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Bottling day- priming sugar or tabs?

Northern Brewer General
#1

Hello all,

First ever brew currently in primary. I have been SO nervous about it for the past couple weeks hoping it’ll turn out drinkable and not a waste of money and time. The next hurdle is bottling, and was wondering if sticking with priming sugar or using the fizz tabs would result in a more consistent finish. I have read some poor reviews about the tabs leaving parts of undisolved casing in the bottom of bottles but I don’t think that’d be too big a nuisance. So for my purpose as a first timer, what would be recommended? Should I be worried about poor or inconsistent finishes using priming sugar?

Also I’ve read a couple people have had trouble with the gold bottle caps that come with the essential starter kit. Should I buy better caps or are they just fine for the most part?

Thank you!

#2

The carbonation tablets might turn out alright, but personally I’d recommend ditching them and bulk priming with 2 tablespoons of table sugar per gallon, which is equal to 5/8 cup per 5 gallons. I have bottled over 300 gallons this way and it always turns out great. Dissolve the correct amount of sugar in 2 cups water, bring to a boil, cool, then add all at one time to your beer on bottling day. Your gold caps should work just fine. Allow about 2 weeks to carbonate at room temperature. Sometimes it only takes one week, sometimes 3 weeks – not to worry, it will carbonate in a few weeks for sure.

#3

Is this a 1-gal kit that you’ll be bottling straight from the fermenter? Use the tabs.
Is this a batch that’s being racked to a bottling bucket first? Use sugar dissolved in water.

The trick with sugar is you need to gently mix it. Enough to distribute the sugar, without stirring in oxygen. With the 1-gal kits, my understanding is that there is no way to add the sugar without kicking up the sludge, hence the tabs.

#4

Thanks for the help! This is a 5 gallon batch and I will be transferring to a bottling bucket to bottle. I’ll probably go with the priming sugar and stir it in as gently as possible.

#5

Use the Priming Sugar Calculator found on this site:

#6

Thanks so much, Ken!

With regards to the gold caps, will they be strong enough etc. for use on 22 oz bottles? Is it really just a matter of sealing them fully?

#7

Seal the caps fully and you will be just fine. The 22-oz bottles really don’t act any differently than 12-oz, at least not with my capper.

#8

Great! Thanks, Dave!

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