Hey there,
I just wanted to share a technique and pose a question all at once.
I have been brewing 3-4 gallon batches with my BIAB set up for sometime now. As many have noticed when using BIAB, the amount of break material tends to be excessive so I always end up with some in the fermenter. This poses a challenge when calculating my priming sugar quantities. All of my fermenters have gradations for every quart, but with an uneven trub layer plus possible whole leaf dry hops floating around, it can be hard to gauge just how much beer will end up in the bottling bucket.
So here is what I do... I estimate the lowest volume I would possibly expect and then use a priming calculator (I like https://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/) to calculate the highest carbonation volume I find acceptable. I then double check the quantity of sugar for my estimated max. volume.
For example, today I bottled the American Rye Beer from Brewing Classic Styles. With the trub and dry hops (which were a change to the recipe), I estimated the lowest amount would be 2.8 gallons and calculated for 2.6 volumes CO2. Having estimated my max at 3 gallons, the amount needed for 2.8 gallons at 2.6 volumes would result in 2.5 volumes should I end up with 3 gallons.
All in all I have been relatively happy with this approach but I was wondering if anyone had suggestions to make this process more precise. Its an interesting situation since I like to add the priming sugar to the bucket before adding the beer. Wouldn't want the beer sitting while I boil and cool my priming solution.
Hopefully for those in my position, this method can be helpful. But I would certainly like to up the precision.
I just wanted to share a technique and pose a question all at once.
I have been brewing 3-4 gallon batches with my BIAB set up for sometime now. As many have noticed when using BIAB, the amount of break material tends to be excessive so I always end up with some in the fermenter. This poses a challenge when calculating my priming sugar quantities. All of my fermenters have gradations for every quart, but with an uneven trub layer plus possible whole leaf dry hops floating around, it can be hard to gauge just how much beer will end up in the bottling bucket.
So here is what I do... I estimate the lowest volume I would possibly expect and then use a priming calculator (I like https://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/) to calculate the highest carbonation volume I find acceptable. I then double check the quantity of sugar for my estimated max. volume.
For example, today I bottled the American Rye Beer from Brewing Classic Styles. With the trub and dry hops (which were a change to the recipe), I estimated the lowest amount would be 2.8 gallons and calculated for 2.6 volumes CO2. Having estimated my max at 3 gallons, the amount needed for 2.8 gallons at 2.6 volumes would result in 2.5 volumes should I end up with 3 gallons.
All in all I have been relatively happy with this approach but I was wondering if anyone had suggestions to make this process more precise. Its an interesting situation since I like to add the priming sugar to the bucket before adding the beer. Wouldn't want the beer sitting while I boil and cool my priming solution.
Hopefully for those in my position, this method can be helpful. But I would certainly like to up the precision.
