Too Much Priming Sugar??

[brewgasm135]

Hey guys. It's almost time to bottle my Pumkin Wheat Ale that I created. I wanted to make sure I was using the correct amount of granulated white sugar for this specific type of beer, instead of the simple "3/4 cup of sugar" that seems to be spread as a default.

According to Brewzor Pro BETA:

Volumes CO2 should be around 4.0
With a Beer Temp of 78 F (its conditioning in a pretty warm house)
Beer Volume of 5 gal

The calcalator recommends 8.29 oz of table sugar. Assuming a cup of sugar is 7.05 oz, isn't 1.19 cups of table sugar a little much?

I just wanted a little confirmation from some more experienced brewers before I created some potential bottle bombs, as I've only primed individual bottles with sugar before.

THANKS!

 

[Grumpybumpy]

4.0 is pretty darn high. I'd shoot for closer to 2.5, max 3.

 

[Clann]

I wouldnt do any more than 5 oz and 8 1/4 oz sounds like way too much to me.

 

[brewgasm135]

My recipe:

9 lbs. Baked Pumkin
6 lbs. Briess Wheat Unhopped Liquid Malt Extract
1 lb. Briess Dried Malt Extract- Golden Light
.5 lb. White Wheat (Rahr)
.5 lb. Golden Naked Oats (Simpson's)
.5 lb. Caramel 40L (Briess)
.5 cup molasses
.5 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. Pumkin Spices
Bavarian Wheat Activator Wyeast ACT3056- 4.25 oz.

SG: 1.063
FG: (yet to be determined. Was at 1.019 when racked to secondary after 6 days)

Desired Vol. of CO2 according to Beer Styles:
Weizen/Weissbier: 3.6-4.5
Dunkelweizen: 3.6-4.5
Weizenbock: 3.7-4.7

I'm not exactly sure where my frankenstein beer creation falls into, but I assumed 4.0 would be a middle ground for CO2 volume.

That's where the calculations came into play giving me 8.29 oz of table sugar...

 

[Changeduser123]

Your calculation is probably right to have the CO2 volume you want. But you are asking the wrong question, which should be:

"We'll my bottles be able to hold 4 volume of CO2 without breaking and doing a big mess ?"

Well, what bottles are you using ?

 

[atchinator]

Given that you're making a wheat ale, the carbonation probably should be a little higher than for a regular type of ale.

 

[morticaixavier]

Style guidlines for a wheat ale are around 2.4-3 volumes I think. 4 volumes is REALLY high. with normal bottles you will get bottle bombs. Perhaps in champaigne bottles or belgian corked bottles you would be okay at that level but unless you have special bottles I wouldn't go much about 4 oz of sugar for priming.

 

[cervezarara]

From personal experience, 3.25 volumes of CO2 in a 10% wheat saison is nearly impossible to pour. The bottles hold that much pressure (I bottle mostly in 22oz bombers) but the head gets rocky due to the wheat, and you end up with a glass full of head that doesn't dissipate, and very little beer. I can't attest to the bottles' ability to hold higher pressure. I agree that style guidelines show even higher volumes of CO2, but I would be quite concerned about grenades over 3.5 volumes of CO2.

 

[flabyboy]

Bottle bombs if your in a normal 12 oz long neck bottle. Danger!

 

[brewgasm135]

Haha, thanks guys. I'll just go with a smaller amount then. Interesting that these calculators ask for so much more!

 

[brewgasm135]

Upon further investigation, it seems there are people bottling regular longnecks at and around 4 volumes of CO2 for wheat beers. Anyone with experience with this? I could only find one short thread about it.

Btw, I'm using used regular brown bottles. Sierra Nevada, Blue Moon, Sam Adams, etc.

 

[flabyboy]

I think you are going to have major issues if you try this. Bottles bombs are not worth it. Impossible to pour and super dangerous