Bottle Priming

Blues

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It seems that you should get at least 53 twelve ounce bottles from a 5 gallon batch. The most I've managed is 38 because of the bottom trub. Out of 4 batches I've had one bomb and two gushers. I think the priming solution calculated for a full five gallons was too rich. So it seems to me that I should either use about 70% of the recommended amount of sugar or brew 5-1/2 gallons in hopes of harvesting at least 5 gallons. Am I thinking logically? Your opinions appreciated.
 
When I bottle I put priming solution in each bottle with a syringe, so it wouldn't matter if there's less or more bottles than expected.
 
It seems that you should get at least 53 twelve ounce bottles from a 5 gallon batch. The most I've managed is 38 because of the bottom trub. Out of 4 batches I've had one bomb and two gushers. I think the priming solution calculated for a full five gallons was too rich. So it seems to me that I should either use about 70% of the recommended amount of sugar or brew 5-1/2 gallons in hopes of harvesting at least 5 gallons. Am I thinking logically? Your opinions appreciated.
Pure proportions: If you calculate priming sugar for five gallons but only have three, use three-fifths of the priming sugar.
 
Well I have used tea "sticks" gleaned from visits to coffee shops and cafes - both at work and while out shopping.
You can even splash out and buy 1000 for under £10 - so for a penny each you can prime a pint (or 500ml) with just about 2.5 g which should give about 2 volumes of CO2 per bottle. The added advantage is they are easy to empty into the bottle.

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When I bottle I put priming solution in each bottle with a syringe, so it wouldn't matter if there's less or more bottles than expected.
This works or transfer to a bottling bucket to be more precise on volume before mixing sugar.
Individual packets? Looks better than priming tabs!
 
Transfer to a bottling bucket and add a quantity of priming solution based on the volume in the bucket, not the fermenter.
 
What kind of beers are you brewing that have so much trub in the fermentor? If you are not already doing so, you may want to cold crash your beers before bottling to settle the trub more to increase your yield.
 
The problem i
It seems that you should get at least 53 twelve ounce bottles from a 5 gallon batch. The most I've managed is 38 because of the bottom trub. Out of 4 batches I've had one bomb and two gushers. I think the priming solution calculated for a full five gallons was too rich. So it seems to me that I should either use about 70% of the recommended amount of sugar or brew 5-1/2 gallons in hopes of harvesting at least 5 gallons. Am I thinking logically? Your opinions appreciated.

A 5 gallon batch means 5 gallons into the fermenter. Your process will dictate not only how much you get into the fermenter after losses, but also how much of that makes it to the bottles. If you haven't entered accurate information about your equipment and adjusted the losses after compiling the results of a few batches, you need to do that.

The amount of priming solution is dependent on the amount of beer in the bottling bucket and not the batch size. It also must be well mixed so each bottle has an equal amount.

Without any information about your brewing process, or anything other than your complaint, this is about all of the help you can expect. There are a bunch of great home brewers here, but I'm not sure any have crystal balls.
 
Yes it's logical to use less sugar. The most accurate way would be to measure how much beer you have not counting trub and then figure out how much sugar to use. When I was starting out and the kids came with the 5 oz baggie of priming sugar, I would just eyeball it and pour roughly 4 oz in to avoid over carbing, but that's not real scientific lol.
A lot of people do bigger batches to end with 5 gallons. You need to adjust your recipes to account for extra water, and have a big enough fermenter to hold it all.
 
Yes it's logical to use less sugar. The most accurate way would be to measure how much beer you have not counting trub and then figure out how much sugar to use. When I was starting out and the kids came with the 5 oz baggie of priming sugar, I would just eyeball it and pour roughly 4 oz in to avoid over carbing, but that's not real scientific lol.
A lot of people do bigger batches to end with 5 gallons. You need to adjust your recipes to account for extra water, and have a big enough fermenter to hold it all.

This is just my 4th batch of beer so I'm gaining knowledge and experience each time and the help I receive from this forum is a big help. I was going by the instructions in John Palmers book and mixing the sugar and water first, putting it into the bottling kettle, and then siphoning the beer from the carboy on top of the priming solution. This time I siphoned the beer first, used the priming calculator on this website to determine the amount of sugar for the priming solution determined by the volume of the beer and added that to the beer.
I was given a beer making kit by my grandkids for my birthday. I made my first beer out of curiosity but it was so good I tried another. I'm not sure how far I'll take this but it is beginning to feel like an addiction. I also enjoy designing the labels.
 

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... I'm not sure how far I'll take this but it is beginning to feel like an addiction

By the time you realized that.... it’s too late, you’re already addicted. ;)

Welcome aboard (with us fellow addicts). :D
 
I do the same as okoncentrerad. I make up too much solution and then transfer via syringe to each bottle. I do 10 litre batches and 500ml bottles so it's not that time consuming. I could imagine it being painful with 11oz bottles and 5 gallons.
 
I do the same as okoncentrerad. I make up too much solution and then transfer via syringe to each bottle. I do 10 litre batches and 500ml bottles so it's not that time consuming. I could imagine it being painful with 11oz bottles and 5 gallons.
Definitely more hassle than I would be willing to go through!
Thankfully, I am not too picky about carbonation, as long as it is at the lower end...
So, for ~25l of brew, a 1/2 liter of pre-frozen gyle or equivalent (not much!) of sugar added to the bottling bucket does it for me. :D
 
I pretty consistently end up with a 1/2 gallon of trub per batch. If you are getting a 1/2 gallon of trub, and you have 5 gallons in your fermenter, your batch will be 4.5 gallons, so maybe calculate your priming sugar based on that. When I was bottling, a often forgot to stir after siphoning the beer into the priming solution. So glad I moved to kegging, sooooo much easier .and noooooo priming:D
 

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