My NB kit says to use 2/3 cup of corn sugar to prime 5 gallons of beer before bottling. In reading John Palmer’s book “How to Brew” he recommends 3/4 cup(or 4 oz.) of corn sugar. He states that 3 oz. produces 2.0 volumes of carbon dioxide and 4 oz. produces 2.5 volumes of co2. Does this mean you can choose which level of carbonization you want in your beer or would the higher level risk the chance of 'bottle bombs"? Palmer says to use his recommendations and ignore kit instructions. What have you experienced brewers done?
Yes you can very the level of carbonation by the amount of sugar you use.
You can get up to 3volumes in some bottles. Choose them carefully for weight of the bottle.
Your best bet it to use a scale. Available at most box stores. They can start in the mid $20’s. If you can afford it, find one that measures oz and grams. That may run you in the $50’s.
A priming calculator should also take into account the residual CO2 in the beer after fermentation. This is depended on the beer temp.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/ http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/Thanks. Since I prefer lower carbonation in my beer I’ll go with 3 oz of cane sugar. I do have a scale.
Thanks for this post. I’m set to bottle my first beer kit this weekend (Dry Irish Stout) and was planning to use the full 5 ounces that Northern Brewer provided. That could have been messy. I see now that the instructions ask you to measure it out.
I’m used to wine kits, where everything is pre-measured and you add all at once.
Jeff, fill one soda bottle with your beer. Squeeze the O2 out and screw the cap on. The bottle will expand as CO2 is formed. No wondering what is happening in the glass bottles.
Also, stir the beer after every 10-12 bottles filled. Helps keep the sugar mixed in.
And there is no need to use corn sugar. Table sugar is fine.
The world makes a little more sense now… I was looking at these calculators wondering why temperature mattered, and if it did, why colder needed less sugar.
[quote=“Nighthawk”]A priming calculator should also take into account the residual CO2 in the beer after fermentation. This is depended on the beer temp.[/quote]It’s dependent on the warmest temp during active fermentation, not the current temp of the beer at bottling time. So if you fermented at 64F, raised the temp to 68F to finish, dropped to 32F to cold-crash, and then had it sitting in a 50F basement a couple days before bottling, you would use 68F in the priming calculator.
A point I forgot to mention. Thanks for clarifying.
Shoot, I always used 5 oz for 5 gallons. I guess it is really important to think about your final gravity. I never rushed my beer so I was sure it was done fermenting. But once, I had a spiced Christmas RIS which stalled at 1.034 so I bottled it. A few weeks later, I had bottle bombs and volcano beers upon opening.
