I have started using the All in One Wine Pump, which automatically degasses the cider as I rack and bottle. My last batch of cider is less carbonated than earlier batches that used a gravity siphon, even though I added the same amount of sugar. So apparently I need to add extra priming sugar to account for the CO2 that is removed by the vacuum pump during racking and bottling.
Two priming sugar calculators that I looked at take pre-existing CO2 into account when calculating the priming sugar:
* Beer Priming Sugar Calculator | Brewer's Friend
* Homebrew Priming Sugar Calculator
The first one explicitly states the assumed amount of CO2 based on temperature. For 68 degrees F it is 0.86 volumes of CO2. But the amount of existing CO2 will be less than that due to the vacuum pump. I think that if I want 2.5 volumes of CO2 I would need to add the sugar for at least 3.0 volumes to account for the CO2 removed by the vacuum pump.
Sorry for the long winded explanation, but I was wondering if anyone else has encountered this issue. I'm not sure how much CO2 is left after using the vacuum pump, but it seems that I need to increase my target volumes of CO2 by at least 0.5.
Two priming sugar calculators that I looked at take pre-existing CO2 into account when calculating the priming sugar:
* Beer Priming Sugar Calculator | Brewer's Friend
* Homebrew Priming Sugar Calculator
The first one explicitly states the assumed amount of CO2 based on temperature. For 68 degrees F it is 0.86 volumes of CO2. But the amount of existing CO2 will be less than that due to the vacuum pump. I think that if I want 2.5 volumes of CO2 I would need to add the sugar for at least 3.0 volumes to account for the CO2 removed by the vacuum pump.
Sorry for the long winded explanation, but I was wondering if anyone else has encountered this issue. I'm not sure how much CO2 is left after using the vacuum pump, but it seems that I need to increase my target volumes of CO2 by at least 0.5.