how much sugar?

[brysie]

i keep reading on here that 80god sugar is the correct amount of sugar in 5gallons of woodfordes wherry.

im bottling mine this weekend and wondered if any of you experts out there had any recommendations on....
a] which sugar is best to use?
b]whats the most effective way of ensuring that i get the correct amount in each bottle?

any tips?


coopers australian lager, bottled and conditioning
woodfordes wherry being bottled this weekend.

[smoggy]

Just use bog standard sugar. dissolve in boiling water and add it to you FV. Stir in(carefully) and leave a good half hour to settle back down, then bottle.

[brysie]

cheers smoggy.

dont i risk oxidising it by stirring it?

[smoggy]

nah. Just give it a gentle stir and it'll right.

[Marts]

cheers smoggy.

dont i risk oxidising it by stirring it?

That's why he said carefully - so you don't create bubbles and oxidise it.

How are you bottling it?

The best way is to transfer the brew from your FV into another FV first. This way you can dissolve the priming sugar in water and add it to the empty FV beforehand. Then when you syphon the brew in it mixes evenly with the priming sugar. This also helps reduce the final amount of sludge you end up with in the bottle quite dramatically.

Personally if you only have the FV I would avoid adding the priming sugar and stirring because you're likely to stir up unacceptable levels of the yeast sludge into the beer, no matter how careful you are with stirring.

If you only have one FV I would recommend either dissolving the sugar into water and use a syringe to dose each bottle before you add the beer or alternatively use a funnel to tip the teaspoon of sugar into the bottle. I've personally never used this method as I don't know how fully the sugar would dissolve down without heat.

Oh and normal granulated sugar is fine. I suppose if you're using the last method then a fine sugar than granulated might work, like icing sugar, but i've no personal experience so don't know if you would need to alter the quantities for a finer sugar (don't think you would, but i'm not swearing to it)

[brysie]

thats interesting marts

ive got a bottling stick that i used for my lager kit and that made it dead easy.
the kit also came with carbonation drops and the instructions just said pop one in each bottle. they seem to have dissolved fine.
but the woodfordes kit has hardly any instructions with it.
i wonder if caster sugar would be a good compromise?

[booldawg]

If you're worried about oxidisation then its OK to simply add half a teaspoon of sugar per (sterlised) 500ml bottle before adding the beer.

TBH there may be a chance of infection by not dissolving the sugar in boiling water first but after 750+ pints of bottling using this technique its either minimal risk or I've been extremely lucky!

[Marts]

Yeah a bottling stick is worth its weight in gold isn't it.

I still prefer taking the brew off the yeast first though, but if it works for you then cool. You've got to be very precise with your measurements if you're adding a teaspoon of sugar to each bottle unless you're happy with varying levels of carbonation from bottle to bottle. That's where the second FV is so handy for ensuring priming is even. The syringe method works well though otherwise.

[brysie]

so.....
dissolve my sugar in what, a pint or half pint of boiling water and distribute evenly in my 40 bottles?
then fill with my beer, cap them and see what happens?

[Marts]

100ml should be fine

[sparky Paul]

I always add the sugar (brewing sugar) directly to the bottle with a small funnel, but you must use an accurate teaspoon (or half teaspoon) measure such as those sold for cooks.

The sugar dissolves after 5-10 minutes. I find this the easiest method for me, and I've never had a problem. Try the different methods, and find out which works best for you.

[davvac]

I'll second Paul's methodology.

I bottled my Wherry kit on Monday using table sugar and a simple paper cone funnel. I measured the sugar with our set of measuring spoons from the kitchen.

I think the whole excercise (excluding sanitation) took about as long as an episode of Eastenders!

It's going in the shed tonight for conditioning, but I am suprised how quickly it has become bright (ish) whilst indoors. I've seen posts saying how quickly this kit conditions, so I'm hoping it should be in good nick for Christmas supping.

Cheers

Dave

[brysie]

thanks lads

[sparky Paul]

It's going in the shed tonight for conditioning, but I am suprised how quickly it has become bright (ish) whilst indoors. I've seen posts saying how quickly this kit conditions, so I'm hoping it should be in good nick for Christmas supping.

I've done lots of Wherry over the last couple of years... The one I've been supping for a week already was bottled on the 14th of November - it's crystal clear and tastes great!

So, with a bit of luck, yours will be good for Xmas.

[davvac]

Nice one Paul.

Like the subtle change to your avatar by the way

Dave