how much dextrose should I use for bottling a one gallon batch?

My director gave me a four pound bag of dextrose to use for bottling my next batch, but he didn't give an exact amount of how much to use for a gallon of beer as he usually does five gallon batches. He said that I should not use more than a cup or else I risk bottles exploding in the pantry. My last batch I used three tablespoons of honey dissolved in 1/4 cup water according to the kit's directions, should I do the same with dextrose or is my logic faulty?

do you have a little kitchen scale? Because that's easiest and most accurate. One ounce of corn sugar per gallon is pretty standard.

No, but something tells me it's time to get one. Is there a gold standard for scales or are they all pretty much the same?

I have a fairly cheap scale that measures down to .10 of an ounce. It's handy for measuring hops as well as priming sugar, and I use it more than I thought I would.

I do 1/8 cup per gallon of beer. This will be conservatively carbed but that is the way I prefer it.

Thanks all. How much water would you recommend to dissolve it in? No more than half a cup?

I picked up a digital scale from harbor freight for under $15. Measures up to 10 lbs for grain and down to 1 gram or .05 oz. For hops. Last recipe I did needed .10 oz hops for each addition so it was extremely helpful (1 gallon batch).

For priming, just use one of the calculators online. Google search beer pruning calculator and it will tell you how much sugar to use based on the style you brewed.

STLExpat said:

Thanks all. How much water would you recommend to dissolve it in? No more than half a cup?

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I use about two cups for 5 gallons. It doesn't matter at all, but I'd use as little as possible since you only have a gallon of beer and don't want to water it down! You want to be able to fully dissolve the sugar.

Ok, just dissolved it, smells kinda like bell peppers. Is that normal?

STLExpat said:

Ok, just dissolved it, smells kinda like bell peppers. Is that normal?

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Ive never stuck my nose in it, but never noticed it smelling like anything as i was cooking it or dumping it into the bottling bucket. Maybe the pot had something in it?

No, put it in a freshly washed and sanitized measuring cup until it dissolved. I know sugar doesn't go bad as long as it stays in a sealed container (bag it came in was vacuum sealed and never opened), I decided to bite the bullet and see what happens

STLExpat said:

No, put it in a freshly washed and sanitized measuring cup until it dissolved. I know sugar doesn't go bad as long as it stays in a sealed container (bag it came in was vacuum sealed and never opened), I decided to bite the bullet and see what happens

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Ahh. I always boil my priming sugar for about 10-15 minutes. Doing that ive never smelled anything strange.