Priming Sugar Amounts

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Thumper

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
274
Reaction score
1
Location
Kansas
I have a question about priming sugar amounts. I have a Midwest Irish Red Ale that I will be bottling. This is a extract kit from Midwest. It came with 5 ounces of corn sugar for priming. The instructions say to us all of the 5 ounces. This morning I put the recipe into Beersmith. Beersmith calls for 3.78 ounces. What would some of you experienced brewers do? This is only my second batch so this conflicting info. is a little confusing. I am thinking of using the Beersmith amount. My thinking is that all kits come with 5 ounces automatically.

Thanks,
Stan
 
I have a question about priming sugar amounts. I have a Midwest Irish Red Ale that I will be bottling. This is a extract kit from Midwest. It came with 5 ounces of corn sugar for priming. The instructions say to us all of the 5 ounces. This morning I put the recipe into Beersmith. Beersmith calls for 3.78 ounces. What would some of you experienced brewers do? This is only my second batch so this conflicting info. is a little confusing. I am thinking of using the Beersmith amount. My thinking is that all kits come with 5 ounces automatically.

Thanks,
Stan

It's common to use 1 ounce per gallon for "regular" carbonation. The Beersmith calculator can be more accurate, as you put the temperature of the beer into the formula and then the volumes of co2 you want to arrive at the priming sugar amount. If the temperature of the beer is incorrect, though, the calculator won't give you the right amount of sugar. I usually use 4 ounces for an almost 5 gallon batch (I always have a little bit less due to racking losses) with my 62 degree beer and that's good for me.

You can continue to use the 5 ounces if you're happy with the carb amount of your first batch. If you were making a British mild, though, you'd probably want to carb more "to style" and use less sugar, since those beers are not very carbonated.
 
Thanks Yooper! I had not considered the temperature yet. I just downloaded Beersmith for the free trial and was checking it out. That makes more sense. I am a couple weeks away from bottling anyway ( if I can hold out). I tasted the first hydro reading @ ten days and it sure was good. I want to do 4 weeks in the primary.

Cheers,
Stan
 
Back
Top