Ok i usually keg but i have a batch of beer that i want to bottle..My problem is i do not know the exact volume of beer..its in a 7 gallon fermenter and there is no volume markers..it might be 4 gallons or it might be 5 gallons i will not know exactly until it is in the bottling bucket..So say i prime with 5oz and it turns out to be 4 gallons will this cause bombs/gushers..im sure im not the only one this has happened to..whats your advice? thank you.
Unsure of exact volume of beer and priming
- Thread starter MHBT
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My advice would be to, if you have extra kegs, force carb in the keg and bottle off of that. That way you control the carb level, no guessing, and remove the extra exposure of oxygen when transferring to the bottling bucket.
The thing is, priming volumes of co2 for bottle conditioning according to style is presented as a range, some people opt for lesser carbed in that range, while other's might opt for the higher end. The standard amount of corn sugar/gallon of beer is usually an ounce- producing between 2 and 2.5 volumes of co2. some kits give people 5 ounces- some give 4.5 ounces of sugar.
So if you opted for 4.5 ounces of priming sugar you would end up somewhere in the ballpark regardless of whether you had 5 gallons of 4 gallons of beer in there. You might be slightly at the high end of the range if it's 4 gallons and at the bottom end of the range if it's 5... but you will probably not notice either way... and you won't have to worry about gushers or bottle bombs.
So if you opted for 4.5 ounces of priming sugar you would end up somewhere in the ballpark regardless of whether you had 5 gallons of 4 gallons of beer in there. You might be slightly at the high end of the range if it's 4 gallons and at the bottom end of the range if it's 5... but you will probably not notice either way... and you won't have to worry about gushers or bottle bombs.
Beer weighs 8.345*FG pounds per gallon. Next time, weight your bottling bucket before and after putting the beer in, subtract the empty bucket weight, and divide by that 8.345*FG to find the volume.
fwiw, loosely related, I have the tare weight of all my kegs logged so when I fill one I can determine the precise volume to enter in my tap list manager so it'll accurately track the remaining volume.
Cheers!
fwiw, loosely related, I have the tare weight of all my kegs logged so when I fill one I can determine the precise volume to enter in my tap list manager so it'll accurately track the remaining volume.
Cheers!
Awesome tip thanks alot
Gnomebrewer
Well-Known Member
Could you add the sugar required for a 4 gal batch, then add a bit more sugar if you're going over volume?
