A Quick Priming Question...

[0M39A]

Hey everyone,

just a quick question regarding priming my current brew (extract ESB)...

fermented @ 18C for 12 days, then crash cooled to 4C for 4 days. This is the first time I've crash cooled, hence the question. now im about to bottle the brew, but beersmith has me wondering.

the brew is currently at 4C. because of this low temperature, would the beer have absorbed more co2 than if it was at the normal 18C?

beersmith says that if the brew is at 4C i only need to prime with 84.6g of sugar (23L batch)... this cant be right can it? i was going to prime with 130g. still a decent amount of carbonation, but not too much for an ESB.

thoughts?

 

[geoffi]

AFAIK, only the temperature of the fermentation is a factor. Having fermented out at 18, that's the temp you should work on. Dropping down to 4, there should be no (or almost no) yeast activity, hence no extra CO2 formation.

 

[therook]

Hey everyone,

just a quick question regarding priming my current brew (extract ESB)...

fermented @ 18C for 12 days, then crash cooled to 4C for 4 days. This is the first time I've crash cooled, hence the question. now im about to bottle the brew, but beersmith has me wondering.

the brew is currently at 4C. because of this low temperature, would the beer have absorbed more co2 than if it was at the normal 18C?

beersmith says that if the brew is at 4C i only need to prime with 84.6g of sugar (23L batch)... this cant be right can it? i was going to prime with 130g. still a decent amount of carbonation, but not too much for an ESB.

thoughts?

I use this format here.

link

Rook

 

[0M39A]

AFAIK, only the temperature of the fermentation is a factor. Having fermented out at 18, that's the temp you should work on. Dropping down to 4, there should be no (or almost no) yeast activity, hence no extra CO2 formation.

awesome, thats exactly what i thought as well.

will just prime the way i originally planned then

 

[Linz]

If you bottle it a 4oC there is absorbed CO2. This will come out of solution if warmed up, ie: to condition the bottle for secondary fermentation. So if you bottle a 4oC with normal amount of sugar then warm them to condition/carbonate the bottles you'll get the amount of Co2 in solution PLUS the Co2 from the priming sugar= bottle bombs, hence beersmith advising of the reduced amount of priming sugar.

Otherwise warm up the brew to the 18oC then bottle with normal amount of priming sugar

From Rooks link

"The following procedure assumes we are working with a beer fermented at around 20 C. A difference of plus or minus a few degrees won’t matter much, but more than around 5 C certainly will. You will have to see the technical section for more details on temperature effects and how to consider them.

 

[0M39A]

If you bottle it a 4oC there is absorbed CO2. This will come out of solution if warmed up, ie: to condition the bottle for secondary fermentation. So if you bottle a 4oC with normal amount of sugar then warm them to condition/carbonate the bottles you'll get the amount of Co2 in solution PLUS the Co2 from the priming sugar= bottle bombs, hence beersmith advising of the reduced amount of priming sugar.

Otherwise warm up the brew to the 18oC then bottle with normal amount of priming sugar

From Rooks link

"The following procedure assumes we are working with a beer fermented at around 20 C. A difference of plus or minus a few degrees won’t matter much, but more than around 5 C certainly will. You will have to see the technical section for more details on temperature effects and how to consider them.

yeah, but like Geoffi said, the beer was fermented at 18C, THEN cooled to 4C. the only CO2 that would have been in the beer is what was in it when it was at 18C. when cooled to 4C there is no way that the yeast could produce any more, so it would still have the same amount of co2 in it as if it were at 18C... right?

otherwise where is all this extra co2 coming from?

[edit]

if it were a lager then things would be totally different.

 

[Linz]

Absorbed from the head space!?!? unless full fermenter and open ferment...

 

[0M39A]

Absorbed from the head space!?!? unless full fermenter and open ferment...

i thought you would need positive pressure on the layer of co2 in the head space for it to absorb it?

would love a reply from somebody who has actually done this

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

would love a reply from somebody who has actually done this

Oh, alright. If I have to... But, I cannot give you a scientific proof, only what I've experienced.

I usually ferment (my beer) at around 17-18degC and then let it sit at room temperature for a week or so. When bottle priming, I use a Brigalow (brown) sugar measure for my APAs.

Occasionally, I have put the fermenter into the fridge and brought it down to around 10degC for a day or so before bottling. (The idea here is to render the beer less reactive with any passing air, etc as I bottle. It's my idea and I don't care if it is wrong - happily it is irrelevant to this discussion.) I use the same sugar measure.

No difference whatsoever. I expect that the dissolved CO2 from fermentation will get blown off if you raise the temperature of the beer post-fermentation (and it has somewhere to go, like out your airlock), but it doesn't get sucked back in if you drop the temperature again.

 

[0M39A]

anyone else got anything to say on this matter?

was going to bottle tonight is all

 

[Darren]

Something to consider is if the yeast had not fermented out completely prior to crash-cooling, activity would resume in the bottle at room temp (increasing the carbonation level). Cool temp does not kill yeast, it just slows them down. If completely fermented out prior to cooling, no problems.

cheers

Darren

 

[Trent]

I dont think that I have ever experienced any difference in priming, except for bottling an english beer at 4C with no priming sugar and from memory it turned out flat. I usually only use about 4g/L or so for my english ales, so it sounds about right to me, but I was looking at a program today that suggested to get 1 volume of CO2 (typical for bitters) I should prime at less than 1g/L, even though the beer was at 27C/ambient.
I say just prime as per usual, and if a few bottles blow up, then reduce the priming sugar next time. Trial and error is one of the best ways to learn, provising you dont lose any eyes!
T.

 

[0M39A]

she's definitely finished fermenting, stable gravity over 4 days. gave the yeast a rouse and everything and got no love.

FG was 1017, was expecting a little lower, but ahh well.

 

[nifty]

Hey everyone,

just a quick question regarding priming my current brew (extract ESB)...

fermented @ 18C for 12 days, then crash cooled to 4C for 4 days. This is the first time I've crash cooled, hence the question. now im about to bottle the brew, but beersmith has me wondering.

the brew is currently at 4C. because of this low temperature, would the beer have absorbed more co2 than if it was at the normal 18C?

beersmith says that if the brew is at 4C i only need to prime with 84.6g of sugar (23L batch)... this cant be right can it? i was going to prime with 130g. still a decent amount of carbonation, but not too much for an ESB.

thoughts?

Hi 0M39A, this is probably too late for you as you have already bottled, but I have been doing pretty much what you are doing for the last 4 brews.

I'll ferment for 2 weeks then cool to 2 deg for another week, then bulk prime and bottle. My batches are about 27 litres in the fermentor and I was priming with the usual amount of dex, 135gms, and they were all overcarbed. No bottle bombs, but the caps were all distended. When I cracked a bottle, there was no gusher, the beer was good, but definately too much carbonation.

I know fermentation had finished, and I couldn't detect any infection, so I thought the reason was co2 still in solution.