Priming sugar calculator - question

[Benedetto]

OK, so there's this priming sugar calculator I've used twice now, and I was about to use it again in a few days but something just doesn't sound right.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

I have a Bavarian Wheat sitting on some raspberries right now and I plan to bottle it Sunday. 5+ gal batch. So it says "German Wheat Beer" should be carbed with 3.3 - 4.5 volumes of CO2. So i punch in the lesser value of 3.3 at 68 degrees and the program says i need 7.2 oz of priming sugar??!?!? Just for fun, I wanted to see what the greater value of 4.5 volumes would call for. 10.7 oz!!! I've never heard of such a thing. Putting that much sugar in 5 gal before bottling? That's SUICIDE!

Most of the time, I use the standard 5oz that the kits always have, but i've found that after a few months i pour mostly foam and it takes me about 10 minutes to pour a beer, so now i do about 3.5 to 4 oz with much better results. Anyone know of a more realistic calculator?

 

[feinbera]

You'll note that most styles are carbed between 1.5 and 2.5 volumes; given you've already got about a volume of CO2 in there just from fermentation (plus or minus, depending on beer temperature), at 3.3 volumes, you're wanting to add twice as much CO2 (2.3 volumes instead of a more-typical 0.5 - 1.5 volumes), so, it's no wonder it's calling for twice as much priming sugar.

 

[Yooper]

I say it all the time, but I hate those priming sugar calculators! Priming "to style" may create bottle bombs (7+ ounces of priming sugar) or make flat beer (some styles are something like 1.8 volumes, in other words- flat).

Most people who buy bottled beer are accustomed to a "regular" amount of carbonation. Even commercial stouts and porters are carbed up about the same as pale ales. It's true that English ales on cask are flat-ish but also at cellar temperatures.

I'd use 1 ounce of corn sugar by weight for each gallon of finished beer. It'd be nicely carbed, but not bottle bomb territory.