At what point do I add priming sugar to my secondary fermenter and avoid potential oxygen exposure?!
Answers: I have read lots on when to rack to a secondary but I am planning on adding the priming sugar to the secondary just prior to bottling. If I do this will i risk oxygen exposure? Could I add CO2 when adding the priming sugar, wait till it dissolves and then bottle immediately?
First boil 3/4 cup of the priming sugar in 1 pint of water. Add this to your bottling bucket. Transfer your beer from the secondary into the bottling bucket. Problem solved.
Make sure you always dissolve and boil it. Priming sugar in its current state is non-fermentable and will not carbonate your beer. I don't mess with the CO2 tabs and I don't know anybody that does... That's cheating if you ask me.
You are worrying way to much. The big thing is keep everything clean.
Just add the sugar and bottle. If you manually inject CO2 you don't need to prime it at all.
If you transfer your brew from the secondary to a bottling bucket, you add the priming sugar to the empty, cleaned, bottling bucket. Then transfer from the secondary, and bottle.
Your choice, CO2 or priming sugar. The sugar is natural, too much CO2 is noticeably artificial.