I am under the impression that you prime based on the highest temperature your fermentation bucket reaches. Say I have an ale that reached a peak of 70 F while fermenting in the basement, but when i brought it up to bottle, my sweltering apartment raised the temp to 80 F. Do I prime using the 80 F temp or the 70 F temp my bottles will be carbing at?
priming temp clarification
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jive365 said:
Your temperature is not related to fermentation temps. It would probably relate to the temps that the beer will be stored at while the beer is carbonating and conditioning after you bottle. It the beer will be in an apartment for conditioning, the temp would be the ambient temp of the apartment. If you were to move the bottled beer to a cooler cellar or basement, the temp for priming calculations would be the cellar temp.
In short the temp is the cooler temp that your beer will be carbonating at.
I hope this helps.
Mark
I disagree that you should use the cellar temp. The purpose of the temperature is it estimate how much CO2 is dissolved in the beer due to fermentation, prior to priming. Assuming your beer has been sitting for at least a few days and has reached equilibrium, the amount of CO2 depends on two things: 1) the pressure (which is just atmospheric pressure during fermentation) and 2) the temperture of the beer.
Therefore, I would say you should use the FINAL, STABLE temperature of the beer after fermentation, i.e. room temperature just as you remove the beer from the fermenter and add your priming sugar.
E.g. If you lagered the beer prior to priming there would be more residual CO2 in solution than if you just bottled an ale at 70°F, so you would use less priming sugar. But if you let your lager warm up to room temp for a few days before bottling, you would use room temp as your value, since some of the CO2 would bubble out as the beer warmed.
Once you cap your bottles the CO2 already dissolved in the beer isn't going to change if you chill or heat the bottles (although of course the priming sugar will add more CO2).
Therefore, I would say you should use the FINAL, STABLE temperature of the beer after fermentation, i.e. room temperature just as you remove the beer from the fermenter and add your priming sugar.
E.g. If you lagered the beer prior to priming there would be more residual CO2 in solution than if you just bottled an ale at 70°F, so you would use less priming sugar. But if you let your lager warm up to room temp for a few days before bottling, you would use room temp as your value, since some of the CO2 would bubble out as the beer warmed.
Once you cap your bottles the CO2 already dissolved in the beer isn't going to change if you chill or heat the bottles (although of course the priming sugar will add more CO2).
Yes, this. But not necessarily the final stable temperature- just use the temperature that the beer reached post/during fermentation. That will work just fine. The calculator guestimates the probable amount of c02 still dissolved in the beer but they don't work all that well, and should really be discarded.
I've said this often, so I don't mean to go on a rant here, but I hate those priming calculators. First, they carb "to style" which is a cool idea but bottled beer that is produced commercially isn't generally carbed to style. If you carb, say, a stout, to the priming calculator's suggestion, the beer will be flat. That may be great in a cask ale, but not in a bottled beer.
I generally use .75 ounce- 1 ounce of corn sugar per finished gallon of beer. It's always perfect, whether it's a crisp lager or an oatmeal stout. If in doubt and wanting a lower carb level, .75 ounce/gallon is almost always a great choice.
