME, will do that with my latest batch. Can't remember ever using it.

When using dark brown sugar, do you use the same quanity as you would white sugar? I imagine dark brown sugar would be nice in a stout or porter.

Cheers

Jason

[borischarlton]

At the recent Homebrew Festival I was chatting to a brewer with some years of experience who had had great results priming each 275ml bottle of imperial stout with a teaspoon of Port. I am going to give it a go, or at least a few bottles out of a batch

[LeeH]

Carb drops as I only bottle what won't fit in the keg.

[CestrIan]

At the recent Homebrew Festival I was chatting to a brewer with some years of experience who had had great results priming each 275ml bottle of imperial stout with a teaspoon of Port. I am going to give it a go, or at least a few bottles out of a batch

That sounds great. I'm definitely going to try that! Could try a Port Porter!!

[Fuggled Mind]

At the recent Homebrew Festival I was chatting to a brewer with some years of experience who had had great results priming each 275ml bottle of imperial stout with a teaspoon of Port. I am going to give it a go, or at least a few bottles out of a batch

Would love to try an imperial stout primed with port. Probably the most unusual of the priming methods I've heard of and just goes to show that the grape and the grain can mix.

Cheers

Jason

[borischarlton]

That's what is great about a big group of brewers meeting, loads of different ideas to float. Make sure you get the date for 2015 in the diary

[boingy]

I don't bottle much, just a few from each batch, but I always use normal white sugar. Anything else is better added earlier in the process imho.

[tompainedrinker]

Really depends on what sort of wort your using. If your using a kit, any sugar will do but your FG will make a big difference as to what condition will be created. If your using wort from a mash you won't need any priming sugars as the wort is full of complex sugars that takes time to brake down after the incial fermentation. This will create the condition that you require in the bottle after a few weeks. Further to this you have also variables such a yeast stain your using, temperature and at what FG you bottled at. Hope this is of some use.