First Brew - Made mistake with Corn Sugar

[AdamEps]

Hello,

I just bough the norther brewer deluxe kit and went through the brew process (for my first time) with a buddy of mine. After watching the video online which the company posts as a tutorial, we became confused, as the video showed the kit coming with dry malt, but the kit did not.

However, the kit did come with corn sugar(5oz). My buddy looked it up and it seemed like corn sugar could be used as a substitute for dry malt. Long story short, we put it in with the 6lbs of wet malt. Later on, we ended up added another 3lbs of wet malt (which in hindsite was probably the substitute go for the dry malt which wasn’t with the kit).

Once we got to the end, we realized that we had used the priming sugar we needed for bottling day.

My question for the community is: Did we mess up our brew? The beer seems to still be fermenting. Will it just end up way more alcoholic (as there is more sugar)? Should we still get more priming sugar for bottling day? Any other suggestions?

I apologize in advance for anything I might have just said that was wrong/didn’t make sense. Any advice would be welcome!

Thanks.

 

[VikeMan]

Will it just end up way more alcoholic (as there is more sugar)?

It will have a slightly higher ABV. Assuming a 5 gallon batch, 5 oz of corn sugar should increase ABV by about 0.4.

Should we still get more priming sugar for bottling day?

Yes. If you don't, your beer won't carbonate.

 

[Bobby_M]

Recipes for each kit are going to be different. Some use all malt syrup. Some use all dry malt. Some use both.

Just use 4 ounces of table sugar for bottling and you're back in business.

 

[bobeer]

Ill just add that if you look up "priming calculator" you'll find one so you can figure out on your own how much and of what kind of sugar you need to carbonate. Usually you go for, on the very low end, 1.8 and, on the very high end, 2.4 volumes of c02. It depends on the style of beer and personal preference as to how much carbonation you want. This is helpful for when you're not brewing with a kit. Good luck!

 

[ncbrewer]

Ill just add that if you look up "priming calculator" you'll find one so you can figure out on your own how much and of what kind of sugar you need to carbonate. Usually you go for, on the very low end, 1.8 and, on the very high end, 2.4 volumes of c02.

When using the calculator, do you input fermenter volume or bottling bucket volume? I ask because I usually carb to 2.6 volumes. When I tried lower volumes it was nearly flat.

 

[NGD]

When using the calculator, do you input fermenter volume or bottling bucket volume? I ask because I usually carb to 2.6 volumes. When I tried lower volumes it was nearly flat.

Whatever is going into bottles. Basically bottling bucket volume. You can also bottle prime instead of batch prime by adding sugar straight to the bottles. This allows you to test various carbonation levels by adjusting the amount of sugar per bottle. If you batch prime, make sure its well but gently mixed. Otherwise you’ll have some bottles heavily carbed and others nearly flat.

 

[ncbrewer]

Whatever is going into bottles. Basically bottling bucket volume. You can also bottle prime instead of batch prime by adding sugar straight to the bottles. This allows you to test various carbonation levels by adjusting the amount of sugar per bottle. If you batch prime, make sure its well but gently mixed. Otherwise you’ll have some bottles heavily carbed and others nearly flat.

In re-reading my post I see it wasn't clear - sorry. I was wondering which volume bobeer inputs into the calculator. He seems to get different results than I do.

 

[NGD]

A better question might be which priming calculator is he using. They should at least get you in the ballpark.

Example of a few different calcs using 2.4vol, 5 gal, and beer temp of 68

 

[bobeer]

When using the calculator, do you input fermenter volume or bottling bucket volume? I ask because I usually carb to 2.6 volumes. When I tried lower volumes it was nearly flat.

Honestly I always put 5 gallons and 70 degrees even though its always give or take for both. Ive never noticed a big difference in outcomes.
What other volumes have you tried and what kind of sugar are you using? Be sure to use the correct sugar type based on what the priming calculator says. Some of them list several different sugars.

 

[ncbrewer]

What other volumes have you tried and what kind of sugar are you using?

I measure the trub on each batch and use previous amounts to estimate the volume going to the bottling bucket. Mine are about 5 gallons in the fermenter, so less in the bottling bucket. It's fairly repeatable. I always use table (cane) sugar. Do your batches generally come out to 5 gallons in the bottling bucket?

But I don't use an on-line calculator. I use a formula that I found so that it works with my spreadsheet. It checks closely with the calculators.

 

[bobeer]

I measure the trub on each batch and use previous amounts to estimate the volume going to the bottling bucket. Mine are about 5 gallons in the fermenter, so less in the bottling bucket. It's fairly repeatable. I always use table (cane) sugar. Do your batches generally come out to 5 gallons in the bottling bucket?

But I don't use an on-line calculator. I use a formula that I found so that it works with my spreadsheet. It checks closely with the calculators.

Usually is around 5 gallons in the bottling bucket but this last batch i bottled i got about 40 bottles from so I was short on 5 gallons. I still put 5 gallons into my calculations and they're carbonated nicely. Not too much even though its a kolsh and can go higher c02 than a lot of other styles. I also use sucrose/table sugar to prime.