Priming sugar

[Jhedrick83]

I have a Belgian Tripel kit that is now done fermenting, it came with priming sugar. I’ve always done the carb drops. My question is that the kit was for 1 gallon. My amount looks to be slightly less than that (maybe more once I take out Trub volume. My question is should I still follow kit instructions for mixing the priming sugar? 1 oz in 1/2 a cup of water. Or should I cut that some? I just don’t want a set of bottle bombs.

 

[VikeMan]

If you want the same carbonation level as the kit intended, reduce the sugar proportionally along with the actual bottled batch size. Or, use a priming calculator, such as:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

 

[Jhedrick83]

If you want the same carbonation level as the kit intended, reduce the sugar proportionally along with the actual bottled batch size. Or, use a priming calculator, such as:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

My struggle is to know exactly how much to scale it as I don't know the exact volume I have. I do have a 4 cup measuring cup I can use to rack into and then transfer to something while I get the priming sugar ready but that's more contamination/oxygenation potential. It's in a 2 gal fermenter right now. I do have a 1 gal carboy I can transfer it into and then guestimate the size but again we are making more chances to ruin the batch. That may end up the best idea as I do still have a few floating yeast rafts and it may provide more time to settle them.

 

[TwistedGray]

@Jhedrick83 Try this for individual bottle priming - Individual Bottle Priming Instructions with Cane Sugar

 

[Stormcrow]

Probably too late, but if you knew the empty weight of your carboy, you could weigh it to figure out exactly how much beer is there. Also, if you don't have John Palmer's How to Brew book yet, it's worth the investment. There's a priming chart in there that I've got bookmarked and am constantly referring to.

 

[Jhedrick83]

Probably too late, but if you knew the empty weight of your carboy, you could weigh it to figure out exactly how much beer is there. Also, if you don't have John Palmer's How to Brew book yet, it's worth the investment. There's a priming chart in there that I've got bookmarked and am constantly referring to.

Well, life conspired against me and I didn't end up bottling last night but it should happen tonight. I do have the book and I forgot about that chart. I was stuck on batch priming rather than simply bottle priming like Twisted suggested. The joys of really starting to dive in, every brew is a whole new set of things to keep in mind and remember for next time.

 

[Pappers_]

Batch priming is the way to go (imho), if you can, but Twisted's one-bottle-at-a-time method looks good if you do want to try it. If you are only slightly down on your volume, say 10% or less, I probably wouldn't worry too much about it. Tripel should be highly carbonated anyway.

 

[ncbrewer]

Probably too late, but if you knew the empty weight of your carboy, you could weigh it to figure out exactly how much beer is there. Also, if you don't have John Palmer's How to Brew book yet, it's worth the investment. There's a priming chart in there that I've got bookmarked and am constantly referring to.

Be sure to make an estimate of the trub loss - priming sugar calculators are based on the volume of beer in the bottling bucket.

 

[Jhedrick83]

Thank you all for your help. I'm glad I bottle primed as I only got seven 12 oz bottles out last night.

 

[McKnuckle]

Small batches and bottle priming are a match made in heaven. It's just more reliable to weigh out a few grams of sugar one bottle at a time, and not rely on estimating total volume and adequate mixing.

 

[TwistedGray]

Small batches and bottle priming are a match made in heaven. It's just more reliable to weigh out a few grams of sugar one bottle at a time, and not rely on estimating total volume and adequate mixing.

And it's not really a time suck.