Does force carbing = lower ABV than using priming sugar?

KCBrewer · 03-19-2010, 02:22 AM

If you are adding sugar to create more fermentation in order to produce co2 for bottling, then aren't you also creating more alcohol? So if you force carb in a keg rather than prime, is it a lower ABV? Or is the priming sugar not a significant enough of an amount to make a difference?

KingBrianI · 03-19-2010, 02:25 AM

yes, yes, and yes

**JLem** · 03-19-2010, 02:43 AM

yes, technically any yeast fermentation of sugar will result in alcohol production, so bottle conditioned beers have additional alcohol. But practically, the amount added is probably less than 0.1%

EDIT: this got me thinking...if I use 4oz of sucrose to bottle 5 gallons of beer, this will add approximately 2 gravity points [sucrose = 46 points per pound per gallon]. Assuming the yeast completely ferment the added sugar, those 2 gravity points would result in an increase of approximately 0.25% alcohol. So you could assume your bottled beer has a quarter of a percent more alcohol than your force-carbed beer.

Dave11980 · 03-19-2010, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JLem

if I use 4oz of sucrose to bottle 5 gallons of beer, this will add approximately 2 gravity points [sucrose = 46 points per pound per gallon]. Assuming the yeast completely ferment the added sugar, those 2 gravity points would result in an increase of approximately 0.25% alcohol.

so the practical answer is not really.

NorCalAngler · 03-19-2010, 03:53 AM

I would say 0.25% is a decent amount, especially since most people don't contemplate it in their ABV.

**uechikid** · 03-19-2010, 06:15 AM

Insignificant.

**Gridlocked** · 03-19-2010, 12:47 PM

Not to hijack your thread, but along these lines, does force carbing result in a longer or shorter (or doesn't it make a difference) conditioning time?

**Hang Glider** · 03-19-2010, 01:15 PM

When I bottle, I expect 3 weeks for carbonation. When I keg, I expect 3 weeks for carbonation - now it doesn't really take that long - at one week, it's carbonated (set it and forget it). There are those that set the pressure high and shake hell out of it - and get there in 30 minutes...
but If I set it and forget it, the bubbles, the blending, the aging, it's all very good at the 3-week point.

So, as long as you have something else to drink....

**Yooper** · 03-19-2010, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gridlocked

Not to hijack your thread, but along these lines, does force carbing result in a longer or shorter (or doesn't it make a difference) conditioning time?

It doesn't change the time needed for conditioning. Green beer is green beer. With kegging, though, you could have carbonated green beer quickly.

I guess that in one respect, kegged beer could take even longer than bottle conditioned beer to be ready. Usually, I keg my beer and stick it in the kegerator. It takes a beer much longer to condition at cold temperatures, and beer ages faster at room temperature. So, in that respect, if you keg green beer and put it in the kegerator it can be green a long time.

**Deuce** · 03-19-2010, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YooperBrew

It doesn't change the time needed for conditioning. Green beer is green beer. With kegging, though, you could have carbonated green beer quickly.

I guess that in one respect, kegged beer could take even longer than bottle conditioned beer to be ready. Usually, I keg my beer and stick it in the kegerator. It takes a beer much longer to condition at cold temperatures, and beer ages faster at room temperature. So, in that respect, if you keg green beer and put it in the kegerator it can be green a long time.

This is why I have resorted to what Biermuncher has said he does before. I will keg my beer, hit it with enough CO2 to seal the keg, sit it in the closet until I am ready to carb up and serve. That way, the beer stays fresher with the CO2 onto, and it conditions faster at room temperatures.