Glossary
Priming
Adding a measured quantity of fermentable sugar at packaging so that residual yeast produces carbonation inside the container.
Also called priming sugar, primings.
The full record
Priming has its own catalogue entry with the detail this page summarises — causes, thresholds, related styles and evidence.
Priming — Add a measured quantity of fermentable sugar at packaging so residual yeast generates the intended carbonation in the container.
The amount is calculated from the target carbonation and the CO₂ already dissolved in the beer, which depends on the temperature it has been held at. Getting it wrong in one direction gives flat beer and in the other gives gushers or, with a large enough error, failed bottles.
Related
- Bottle conditioning — What priming enables.
- Krausening — The alternative using fermenting beer instead of sugar.
- Bottle bomb — The consequence of over-priming.
More vocabulary
Arrested fermentation · Barrel ageing · Batch sparging · Biotransformation · Blending · Bottle conditioning · Bottom fermentation · Burtonisation · Cask conditioning · Centrifugation
See every term on the glossary index.
Last reviewed 2026-08-16.