Too much bottling sugar?

[HB2112]

On my last batch, an imperial stout, I had a bit of a boilover. So instead of bringing volume up to an even 5 gallons I dropped it down to a little over 4 gallons. After racking to a secondary and transferring to the bottling bucket and adding 3/4 cup corn sugar and 2 cups boiling water I bottled as per the plan and instructions I was given. After bottling I only ended up with 40 bottles. Which is a little less than 4 gallons. Was that too much corn sugar? I'd rather not find out when bottles start blowing off caps or breaking. It's been 5 days since I bottled. My plan was to check at 10 days and if they seem well carbonated I would refrigerate them to tray and stop further carbonation. Am I correct in this thinking? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

 

[rburrelli]

There are a few factors that come into play when priming. Temperature of the beer to be bottle, amount of beer, and volumes desired. An Imperial Stout would likely be bottles to 2.2 volumes. If beer was 65 degrees that would mean 2.8 ounces or .4 cups. So I would say you might be over carbonated. Check out for a priming sugar calculator. Norther Brewer has a nice one that I use.

 

[HB2112]

Thank you so much. According to them I'm over by a bit, well a lot.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Remember to weigh the bottling sugar (weight units) and not by volume (volume units).

Easy to remember. Solids use weight, liquids use volume.

 

[HB2112]

OK thanks. Was going by a simple set of instructions given to me by the brewing shop for basic bottling. This is my 2nd brew. My first was a porter that was awesome. After bottling I drank the cup or so I used to check the final gravity reading and it tasted like a great, but flat imperial stout.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Yes, and simple instructions normally indicates 2/3 cup or 3/4 cup. However, this is simplified for the broad masses attempting to brew.

Realize too temp has an impact on carbonation.

Different beers have different levels of CO2. Not all beers are the same. For example. British Ales are normally around 2.0 levels of CO2. Whereas, US beers are 2.5 levels of CO2.

 

[HB2112]

Yes I was tinkering around with the priming calculator that rburrelli mentioned on Northern Brewer. I will have to continue with more research on this apparently I've been adding a bit too much corn sugar. Even though that calculator says I've been using too much sugar the porter I made on my first batch was great. Thanks for the help and advice. Much appreciated

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

What temp were the Porter bottles kept during the bottling conditioning?

 

[HB2112]

Between 67 and 68 degrees.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Hmm... should have been warm enough to carbonate the beer.

3/4 cup corn sugar is too much for 4 gallons.

5 days is way too quick!

Remember, the hardest part of homebrewing is waiting.

 

[HB2112]

I must not have been clear Tobor. The brew I'm currently doing is a stout that's been carbonating for 5 days. that's the 4 gallon brew with too much sugar. When bottling I always draw off a cup to check final gravity before bottling. That's what tasted like a flat stout. The porter I brewed the first time wasn't fully carbonated until around 14 days. I tried that porter after 10 days and it was OK but not enough carbonation, but after 14 days was awesome. It was a 5 gallon batch and I used the same amount of corn sugar 3/4 cup.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

10 days is too quick for bottling conditioning. 67 to 68 is a cool environment.

Warm up the bottles and you'll get the bottles carbonated quicker.