Priming Sugar - How much is needed?

[mrgrimm101]

Hello,

I am going to be bottling my first brew this weekend and am wondering how much sugar is necessary for the bottling process?

It is roughly 5 gallons of a Bell's Two Hearted clone in a 6.5 gal secondary bucket. I got a 1lb bag of corn sugar from my LHBS but there was no instructions on how much corn sugar to use for priming so I don't know how much to use.

Also, do I need to rack from the secondary to the bottling bucket, or can I just pour it in?

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice?

Thanks,
Mr Grimm

 

[flars]

The priming sugar is dissolved in boiling water then cooled to the beer temperature, or close to it. About 2 cups of water. The sugar solution is added to the bottling bucket and the beer racked into the bucket. Curling the racking hose in the bottom of the bucket creates a swirl without splashing. The swirl mixes the priming solution throughout the beer for an even amount ending up in each bottle.

How much sugar you use depends upon the level of carbonation you desire. This is a good priming sugar calculator to use. The temperature to enter is the highest temp the beer has been held at. The calculator estimates how much residual CO2 is in the beer as part of the carbonation level. The higher the temperature the smaller amount of CO2.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

 

[plankbr]

As a general rule of thumb, 1 oz. dissolved priming sugar/gallon of beer.

 

[Revvy]

For a standard beer, if not carbing to style, the rule of thumb is 1oz/gallon of beer, to achieve 2-2.5 volumes for co2. That's why most 5 gallon kits come with 5 ounces of sugar.

 

[unionrdr]

The revs has it right. But if you have or want to get a digital scale (about $20 at Walmart),the priming calculators go by weight,not volume. That's if you want to start priming to style. Like this one; http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html