Amount of Priming Sugar when Bottling

[mikebennett]

Hi, so I'm a brand new home brewer, which will be obvious from my question.

So if I started out with 5 gallons, I lose some volume over time during the boiling, fermenting, racking, etc. When it's time to add the priming sugar and water into the bottling bucket (before adding my brew), do I add enough boiled and cooled water to bring the volume back up to 5 gallons? I only ask because if I use the amount of priming sugar in the recipe, will I overcarbonate if I am bottling an actual volume of 4-4.5 gallons, and not a full 5? Adding extra water would seem to bring down the ABV and make the beer watery. My main concern is getting the carbonation right, not over or under.

Palmer says to add 3.7g of Cane Sugar to 5 gallons. If my actual volume, to which I am to add priming sugar, is 4.25 gallons, should I only add 3.14g of sugar, or should I shut my mouth and stop worrying about it being under carbonated?

 

[BigFloyd]

Hi, so I'm a brand new home brewer, which will be obvious from my question.

So if I started out with 5 gallons, I lose some volume over time during the boiling, fermenting, racking, etc. When it's time to add the priming sugar and water into the bottling bucket (before adding my brew), do I add enough boiled and cooled water to bring the volume back up to 5 gallons? I only ask because if I use the amount of priming sugar in the recipe, will I overcarbonate if I am bottling an actual volume of 4-4.5 gallons, and not a full 5? Adding extra water would seem to bring down the ABV and make the beer watery. My main concern is getting the carbonation right, not over or under.

Palmer says to add 3.7g of Cane Sugar to 5 gallons. If my actual volume, to which I am to add priming sugar, is 4.25 gallons, should I only add 3.14g of sugar, or should I shut my mouth and stop worrying about it being under carbonated?

Grams or ounces?

If you had 5 gallons pre-boil and boiled 60 min, you will have less than 4 gallons going into the bottling bucket.

If possible, take some time to measure and mark your bottling bucket ahead of time so that you know how much beer you will be priming. Do 0.9 oz corn sugar (or 0.8 ounces table sugar) per gallon and you should be fine to get 2.5 volumes CO2 for an ale that topped out at 70*F

 

[NivekD]

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

 

[Mozart]

It seems like you're asking two different questions.

When it's time to add the priming sugar and water into the bottling bucket (before adding my brew), do I add enough boiled and cooled water to bring the volume back up to 5 gallons?

Generally no. For most of us, if we want to bring the volume back up to 5 gallons, we'll add the additional water to the ferementing vessel just prior to pitching the yeast - not after fermentation is complete and we're ready to bottle.

Adding extra water would seem to bring down the ABV and make the beer watery.

Potentially, yes. However, if you're using a recipe geared toward a 5 gallon batch and end up with, say, 4 gallons in your fermenter, you're actually brewing something more 'concentrated' than the intent of the original recipe. If that produces a beer to your liking, great! Just thought I'd point this out.

My main concern is getting the carbonation right, not over or under.

I agree with the answers above. Carbonate based on your volume of at bottling time. As mentioned, there are a lot of free online carbonation calculators that will assist you in deciding how much priming sugar to use.

 

[mikebennett]

Great answers, and thanks for helping me out so quickly. I seriously appreciate it.