Just purchased and brewed my first recipe from NB. Racer 5 IPA clone. All is well so far, going to secondary tomorrow… but looking forward to bottling day, the recipe is pretty vague. It just says ‘proceed to bottling, using appropriate practices.’ From reading a multitude of other recipes, it would appear that priming sugar (or equivalent tablets) would be in order. But the recipe didn’t come with that, while every other ingredient was present and measured out. So my question is… did I get shorted somehow, or does this recipe not need a primer? Corn sugar was added as a fermentable, but I don’t think that’s going to help with carbonation, right?
Plain old table sugar (beet or cane) will work. You can use this calculator to determine how much:
If I’m being lazy, I just figure an eighth of a cup of sugar per gallon. 5/8 cup for a five gallon batch, half a cup for four gallons. Boil it in just enough water to dissolve, add to bottling bucket, rack beer on top. Stir gently, then bottle.
Northern Brewer kits have an option for a 5-oz packet of corn sugar (Dextrose). You have to select it as an option if you want it. The reason is that a lot of brewers who brew from kits don’t want to use the pre-measured packet because 5 oz of corn sugar usually results in overcarbonated beers. Additionally, you can carb with things other than corn sugar (corn syrup, molassas, brown sugar, etc). The best way to bottle is to use a priming sugar calculator and weigh out the appropriate amount of the desired sugar.
Corn sugar dissolves faster in water than table sugar. If you are interested in saving a few seconds use corn sugar. What really makes a difference is a priming sugar calculator like NB’s.
A digital scale is more accurate in measuring the amount of priming sugar to use than volume measurements. The scale will do double duty in the kitchen so it isn’t strictly a brewing expense.
Don’t forget to write detailed notes for each one of your brews. Notes come in handy six months from now when you are ready to brew the same beer.
