Ran out of dextrose what can i do

[swampcreek]

I lost my bag of priming sugar. I had a little left over from last batch but it's not enough. How much table sugar can I use. I put about 1/3 cup dextrose in 4.5 gal of a light ale. It's sitting in the bottling bucket and I am ready for bottling

 

[BeerGrylls]

here you go: this should work perfectly.

So let's say you want 2.3 volumes into a 5 gallon batch that you've already added 1/3 cup of dextrose, gives about 1.5 oz of table sugar (sucrose).

 

[stpug]

2.6 vols co2 in 4.5 gallons at room temperature (cream ale carbonation which is a little more than an APA or IPA)

0.61 cups dextrose (corn sugar) OR
0.54 cups sucrose (white table sugar)

You used 0.33 cups dextrose already
You need about 0.25 cups sucrose (table sugar)

 

[swampcreek]

That's a lot of calculating. Can I just add a squirt of honey?

 

[stpug]

1/4 cup is not a lot of calculating

 

[swampcreek]

I didn't see your post. Thanks a lot kind sir. But what will honey do

 

[WissaBrewGuy]

Honey will work but there are two things to think about before you squirt that stuff in you priming concoction:
1. Honey adds flavor, maybe not a squirt but I imagine you would need more than just a tiny amount to prime.
2. Honey is unpredictable, you don't really know how much fermentable sugar in in there which begs the question: how do you know how much to put in there?

Table sugar is wayyy better IMO. I bottle condition everything still (not for long) and I have run into your exact scenario. Do what the other guys are saying: split the priming sugar between dextrose and table sugar and take the time to do the math, you'll be glad you did! And next time buy the big bag of corn sugar and buy another one when the first one is halfway empty so you don't make the same mistake again. It only took one time for me running out of dextrose on bottle day to stock up on the stuff so it never happened again.

 

[stpug]

Honey will work. Any fermentable sugar will work. BUT, in the end I would opt for the predictable and choose table sugar.

 

[bearfootbrewer]

Honey will work. Any fermentable sugar will work. BUT, in the end I would opt for the predictable and choose table sugar.

I go with honey ( 3 tbsp per gallon)

 

[swampcreek]

I went with sugar. Yeah I had enough dextrose but I have kids and a wife that mess with my stuff all the time. I'm crossing my fingers they don't explode. It's only my second batch of beer. I do t have to worry with wine and melomel

 

[unionrdr]

I ran into this once & just "topped off" with table sugar mixed with the lil bit (about 40%) dextrose I had left. Worked just fine on a pale ale I was bottling.