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adding priming sugar
This is a little off the how much priming sugar to use. I have been searching out recipes to come up with my next brew (IPA), and have seen several recipes calling for using brown sugar as a primer before bottling. Has anyone done this before, and will it affect the taste of the beer? Or does the yeast convert it all to CO2 with no effects to the beer? I don't have a problem buying corn sugar to prime as everyone recommends.
cubx, I think that Marv was refering to boiling the priming sugar before mixing with your beer at bottling time. This is a good idea as the sugar mixes with the beer better to get a more even distribution. Adding straight sugar to the beer may lead to areas of higher concentration of sugar than other areas, so some bottles would be flat and some over carbonated.
djgbrewing, I have used brown sugar for bottling in the past, and I can't honestly say I noticed in when drinking the beer. There can be a few differences between using a corn sugar and using table sugar (and brown sugar is basically table sugar mixed with molasses) in that I want to say that table sugar is not quite as fermentable than corn sugar. This could lead to a bit of flavor contribution, but in my experience, since you are adding so little, I couldn't tell. Maybe my palate isn't up to par with others, though. Anymore, I stick to corn sugar for lighter beers such as pale ales and IPA's and usually use dry malt extract when doing or porter or stout.
that one girl, I would tend to agree with the others that you are probably ok to add the full amount of priming sugar. Your beer will probably be a bit more carbonated, but if you like that or don't care, you will be ok.
Thanks for the input Norcalnewb, I think I will stay with the corn sugar. Good tip on going to malt extract when doing a porter or stout.
Are you sure they are not talking about dark DME?
I will be doing the BKB stout agin next weekend, (I like it) I was told I will get a better flavor and
just a wee bit more thickness if I use dark DME for priming.
He is a ribbon winner an I trust his know how,(been brewing for years, ribon winner)
I've had a couple of his winners.
Anyway, he called it brown sugar, so I asked, and he was talking about dark DME.
I guess the magic number for a five gal. batch is one and a quarter cup.
Just wanted to add my 2 cents.
Just a quick note for you, go ahead and use the 3/4 cup primer. you will be fine. follow your directions about bottling. leave about 1" head space. On you next batch, keep your blow off hose raised up, enough so it can't pick up any liquid, just the foam. congrats on your first batch, and come back here often. There is a wealth of knowledge here, and everyone great about sharing what they know. I must warn you though "cubx" gets cranky about fermintation questions. Especially if you say anything about bubbles. LMAO..
LMAO! about the bubbles. but really.
Cubx still has forgotten more about brewing then we may ever know.
He is good at it and knows what he's talking about.
That being said.
Yeah just remember to keep your blow off tub out of the wort.
Go ahead and go with 3/4 cup though you'll have some left over, save and mix in with the next batch, I hate to waste.
Again if your using the boxed recipe kits pick up a coupe airlocks,, their $.99 each at the LBS.
Those should be fine till you move on to the more advanced stuff.
I should have used a blow off for the BKB stout, but I think I know what went wrong and will be using an airlock on it again.
The reason I'm repeating it is, you can't push an airlock into the stopper far enough to get it into the wort .lol 
BTW: with my first batch I added the sugar straight, after the bottling was done I noticed
a lot of the sugar in the bottom of the bucket, I may not have mixed it enough.
I screwed up on the second batch and forgot to boil the sugar, so added it straight, same results.
Both batches carbonated fine.
Took a little longer, I'm getting better results with boiling the sugars first.
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