amount of bottling sugar

[rompenstein]

Brewing my first batch and wondering about bottling. It's an all grain (AG I guess?) recipe from Austin Homebrew Supply (AHS?). Came with a standard pack of bottling sugar that is supposed to be good for a 5 gallon batch. Most brown ales that I've had though seem to be a bit less carbonated than say a hefe or pale ale. Should I use less of the sugar or just toss the hole thing in?

Also trying to learn the acronyms so help me out. And WTF is a SWMBO?

 

[Hell Brew]

If you want less carbonation you could use 3 1/2 to 4 ounces of sugar. Make sure you boil it in a cup of water for 5 minutes then add to your bottling bucket. Then you can rack on top so the sugar gets mixed into the beer. Maybe even stir very gently with a sanitized spoon to make sure it is well mixed, just be sure not to slosh it around. If you don' t already have one I recommend a bottling wand.
SWMBO = She Who Must Be Obeyed

 

[bajabuc]

I prefer to use pale malt extract for bottling....use a little more than sugar...I use 3/4 cup dry extract boiled for 5 minutes in a cup of water for 5 gallons. Takes longer to make CO2 but the beer tastes better.

 

[brewt00l]

Palmer has a handy nomograph for determining how much sugar to use in a 5 gal batch for a desired level of carb:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter11-4.html
http://www.howtobrew.com/images/f65.gif

Figure 65- Nomograph for determining more precise amounts of priming sugar. To use the nomograph, draw a line from the temperature of your beer through the Volumes of CO2 that you want, to the scale for sugar. The intersection of your line and the sugar scale gives the weight of either corn or cane sugar in ounces to be added to five gallons of beer to achieve the desired carbonation level. Here is a list of typical volumes of CO2 for various beer styles:
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

 

[nl724]

wtf = what the 'frick'

 

[rompenstein]

Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'll stick with the sugar this time since I already have it and don't have any extract on hand. I'll just use less.

I like the extract idea though, I think I'll give that a shot on my next batch.

 

[brewt00l]

Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'll stick with the sugar this time since I already have it and don't have any extract on hand. I'll just use less.

I like the extract idea though, I think I'll give that a shot on my next batch.

Rather than just using less, the info above will help you figure out exactly how much to use.

 

[rompenstein]

Rather than just using less, the info above will help you figure out exactly how much to use.

Right on, I intended to use the chart. Wasn't going to just guess randomly and toss some in. :cross: And thanks a bunch for posting it btw. I meant to say that in my previous reply.