I’m getting ready to bottle my first brew and had a question about the priming solution. once it’s boiled, do you let it cool a bit before mixing it in with the beer? It seems like I should, but I don’t see anywhere that says that’s the case.
Thanks.
Not sure if you are brewing a one or five gallon batch, but cooling is a good idea. Especially with a one gallon batch
+1
For larger batches, its not as critical as its such a larger mass of liquid that a pint or so of hot liquid isn’t going to raise the overall temperature that much (but still a good idea). Just fill up a sink with an ice bath, and place the pan in it to cool. Shouldn’t take too long (again thermal mass!). Just make sure to dry off the bottom of the pan/pot as you don’t want nasty sink water dripping into your fermenter. Sinks harbor a TON of bacteria.
Yes. I have always been told to cool it down below 80 so that you do not kill the yeast. I always shoot for 76 before dumping it into the bottling bucket and then siphoning the beer into it.
For a 5 gallon batch, it doesn’t matter. I added it hot all the time back in my bottling days. No issues with undercarbed beer. The small amount of priming solution will cool almost instantly when you rack the beer on top. You won’t kill off the yeast… at least not enough to cause a problem. Most of the yeast that will make it into your bottling bucket will be siphoned over towards the end when you’re down to the yeast cake. Your priming solution should be cooled and incorporated into the rest of your beer long before then.
For a 1 gallon batch, I have no idea, but it sounds like a good idea to cool it first.
I wouldn’t add a pint of water to a gallon of beer - the two tablespoons of sugar you’ll need will dissolve in a half-cup of water. Cooling shouldn’t be an issue assuming you’re scaling the priming solution volume to the batch size.
Be sure to gently stir the beer once you’ve added it to the priming solution to make sure it’s well-mixed. Also, fill one 12-oz PET bottle along with the others (fill to an inch from the top, squeeze the sides to push the beer to the lip, then cap) as a handy indicator for carbonation - as the beer carbs it’ll push the level down and once the bottle is good and tight, you know that the rest of the batch is ready as well.
I’ve never had to gently stir when I batch prime…ever. I think I read in the Palmer Brew book that there is no need. The swirl the flow of beer from the siphon is enough to mix the solutions. I’ve always had great, consistent carbonation.
+1 to shadetree. a cup of boiling water will not kill the yeast in a 1 gallon batch. I’d bet money on being safe with a pint in a 1 gallon batch other than you’re adding a over a beer’s worth of water to a batch that you only get 10 beers from.
What I have alwaays done is to boil the priming mixture then cover with a sanitized lid’ then got the rest of my boggling set-up done. Its usually cool by then
