How much corn sugar for one bottle?

I have a brew I intend to keg, but would also like to bottle condition a few to send out for the holidays. I'm familiar with Biermucher's keg-to-bottle method, but have not had great success with it (always get tons of foam regardless of how low psi is, and can't fill all the way). I'm wondering how much corn sugar would be needed per single bottle? I think I read somewhere that 1/8 tsp is a good goal, but wanted to know what HBT'ers though.

I'd get some carb tabs, either cooper's or the other ones (who's name escapes me) and keep them on hand, that way you don't have to mess with measuring out such a tiny amount of sugar...

And you could store the package in a jar or something and have this on hand whenver you wanna carb up a few bottles...the other brind (I think primetabs) imho give you more control then the larger cooper's variety...you can actually be able to carb to style more easily.

That's a good idea to keep on hand. But for now I have a bunch of corn sugar on hand, and bottle so infrequently, it seems a shame not to use it.

jacksonbrown said:

That's a good idea to keep on hand. But for now I have a bunch of corn sugar on hand, and bottle so infrequently, it seems a shame not to use it.

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Well, be that way (makes sense to me....)

This comes from ray Daniels, so I trust it...(sorry I can't spread it out better)

Amount of Priming Sugar Required
Volume of Beer Cups Tablespoons + Teaspoons
5 gallons 0.75 12 + 0
4 gallons 0.60 9 + 2
3 gallons 0.45 7 + 1
2.5 gallons 0.375 6 + 0
2 gallons 0.300 4 + 2.5
1 gallon 0.150 2 + 1.25
½ gallon 0.075 1 + 0.5
22 oz 0.025 0 + 1.25
16 oz 0.0188 0 + 0.90
12 oz 0.0140 0 + 0.67

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it came from the bottom of this article though. http://www.allaboutbeer.com/homebrew/bottle2.html

Now if you have a gram scale I would probably find out the gram equivalents and measure by dry weight.

Ow... makes brain hurt. LOL. I reconsidered the carb tabs and think I'll just pick up a bag. That way I can use those for 1-2 bottles, and the corn sugar for 5 gal batches. Not like it goes bad.

jacksonbrown said:

Ow... makes brain hurt. LOL. I reconsidered the carb tabs and think I'll just pick up a bag. That way I can use those for 1-2 bottles, and the corn sugar for 5 gal batches. Not like it goes bad.

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That's really the only safe way. When you start messing with that small of an amount of anything...a 1 gram difference is a big % of the total and greatly increases the chances of your getting some splod'en bottles.

Good Choice.

Good thought...I mean they used to just add sugar to each bottle back in the day...but they used to also complain about homebrew and bottle bombs as well....

I figured there had to be a correlation...

+1 on the carb drops.

Also, on a side note, you stated that you always get a lot of foam using BierMunchers bottling method. Have you tried chilling the bottles in the freezer prior to filling? I used to get a lot of foam as well until someone suggested this and I haven't had a problem since. Works like a charm.

Table sugar will work too - one thing I can say for the Mr. Beer batches I did is that they all carbed up nicely. Their recommendations:

12 oz bottle - 3/4 teaspoon
16 oz bottle - 1 teaspoon
22 oz bottle - 1.5 teaspoons

I don't think dry corn sugar would measure out the same but I've used these ratios with table sugar to good success. It's such a small amount that it won't affect the taste of the beer.

ifishsum said:

Table sugar will work too - one thing I can say for the Mr. Beer batches I did is that they all carbed up nicely. Their recommendations:

12 oz bottle - 3/4 teaspoon
16 oz bottle - 1 teaspoon
22 oz bottle - 1.5 teaspoons

I don't think dry corn sugar would measure out the same but I've used these ratios with table sugar to good success. It's such a small amount that it won't affect the taste of the beer.

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Yep. I believe that, when you're talking equal volumes, corn sugar typically has marginally fewer fermentables than cane sugar. However, in these quantities I believe the difference is negligible. (BTW, when using table sugar, be sure to use 100% cane).
As an aside, while I always had good results priming with cane sugar, when I used some "corn sugar" I bought at the LHBS, I had poor and inconsistent carbonation, even when I upped it to a full teaspoon per bottle. Also, the beers would tend to have a sweet, under-attenuated flavor. Not sure if there are different grades or what; I figured corn sugar was corn sugar. Maybe theirs was intended as more of an adjunct. When I tried some of their "priming sugar" the results were much better.

Chris

ifishsum said:

Table sugar will work too - one thing I can say for the Mr. Beer batches I did is that they all carbed up nicely. Their recommendations:

12 oz bottle - 3/4 teaspoon
16 oz bottle - 1 teaspoon
22 oz bottle - 1.5 teaspoons

I don't think dry corn sugar would measure out the same but I've used these ratios with table sugar to good success. It's such a small amount that it won't affect the taste of the beer.

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For the record, the ratios from Mr. Beer are based on CANE sugar and in my experience have overcarb'd my beer. I have used this exact ratio before. With cane sugar, it overcarb'd. No gushers or bombs but I did get 5 inches, yes 5 or 6 inches of foam and a horrible cidery taste.

But these ratios when using corn sugar are perfect for most styles. And for what Mr. Beer charges for a tiny can of hopped extract and a bag of maltodextrin you think they could throw in a 1 cup bag of dextrose to prime instead of telling people to go and use table sugar.

Dry sugar is a problem from the contamination point of view - it's also a bit harder to measure out accurately. Boil it up with water before use.

You can get a precise weight of sugar per bottle if you enter 0.09375 gallons (12 oz) and the desired volumes of CO2 and temperature into this calculator.

The Beer Recipator - Carbonation

If you have a fussy scale for hops, you can measure out directly - otherwise you can mix up a larger weight and boil it, then use a proportional amount of the boiled volume. An example:

You have 1/4 cup of liquid that has 4 oz sugar dissolved in it. Each tablespoon contains 1 oz, each teaspoon contains 1/6 oz, each 1/4 teaspoon contains 1/24 oz.

Dilute up to 1/2 cup, and each tablespoon contains 1/2 oz, each teaspoon contains 1/12 oz, each 1/4 teaspoon contains 1/48 oz.

Etcetera.

If you are not good at precision, use the carb drops.

I agree with the above, however the OP is talking about bottling just a few bottles from the batch so I'm just trying to keep it simple for him. I primed 9 Mr. Beer batches with cane sugar into the bottle per the table I gave (measured exactly) and they all carbed perfectly, no problems with contamination or infection. The cidery taste was from the booster they include with their recipes.

Proper headspace in the bottle (1-1.5 inches) is important as well.

1. Throw the full amount of priming sugar in the keg.
2. Bottle off the keg right away using sanitized taps and hoses. (I keep a picnic tap for this purpose because I can just boil it.)
3. Pressurize the keg to make sure you have a good seal.
4. Wait a week or two. If you are worried about sediment you can bend you dip tube in your keg, cut your dip tube, or move it to a new keg at this point.

Depending on how much beer you bottled there may be too much head space in the keg for it to get all the carbonation from the priming sugar. But this is no problem, just force carb it the rest of the way.

madewithchicken said:

1. Throw the full amount of priming sugar in the keg.
2. Bottle off the keg right away using sanitized taps and hoses. (I keep a picnic tap for this purpose because I can just boil it.)
3. Pressurize the keg to make sure you have a good seal.
4. Wait a week or two. If you are worried about sediment you can bend you dip tube in your keg, cut your dip tube, or move it to a new keg at this point.

Depending on how much beer you bottled there may be too much head space in the keg for it to get all the carbonation from the priming sugar. But this is no problem, just force carb it the rest of the way.

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I have a feeling, since this thread is nearly a month old...That the matter was long settled. I think he ended up going with the carb tabs...

Revvy said:

I have a feeling, since this thread is nearly a month old...That the matter was long settled. I think he ended up going with the carb tabs...

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I just could not help but tell everyone my way. I mostly use the carb tabs myself though.