Priming Sugar - When to Adjust?

Northern Brewer General
1

Hey, all

I’m brewing a stout for the first time this weekend (NB’s Big Honkin’ Stout) and I have a question on priming sugars that I thought I’d ask well in advance of bottling day. My last batch of ale turned out awful, partially, I think, due to the fact that I didn’t use enough of the stuff. My question is twofold:

  1. What’s a good rule to live by as far as how much carbonation should go into what kind of brew (generally speaking)?

  2. How do you determine how much sugar makes the amount of CO2 desired in question #1?

I’d like to get better at bottling before I go the keg route, so it’d be good to know some general rules for priming and bottle-conditioning. Thoughts?

Thanks!

2

Try this link. it should give you what you need.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

I will tell you this, that most of the time, I use 4.5 oz of corn sugar, and I get a very nice carbonation out of it.

3

^^^^Nice Link! Now I have to figure out how to use it.

4

[quote=“paultuttle”]Try this link. it should give you what you need.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

[/quote]

Beautiful! Definitely going in the bookmarks. Thanks!

5

And, welcome to the group. A great source of knowledge here

6

+1

7

I like .85 oz/gallon beer (I’ve been using cane sugar, which has slightly higher carbonating potential than corn) for most beers. For a stout I’d probably drop down to .75. For corn sugar, that would probably .9 oz and .8 for the same effect. For me, volumes are a useless complication, since I’m not brewing for a contest, and personal taste is the real standard anyway. An oz per gallon makes fizzy beer, adjust down from there to taste.