There are several ways to go about this, here are two that produce good results, and will work well if you bear in mind a couple of things.
(1) Everything that touches the beer must be sanitized.
(2) Any oxygen that gets
into the beer at this stage could cause the beer to oxidize and spoil so filling
should be done as smoothly as possible.
Priming sugars are usually
added to the beer when bottling, these ferment in the bottle giving off co2 gas
causing the beer it to carbonate. To reduce the risk of introducing bacteria to
your beer from the sugar, add 150 ml of boiling water to a pyrex jug, mix in your priming sugar and
bring back to the boil in the microwave (or on the stove in a pan is fine).
Cover with foil to prevent airborne contamination and allow to cool.
Method 1: Bottle
straight from the primary fermenter bucket. Add the cooled sugars to the
fermenter by gently pouring them in without splashing. Briefly stir them in with a sanitized
mixing paddle while trying to avoid disturbing the sediment too much. As the sugars tend to sink there's no need to stir right to the
bottom and disturb the sediment.
Method 2: Use a separate
bottling bucket. Add the priming sugars to the sanitized bucket (you
can add them to the empty fermenter while they are hot, then snap on the lid, they will
now cool quicker). Rack (siphon/transfer)
the beer to the bottling bucket submerging the outlet of the siphon/transfer
tube below the level of the beer as the bucket fills. The beer will mix with the
sugar solution without any further assistance.
Which ever method you choose a bottling stick
will make the whole operation a lot easier. This is attached to the tap or
siphon tube and will only allow the flow of beer when a bottle is pushed against
the needle valve on the end .
(Tip
: fill the bottling stick with a little pre-boiled water before attaching to
prevent the air in it from bubbling up through the beer when you turn in the
tap).
left.
Bottling Stick, adapted to the fermenter tap with some 1/2" and 3/8"
hose
right. Push the bottling stick against the bottom of the bottle to fill.
If a bottling stick isn't available siphon tubing can be used as long as it's pushed to the bottom of the bottle and the outlet submerged as soon as possible. Tubing clamps are available to stop the flow of beer when switching to the next bottle without making a mess, bottling sticks are by far the better option though.
siphon
clamp closed, shutting off
flow
siphon clamp open allowing the beer to fill the bottle
You can prime with any
amount of sugar you like within reason although too much sugar will cause the
bottle to over pressurize, at best this could result in beer that is difficult to open or pour without excessive foaming, at worst it could lead to
exploding glass bottles. The equivalent of 1/2 a tsp per pint produces good but
not excessive carbonation. 1 tsp may be preferable for lagers if you prefer them
very fizzy.
Links to other parts of this site.
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