Dextrose: Inconsistency b/t Kits and Calculators

[bmurph]

Tomorrow I'm bottling my first AG beer, which for me means the first one that didn't come from a kit. The two kits I brewed previously each came with 5 oz dextrose as priming sugar and ended up well but definitely not overly carbonated. Various online calculators have told me that I only need about 3 oz dextrose.

This is a ryePA fermented at 72 F.

The calculated residual CO2 is .81 "volumes" (I'm guessing liters) and the desired volume for the style is 1.5-2.3 liters. This range translates to 1.85-4 oz dextrose- average 2.93 oz.

What should the correct value be and why is the range I have so much lower than the 5 oz I'm used to?

 

[cvstrat]

I just wrote a fairly in-depth article on that for my blog:

http://www.goallgrain.com/2011/05/03/carb/

Basically if you were bottle conditioning at around 72F, you'd need around 2-4oz of dextrose to get within your desired range, just like you said.

On my site I have a list of beer styles and the recommended volumes. Some beers would require almost 5oz of dextrose, especially if conditioned in a warmer environment or if you were aiming in the higher end of the carbonation volume range. Hope this helps!

Personally I'd probably use 3oz and call it a day.

 

[bmurph]

I just wrote a fairly in-depth article on that for my blog:

http://www.goallgrain.com/2011/05/03/carb/

Basically if you were bottle conditioning at around 72F, you'd need around 2-4oz of dextrose to get within your desired range, just like you said.

On my site I have a list of beer styles and the recommended volumes. Some beers would require almost 5oz of dextrose, especially if conditioned in a warmer environment or if you were aiming in the higher end of the carbonation volume range. Hope this helps!

Personally I'd probably use 3oz and call it a day.

Perfect. Great info, thanks for the link. I think I'll split the difference and go with 4 oz, plus that's the same # you used as an example for american ales.

Also, I'm gonna repitch half an 11.5 g safale s-04. Once the yeast are rehydrated is it a good idea to then combine with the priming mixture (cooled of course) for a short time before mixing in with the beer? Just trying to make the mixing part as simple as possible.

 

[cvstrat]

I didn't see anything in your original post that would make me thing you needed to pitch additional yeast. Honestly short of pasturizing your entire batch, there will be plenty of healthy yeast to bottle condition your beer.

If there is some reason I'm not aware of that you need to repitch yeast, I would pitch them directly into the beer before you mix in your priming sugar.

In reality though you should probably skip that step and just proceed w/o any additional yeast.

 

[bmurph]

I fined with gelatin four days ago and have been cold crashing in my fridge since last night. This is the first time I've done either of those. I understand that gelatin doesn't remove too much yeast, but not sure about the cold temps. Just following the example of a few other homebrewers who use the same procedure with reportedly good, consistent results.

 

[JuanMoore]

The makers of the kits don't know how much co2 will be left in the beer post fermentation. They err on the side of caution to prevent complaints about beer not carbing. Many people who are just starting brewing may be used to highly carbonated commercial beers, which may be overcarbed for the style, and a nice round 5 oz makes sure that the beer will have plenty of carbonation. I prefer a little more carbonation, and typically shoot for the higher end of the style myself, but I still never use a full 5 oz of sugar per 5 gal of beer.

Unless it's a huge beer with an ABV over 12% or has been aging for 6 months or longer there's really no need to add yeast at bottling. It won't really hurt any, it'll just add to the amount of sediment in the bottle.