Carbonation question

[osoling]

This might be a dumb question. My LHBS sells priming sugar in 5 oz packets. That's just how it comes. I notice on these threads that people are using a calculator to compute the amount of priming sugar. I even got one in my BeerSmith app.

Other than the bottle bomb concern, how much do I need to worry about this? Beer Smith to use 4.43 oz of corn sugar. I'm not sure if I'm using corn sugar or not. It's white, very fine powder (so many jokes!) and I used 5oz. What should I care about here?

I brewed a Belgian Dubbel. It's in bottles now.

 

[beergolf]

You are fine. No worries about bottle bombs. It will be slightly more carbonated, which for a dubbel is OK.

It is corn sugar. BTW.

 

[BradTheGeek]

It is corn sugar. And going over is not bad as long as it is not too much (and your beer was done fermenting all its existing sugars out TEST TEST TEST).

I have yet to have a bottle bomb (and I just did a cider with too much sugar to keep it sweet.). The cider required daily checks and then a 10 minute 190 degree bath to kill the yeast.

At any rate, I always put my carbing beers in boxes, in a tub to catch fluids and throw a heavy blanket over it, just in case.

 

[C-Rider]

Just use a calculator and use table sugar. In a year or so you'll save enough money for another brew. LOL

 

[osoling]

This was good info. Thanks.

As I level up as a brewer, how should I handle this priming sugar thing? How do the good folks do it?

 

[Vigo_Carpathian]

This was good info. Thanks.

As I level up as a brewer, how should I handle this priming sugar thing? How do the good folks do it?

Kegs and force carbing.

 

[unionrdr]

I use this priming calculator with a 20 dollar Walmart digital scale; http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html
The amounts of sugars or DME's given are by weight,not volume. So the scale will come in handy. The range of the amount of sugars/DME's used are by style as well.

 

[Jayhem]

5oz is too much priming sugar for 5 gallons of pretty much every style of beer! I always use tasty brew's calculator and use between 2 and 4 oz of table sugar for my recipes and that calculator never fails me.

I think the majority of homebrews I've had from other people have been over-carbonated. If you have to pour only half the bottle before stopping to let the 5" head die down then you are way over-carbonating!

 

[unionrdr]

And/or not giving the beers enough fridge time to get more of all that co2 into solution. Otherwise,the excess gas in the head space seems to act as a nucleation point that causes the dissolved protiens in the beer to foam up like that.

 

[Jayhem]

And/or not giving the beers enough fridge time to get more of all that co2 into solution. Otherwise,the excess gas in the head space seems to act as a nucleation point that causes the dissolved protiens in the beer to foam up like that.

I agree, but over-carbonated beers that have been refrigerated for days or weeks are even worse because you pop the cap, everything seems fine, you set the bottle on the counter and look away and when you look back you have Old Faithful erupting! :rockin:

 

[unionrdr]

That can happen,of course. But mine did that if un-refridgerated,or fridged for a short time. 5-7 days fridge time helped mine a lot in those cases. Especially when carbing to 2.5 volumes co2 or more. Then they def need that 5-7 days fridge time.

 

[beergolf]

Carbing to the proper amount for each style is important. This can mean using anywhere from 2-6 oz of sugar for a 5 gallon batch. I like my saisons and tripels carbed to style so they usually get 6 oz and I have no problem with gushers. If you are getting gushers it is most likely another problem.

 

[osoling]

Where would I learn the vols for each style?

This is a very informative discussion. I'm learning a lot just reading your observations. Carry on.

 

[beergolf]

Where would I learn the vols for each style?

This is a very informative discussion. I'm learning a lot just reading your observations. Carry on.

Here is a good place to start. But I find it a little low for some styles.

http://tastybrew.com/calculators/carbonation.html

Herer is another.

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html

 

[Yooper]

This was good info. Thanks.

As I level up as a brewer, how should I handle this priming sugar thing? How do the good folks do it?

I hate those priming calculators, for a number of reasons.

One is that carbing "to style" isn't normally done. People who buy commercial beer are accustomed to about a 2.4 volumes of c02 amount of carbonation. Having a much higher carb level can happen in some beers, like Belgians that are corked and caged, but they can be problematic and not that common. On the other hand, that calculator would have you make your English beers be at 1.5 volumes- in other words, totally flat. They also have you input the temperature, but that can be confusing trying to "guestimate" the probable amount of residual c02 in the batch. Oftentimes, people get over or under-carbed beer when using those calculators.

I like my beers carbed similar to a commercial bottle of beer, and so use .75 ounce of priming sugar per finished gallon for most of them. For lagers and other more carbonated beers, I will go up to 1 ounce of priming sugar per gallon. It works perfectly for me.