Priming Sugar

[Brew-boy]

My first batch will be ready for bottling next week and I have a question. Due to my mistake I will only have about 4 gallons to bottle, how much priming sugar should I use? I do not want any bottle bombs. Thanks guys

 

[mysterio]

What kind of beer are you making and how carbonated do you want it?

3 and a half oz of corn sugar is fine for 4 gallons.

 

[Brew-boy]

I made a Pete's Wicked ale clone and would like a normal amount of carbonation.

 

[cweston]

5 oz corn sugar generously carbonates 5 gallons, so I'd go with 4 oz or less for your 4 gallons.

I've been carbonating my summer beers a bit more generously, since I tend to drink them straight from the fridge in the summertime.

 

[Walker]

in terms of cups (since not everyone has a scale to measure out ounces):

It takes 3/4 cup to prime 5 gallons. You only have 4/5ths of a 5 gallon batch, so you want 4/5ths of 3/4 cup.

That's 0.6 cups.

-walker

 

[Spyderturbo]

This was the exact same question I was going to ask.

Is there anyway to increase the volume when priming? Such as dissolving and boiling the sugar in more water? For example, if i have 4g of beer and boil the priming sugar in 1g of water, would that work?

If not, what is the standard amount of water to use when boiling the sugar? How long should you boil the sugar?

Thanks!

 

[cweston]

This was the exact same question I was going to ask.

Is there anyway to increase the volume when priming? Such as dissolving and boiling the sugar in more water? For example, if i have 4g of beer and boil the priming sugar in 1g of water, would that work?

Sure, but you'd just be diluting your beer, both in terms of flavor and in terms of alcohol content.

If not, what is the standard amount of water to use when boiling the sugar? How long should you boil the sugar?!

1 pint of water bloiled with the sugar for 5-10 minutes seems to be the norm.

 

[homebrewer_99]

It would work, but you'd be watering down your beer flavor and alcohol by 25% (making 4% into 3%).

I usually use 2 C water to my priming sugar dissolve and boil for 5 mins.

 

[Spyderturbo]

But wouldn't I be diluting the beer back to the alcohol content and flavor that it should have been in the first place? Since I used less water than I should have initially, my wort was just more concentrated than it should have been. So by adding enough water to bring me up to 5g, I would just be returning the beer to the volume that the recipe called for.

Or am I missing something?

 

[Walker]

But wouldn't I be diluting the beer back to the alcohol content and flavor that it should have been in the first place? Since I used less water than I should have initially, my wort was just more concentrated than it should have been. So by adding enough water to bring me up to 5g, I would just be returning the beer to the volume that the recipe called for.

Or am I missing something?

You got it right. If the reason you only had 4 gallons is because you forgot to add another gallon of top-off water, then diluting it at bottling time will bring it back to the intended flavor/ABV.

The other responses you got about it diluting too much were based on the fact that we didn't know what the "mistake" was that caused you to only have 4 gallons for blttling. If it was a siphon problem, adding more water dilutes it beyond what you want. If it was a top-off problem, diluting it brings it back in-line with the original recipe.

-walker

 

[homebrewer_99]

Not exactly. Since you started with 5 gals you lost volume during rackings.
This is why I ferment 5.25 gals.

Whatever your OG minus FG calculations (final alcohol percentage) are right now would be reduced by 1/4 (or 25%) if you now have 4 gals and want 5 gals.

 

[Spyderturbo]

Yeah, it was one of those "I've never done this before" things. I was following the recipe, but I made 2 mistakes. I forgot to check my final volume after transfer to the fermenter because I started with 5 gallons (wasn't accounting for boiling loss). I also neglected to cover my wort while I cooled it down in the sink.

The second mistake has me worried that it may be bad......but only time will tell.

EDIT ->

homebrewer 99,

I am still in the primary so I guess my best bet would be to check the volume BEFORE I rack to the secondary and then add the appropriate volume of water when priming. For example, if I have 4.5g now (before racking) then only add 0.5g of water when priming. Is that what you are saying?

Thanks everyone!