Priming sugar for first batch (noob question)

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Pyg

Pyg

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I made an extract American Pale Ale
Receipe was as follows:

1# Crystal 20L, 8 oz Biscuit Malt
3.3# Light LME, 3# Light DME
¾ oz Chinook pellets (9.8 AAU) full hour
3/4 oz Centennial pellets (7.5 AAU) last 25 min of boil.
1 oz Centennial pellets (10 AAU) last 15 min of boil.
1 oz Cascade pellets

https://beerbrew.com/downloads/Recipes/HopheadPaleAle.pdf

The instructions call for5 oz of priming sugar. I checked http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

my brew will be stored at 63 to 61 degrees in the basement. exactly the same temp as it is currently fermenting.

a few questions
why does the temp change the amount of priming sugar?
Why does the directions tell me 5 oz & the calculator tell me 3.96 OZ?
Will I get bottle bombs if I follow the directions and use 5 oz?

Since this is my first time I am trying to follow the directions to get a good sense of the process. The only change I am making is adding the priming sugar after I have racked. I will be racking to a carboy this weekend once I have hit the target FG, but will be unable to bottle until the week after. I figure adding priming sugar is easier than racking yet again!
 
Pyg said:
I made an extract American Pale Ale
Receipe was as follows:

1# Crystal 20L, 8 oz Biscuit Malt
3.3# Light LME, 3# Light DME
¾ oz Chinook pellets (9.8 AAU) full hour
3/4 oz Centennial pellets (7.5 AAU) last 25 min of boil.
1 oz Centennial pellets (10 AAU) last 15 min of boil.
1 oz Cascade pellets

https://beerbrew.com/downloads/Recipes/HopheadPaleAle.pdf

The instructions call for5 oz of priming sugar. I checked http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

my brew will be stored at 63 to 61 degrees in the basement. exactly the same temp as it is currently fermenting.

a few questions
why does the temp change the amount of priming sugar?
Why does the directions tell me 5 oz & the calculator tell me 3.96 OZ?
Will I get bottle bombs if I follow the directions and use 5 oz?

Since this is my first time I am trying to follow the directions to get a good sense of the process. The only change I am making is adding the priming sugar after I have racked. I will be racking to a carboy this weekend once I have hit the target FG, but will be unable to bottle until the week after. I figure adding priming sugar is easier than racking yet again!
Click to expand...

I would go with the priming calculator. It takes into consideration the amount of CO2 vol's that are better for the style you are brewing, and the temperature of your wort at bottling. 5 oz. of sugar in a kit is standard, probably because it's easier to package an amount that will cover all styles in a 5 gal. batch (1 oz. per gal. being the rule of thumb). Chances are if using the full 5 oz., you won't get bottle bombs, but your beer may be a little too carbed for the style.

Not sure what you mean by not adding priming sugar until "after you have racked". Do you mean racked to a secondary ferm vessel, or to your bottling vessel? Add priming to sugar ONLY to bottling vessel and bottle immediately, even if it means racking back to your bottling vessel after secondary. At the moment you add priming sugar, the yeast in the wort will being working on it, thereby creating more CO2, some of which you may lose if you wait to bottle later. The priming sugar is meant to work IN the bottle (called "bottle conditioning"), where the CO2 is driven back down into the beer and is what gives you the balanced carbonation you are looking for and helps clear the beer. If you prime too long before bottling, a lot of that carbonation could either be lost or make your bottling process a foamy mess --- or both.
 
This is a 5 gal batch? I think 5 oz might be a little steep, you probably won't get bottle bombs though, maybe just slightly more carb'd then you might expect.

Don't rack to secondary and add priming sugar then walk away. The priming sugar is supposed to be consumed in the bottle to carbonate your beverage.

If you add sugar to secondary, you may start up a small fermentation again, but you won't get carbonation like you would in the bottle.

I wouldn't move to secondary at all to be honest.
 
Psylocide said:
This is a 5 gal batch? I think 5 oz might be a little steep, you probably won't get bottle bombs though, maybe just slightly more carb'd then you might expect.

Don't rack to secondary and add priming sugar then walk away. The priming sugar is supposed to be consumed in the bottle to carbonate your beverage.

If you add sugar to secondary, you may start up a small fermentation again, but you won't get carbonation like you would in the bottle.

I wouldn't move to secondary at all to be honest.
Click to expand...

my initial plan was to rack out of the fermenting bucket and off the dead yeast this weekend as advised by my LHBS. this would be 19 days in primary. I had intention of bottling (if I had hit my FG), but if not I would stay in secondary.

I am well aware that priming sugar is added as one of the last steps before bottling. But if I rack once and let it sit in the carboy for a week or 2, why rack again before adding priming sugar, why not just add it to the already filled carboy.

Like I mentioned in my OP, this is my first batch and I am trying to follow directions which indicate to bottle after 2 weeks. However more and more people have advised me to just leave it in the primary for 3 weeks. While my LHBS told me to get it off the dead yeast to avoid off flavors. I am torn and conflicted as to follow directions or let it sit in primary for another week, but I am guessing I could go either way.

So I should cut back on the priming sugar by an OZ?
 
This is from another thread also on the same subject as your post. Do note that although i say in the post below that cane sugar and corn sugar are equals, there is actually almost a 10% difference, which really isn't that big of a deal, but I did want to mention it.

estricklin said:
I used to beat my head into the wall trying to get my bottled conditioned beers oh so perfect. Here are a few things that helped me.

Cane sugar or corn sugar, it doesn't matter because they are pretty much the same thing, just DON'T ever use DME. You can also treat cane sugar and corn sugar as equals when you weigh them.

I've stored beer in primary for close to a year before, and never added yeast at bottling time. It may take a little longer, but it WILL carbonate.

It is important that you gauge the volume of beer your bottling quite accurately though, if your actually bottling 5.5 gallons of beer and you use 4 oz of priming sugar, then you've only got enough priming sugar to sufficiently carbonate about 4 gallons at 2.6 volumes of C02!!! I try to be accurate to the 1/10th of a gallon when I enter the number into the carbonation calculator that I use, (beersmith). So I look at the lines on the bottling bucket and come up with an educated guess such as 4.8 or "hmmm just a hair under 4.5 gonna call it 4.4". Probably only need to be accurate to the 1/4 gallon but I'm kind of anal about it because of the bazillion batches that were about 3/4 carbed as much as I wanted them to be.

I also STIR my priming solution pretty well into the bottling bucket. You probably don't need to but why take chances?

As mentioned above, the temperature in the calculator is supposed to be the highest temperature your beer has reached. I pretty much just leave mine at 72F because all my beers come to room temp at some point in their life on the way to kegging/bottling.

Be sure and store them in a warm place, room temp or maybe even somewhere close to 80F. Once they are carbed, try to keep them as cool as possible. Temperature is a MAJOR factor in how long a beer will, or won't last.

My beers usually take about 1-2 weeks to carb up all the way, although there's always that stubborn one that takes 1-2 months, those are usually the ones that aged for a long time in primary.

I bought a kegging system for convenience, but I still love bottling and bottle conditioning. I often bottle 1-2 gallons of a batch just because I love having them around to send to competition or to give to friends. Many beginners throw some money at the bottle conditioning problem, and buy a kegging system because they were unable to master the art of bottle conditioning. Stick with it and go over your process some more; you'll be toasting to yourself with a tall glass of your own perfectly bottle conditioned beer soon enough!

This is a Bud Lite clone that I bottled a little less than 2 weeks ago, cheers!



Let us know how your next batch goes!
Click to expand...

Oh and here is the link if you would like to read through the entire thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/seeking-helpful-tips-bottle-conditioning-494984/

Oh and also, about the racking off the dead yeast thing; I understand that your wanting to follow instructions on your first batch, but you'll find very few of us experienced brewers ever rack to secondary, but this is really another subject for another day. You should be able to add your priming sugar directly to the secondary and then transfer to the bottling bucket, or bottle from the secondary if you wish.
 
That yeast autolysis boogie man is an old school thing from back when yeast quality wasn't what it is now. The yeast don't die, they just go dormant when all the sugars & by-products of fermentation have been consumed. That's why the yeast is able to be washed & re-used today.
So you don't need to get it out of primary if you don't want to or have time. But if you sanitize carefully & use a racking tube from primary to the bottom of secondary, you could airlock it till you can bottle it. Just add the priming solution to the bottling bucket, then rack from secondary onto the priming solution with a racking tube/auto siphon. Then bottle away.
 
Pyg said:
I am well aware that priming sugar is added as one of the last steps before bottling. But if I rack once and let it sit in the carboy for a week or 2, why rack again before adding priming sugar, why not just add it to the already filled carboy.


So I should cut back on the priming sugar by an OZ?
Click to expand...

If you let it sit in the carboy for a week or two, the beer will clear a bit more and there will be quite a bit of sediment on the bottom. That's a good thing, as that is the point of racking it to a carboy, although gravity works in the original vessel too so it doesn't really need to be racked. It can, or it can stay in the original fermenter- whichever is most convenient for you.

However, the beer should still be racked to a bottling bucket or another vessel to bottle. That's because stirring in the priming sugar thoroughly would mean restirring up all of that sediment in the bottom of the carboy- and resuspend it all in the beer. That negates any advantage of letting it sit and clear. Also, you risk oxidation by stirring the beer that thoroughly.

I'd leave the beer in the fermenter until it's clear, or clearing, and then rack to a bottling bucket with the priming solution dissolved into the bottom and then proceed to bottle only clear beer.

As far as priming sugar goes, I HATE those calculators! I say it all the time, so I won't go into all of the reasons right now, but if you use 4-5 ounces of corn sugar for every single batch, you are never wrong. You will never have bottle bombs, or undercarbed beer. I use 4 ounces for slightly less carbonation, say, for an English style beer, and 5 ounces for a more spritzy beer, like a pilsner. Using .75-1 ounce of corn sugar (by weight) per finished gallon of beer will give you carbonation like commercial bottled beers.
 
Thanks for all the info.
I guess I will change my calender and wait 1 week to bottle (this would be 25 days in primary).
I will take Yooper's advice and use between 4-5 oz of priming sugar.

I am also going to bottle out of a carboy, using a vacuum pump (vacuum portion disabled to stop the loss of CO2) and will add the prime sugar to the carboy before bottling.
 
Pyg said:
Thanks for all the info.
I guess I will change my calender and wait 1 week to bottle (this would be 25 days in primary).
I will take Yooper's advice and use between 4-5 oz of priming sugar.
Click to expand...

I have to say you are showing GREAT patience for a first time brewer!! Good luck! hope it turns out good!
 
bragona71 said:
I have to say you are showing GREAT patience for a first time brewer!! Good luck! hope it turns out good!
Click to expand...

I have 10 years of wine making under my belt.
I am used to having carboys filled with wine that I will not drink until next year.
My impatience is derived from wanting to know what my first batch of beer will taste like? How decent a beer it is/how decent a brew I can make? etc....
 
Pyg said:
I have 10 years of wine making under my belt.
I am used to having carboys filled with wine that I will not drink until next year.
My impatience is derived from wanting to know what my first batch of beer will taste like? How decent a beer it is/how decent a brew I can make? etc....
Click to expand...

My first batch came out horrible but I tricked myself into saying "this is not that bad"..lol since then I have done LOTS of reading on HBT and have gone to all grain, now I make beer I can share with pride .Good luck if your like a lot of us here you will get addicted
 
Pyg said:
Thanks for all the info.
I guess I will change my calender and wait 1 week to bottle (this would be 25 days in primary).
I will take Yooper's advice and use between 4-5 oz of priming sugar.

I am also going to bottle out of a carboy, using a vacuum pump (vacuum portion disabled to stop the loss of CO2) and will add the prime sugar to the carboy before bottling.
Click to expand...
You didn't make it clear, but I assume you are racking out of the primary first, right? Into a carboy - mixing in the sugar solution - using a siphon arrangement of some sort. OK, but eventually you will want a bottling bucket. Much simpler! Easier to mix in the sugar solution, easier to manage the flow of beer into bottle, etc.

And a question for estrickland: You said to never use DME - I use DME rather frequently, with no apparent downside (other than the fact that yes it is more expensive than table sugar, and you need more of it).
 
frazier said:
You didn't make it clear, but I assume you are racking out of the primary first, right? yes Into a carboy - mixing in the sugar solution - using a siphon arrangement of some sort. yes OK, but eventually you will want a bottling bucket. Much simpler! Easier to mix in the sugar solution, easier to manage the flow of beer into bottle, etc.

.
Click to expand...

Full disclosure, I have yet to bottle beer. However I have bottled wine by both bottling bucket, carboy-auto siphon & Vacuum Pump.

Vacuum pump rendered a bottling bucket pointless, so it has been sitting in my basement unused for a few years.
The pump has a throttle that control the pump and has a bottling attachment that fits into a bottle opening. you simpling let up on the throttle and liquid is pulled from the source (bucket/carboy) and into a bottle.
I may be over thinking it, but right now I am using the equipment that I have to get through my 1st batch.
if this batch turns out to be drinkable & it is a drinkable quality that justifies my time and effort over just buying beer, I will revisit and compare methods of bottling.
 
Pyg said:
I... will add the prime sugar to the carboy before bottling.
Click to expand...

Before adding your priming sugar/water mix to your carboy, give the beer a VERY GENTLE stir (with something like your racking cane) without stirring up the bottom, then slowly add ps/w. If you stir something up, it won't hurt to wait an hour to let it settle out. Even if you rack carefully, you sometimes end up with a little trub in the bottom of your bottles. No problem, just pour down to the last 1/2 inch or so and you'll leave 95% of it behind.

Eventually, a bucket with a spigot would make things easier for priming and bottling. When you add your mix to a bottling bucket and then carefully rack your beer on top of it, it not only self-mixes, it's an opportunity to leave more trub behind.

Also, good call on waiting 3 weeks; no reason you shouldn't have great beer. :)

EDIT: I POSTED THIS PRIOR TO READING THE ABOVE
 
If you stay with the hobby a keg system is the way to go. Bottling can be a pain in the butt. Rack to keg, condition as long as you want, connect co2 wait a couple days and drink
 
That's surprising advice on the amount of priming. Take it with a grain of sugar. Go ahead and calculate how much you should use. Then compare that to Yooper's rule of thumb for a check. If you calculate something significantly different, then you need to be able to explain why before you use it.
I suggest the Brewer's Friend calculator, since most calculators have a small (cough) error when using corn sugar.
 
Singletrack said:
That's surprising advice on the amount of priming. Take it with a grain of sugar. Go ahead and calculate how much you should use. Then compare that to Yooper's rule of thumb for a check. If you calculate something significantly different, then you need to be able to explain why before you use it.
I suggest the Brewer's Friend calculator, since most calculators have a small (cough) error when using corn sugar.
Click to expand...

Yooper's rule of thumb isn't going to come out any different than any calculator, or at least it shouldn't. 1.0 oz of corn sugar per gallon is going to get you about 2.7 volumes and .75 is about 2.25 or so. I think (and I hope I'm not putting words in her mouth here) the point that Yoopers often makes is that priming calculators can mislead people because they try to carbonate to style, and are often disappointed in the results. For example, a lambic at 1.5 volumes is going to taste almost flat. Any beer in the range that Yoopers gave is going to come out more like commercial beer is carbonated, and that's what most people (especially those who are newer to the hobby) expect and enjoy.
 
estricklin said:
Yooper's rule of thumb isn't going to come out any different than any calculator, or at least it shouldn't. 1.0 oz of corn sugar per gallon is going to get you about 2.7 volumes and .75 is about 2.25 or so. I think (and I hope I'm not putting words in her mouth here) the point that Yoopers often makes is that priming calculators can mislead people because they try to carbonate to style, and are often disappointed in the results. For example, a lambic at 1.5 volumes is going to taste almost flat. Any beer in the range that Yoopers gave is going to come out more like commercial beer is carbonated, and that's what most people (especially those who are newer to the hobby) expect and enjoy.
Click to expand...

Yooper's rule of thumb doesn't always work. Let's say my 5 gal (nominal) batch is actually 5.5 gallons. The beer is a Saison that will ferment up to 85 F. I am fermenting it at 7000 ft elevation, and I want 3.25 volumes. I would need 9 oz of corn sugar. By the way, this is not a theoretical example, it is from one of my beers, and the carbonation was perfect. Yooper's rule would give me a flat Saison.

As another example, I was going to give a 4.5 gal cold-fermented lager at sea level for the other extreme, but I doubt you need the numbers to get the point.

Do not be afraid to question the dubious statements of even the most highly respected beer gods (or goddesses). We can and should do better than a mindless rule of thumb, and we should provide advice that is not dumbed down to the slowest common denominator. Use the calculator, but make sure the results are reasonable, and understand why they may differ from typical priming rates.
 
Singletrack said:
Yooper's rule of thumb doesn't always work. Let's say my 5 gal (nominal) batch is actually 5.5 gallons. The beer is a Saison that will ferment up to 85 F. I am fermenting it at 7000 ft elevation, and I want 3.25 volumes. I would need 9 oz of corn sugar. By the way, this is not a theoretical example, it is from one of my beers, and the carbonation was perfect. Yooper's rule would give me a flat Saison.

As another example, I was going to give a 4.5 gal cold-fermented lager at sea level for the other extreme, but I doubt you need the numbers to get the point.

Do not be afraid to question the dubious statements of even the most highly respected beer gods (or goddesses). We can and should do better than a mindless rule of thumb, and we should provide advice that is not dumbed down to the slowest common denominator. Use the calculator, but make sure the results are reasonable, and understand why they may differ from typical priming rates.
Click to expand...

I ended up bottling 50 bottles in 12 oz bottles. This would be 600 oz or 4.6875 gallons. Being my first batch I used 5oz of priming sugar.

The most that I can find out is that I am currently at an elevation of 318ft.

if anything it will be a learning experience.
 
Most of the calculators ignore elevation. They seem to assume that the user lives near sea level. Elevation and temperature affect the residual carbonation from fermentation. At 7000 ft, I like to make an adjustment for that. If you are under 1000 ft, then it isn't important to do that.
 
Pyg said:
I ended up bottling 50 bottles in 12 oz bottles. This would be 600 oz or 4.6875 gallons. Being my first batch I used 5oz of priming sugar.

The most that I can find out is that I am currently at an elevation of 318ft.

if anything it will be a learning experience.
Click to expand...

Even at 7 or 8 thousand feet the difference in residual c02 would be a 1/4 volume or less, your bottles should carbonate fine don't worry.
 
Can't figure out why my first kit gave me 3/4 cup 5 oz priming sugar for an IPA
My next kit gave me 3/4 cup 4 oz priming sugar.

is 3/4 cup 4 oz or 5?
 
Pyg said:
is 3/4 cup 4 oz or 5?
Click to expand...

Yes. :cross:

That's why most brewers will do it by weight- sugar granules vary in size and as you can see "a cup" isn't the same all the time. however, 4 ounces is 4 ounces whether it's 3/4 cup or 2/3 cup. Weight and volume measurements just don't convert the same.
 
Yooper said:
Yes. :cross:



That's why most brewers will do it by weight- sugar granules vary in size and as you can see "a cup" isn't the same all the time. however, 4 ounces is 4 ounces whether it's 3/4 cup or 2/3 cup. Weight and volume measurements just don't convert the same.
Click to expand...


Using the prime sugar calculator the cream ale required 4.49 oz. Therefore the LHBS gave me 1/2 oz less than I need.
 

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