looking for advice on carbonation.

[BrewinBigD]

Im wondering if anyone knows of any table that indicate average CO2 volumes based on type of beer/ale. Also, anyone have any clue how many volumes of CO2 a plain glass bottle can withstand before getting to kapoofalation stage?
Have a couple homegrown recipes and im not sure how much dex to prime with!

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[eastoak]

3/4 cup of corn sugar in 2 cups of water can't go wrong in most beers.

 

[BrewinBigD]

Yeah i figures as much, about 5ounces right? When you keg condition you usually cut the sugar in half right?

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[flyingtiger]

I believe Palmer has a chart/graph in his book that talks about the different types of beer and the CO2 recommended.

 

[Germelli1]

Palmers quick synopsis:

British ales 1.5-2.0
Porter, Stout 1.7-2.3
Belgian ales 1.9-2.4
American ales 2.2-2.7
European lagers 2.2-2.7
Belgian Lambic 2.4-2.8
American wheat 2.7-3.3
German wheat 3.3-4.5

I realize this doesn't go into detail so my next suggestion would be to find a BJCP list. If you go here then click on the style, look under "Mouthfeel" and it will say something like "Low carbonation" or "Medium high". It is not a numerical figure, but you can deduce what volume to aim for with a little practice.

Since you are looking to shoot for specific volume level, I assume you want to be as accurate and precise as possible. So another piece of advice I have to offer is NEVER MEASURE PRIMING SUGAR BY VOLUME. Always measure by weight! I was doing fine measuring by volume then I started getting undercarbed batches...switched to using a tiny, old food scale and my problems went away.

Hopefully this answered your questions but if you have any more don't hesitate to ask!

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

+1 Germelli, always measure by weight.

I use brewing software, BrewPal, and that has a style and recipe specific carbonation guide. Gives amounts of sugars to add for bottling or the PSI to set your keg at for force carbing. I go by that and almost always have my beer carbonate properly, if not ideally.

 

[BrewinBigD]

Awesome info! Heres whats goin on: pretty noob to thism been brewing since july and the last 4 batches (out of 7) have not been kits. Still mostly extract just not kits, so ive got no pre measured guideline for priming. Im not looking for spot on accuracy just trying to come as close a possible with the knowledge ive gained. Im hoping to get into kegging next month and by the new year try all grain. So im learnin one thing atta time ya know? Thanks again for the info and ill get to ya with any more questions!

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[NordeastBrewer77]

Awesome info! Heres whats goin on: pretty noob to thism been brewing since july and the last 4 batches (out of 7) have not been kits. Still mostly extract just not kits, so ive got no pre measured guideline for priming. Im not looking for spot on accuracy just trying to come as close a possible with the knowledge ive gained. Im hoping to get into kegging next month and by the new year try all grain. So im learnin one thing atta time ya know? Thanks again for the info and ill get to ya with any more questions!

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no problem! If you're not going for very accurate carbonation, your approach of around 2/3s cup, or 4 ozs will be good for most 5 gal batches. Try to measure in weight, not volume to be a bit more accurate. But before i used software, or when I'm brewing a kit, I used 3-4 ozs of corn sugar for 5 gal with good results.

 

[BrewinBigD]

Yeah i know weight is better than volume due to settling,crystal size etc. I just picked up a new digi scale for weighing hops and such tonite!

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[Germelli1]

I was excited to respond to this thread because it is something I am very familiar with. Please let us know if you have any more questions! I also have software (Beersmith) that calculates sugar weights to get the appropriate carbonation for the styles. So if you have any specific beers coming up I would be happy to look it up for you!

 

[sagnew440]

This is the calculator I use for priming
http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html
It has recommended carbonation ranges for each style.

 

[BrewinBigD]

I was excited to respond to this thread because it is something I am very familiar with. Please let us know if you have any more questions! I also have software (Beersmith) that calculates sugar weights to get the appropriate carbonation for the styles. So if you have any specific beers coming up I would be happy to look it up for you!

ohh beersmith.. hopefully SWMBO will let me download it for my birthday this coming month! it would do a world of good!

 

[beergolf]

ohh beersmith.. hopefully SWMBO will let me download it for my birthday this coming month! it would do a world of good!

Brewing software is one of the best investments a homebrewer can make.

You do know that all of the brewing software offer free 30 day trials. You can download it for free and then if you like it just pay later.

Do it you will not regret it.