pdilley
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 1/3/09
- Messages
- 1,393
- Reaction score
- 31
Figured I'd write this post since I made a text file to stuff away onto my computer folder for my brewing.
4 grams of sucrose (cane/beet/granulated sugar) per litre will ferment to give 1 volume of CO2.
Therefore 3 grams of sucrose (4 times .75) per 750ml bottle will ferment to give 1 volume of CO2.
Therefore 2 grams of sucrose (4 times .5) per 500ml bottle will ferment to give 1 volume of CO2.
Therefore 1.4 grams of sucrose (4 times .35) per 350ml bottle will ferment to give 1 volume of CO2.
you get the point now and can calculate to your hearts content....
Next up fermented beer will already have CO2 in solution from the fermentation process.
If its 10 degrees C its about 1.2 volumes of CO2 in solution.
If its 14C to 15C then its about 1.0 volumes of CO2 in solution.
If its 18C to 20C then its about 0.85 volumes of CO2 in solution.
German wheat beers and lambics are high volumes of CO2 in solution for bottled product anywhere from 2.2 to 4.4
All your ales will fall in the normal 2.0 to 2.7 volumes of CO2 in solution range.
Porters and Stouts are in the 1.7 to 2.3 volumes of CO2 in solution range.
British Ales are the least carbonated with 1.5 to 2.0 volumes of CO2 in solution.
I have a bog standard Pale Ale to bottle, temperature is about 14C average.
My beer already has 1.0 volumes of CO2 and I want to hit 2.2 volumes of CO2 in the bottle for a nice light carbonation. Yum!
I have 750ml bottles so 3 grams of sugar will give me another 1 volume but 2.2 minus the original 1.0 in solution equals 1.2 additional volumes of CO2
So 3 times 1.2 = 3.6 grams of sugar per bottle to get 1.2 volumes of CO2 to add to the 1.0 volumes in the beer to finally reach 2.2 volumes of CO2 in the bottle.
And thats what I'll do.
With the advent of cheap (see my posts on cheap digital scales from china) $16 or less digital scales with resolution down to 0.1 grams its easy to hit your 3.6 grams of sugar per bottle. Bottle on the scale, small funnel in the top, tar the scale to 0.0 grams and let in sugar slowly from a spoon and you'll hit 3.6 in no time. This is what I've settled on but not the only way.
If you want to bulk prime all at once in your bottling bucket or fermenter, no worries I won't say pro or con on anyone else's techniques as it all works in the end but I have tried them all and the way that gets me the best results after using all the methods is of course the one I use.
4 grams per litre is 1.0 volumes of CO2 we want 1.2 so
4 times 1.2 equals 4.8 grams of sugar per litre to get an additional 1.2 volumes of CO2 into the beer.
I have 20 usable litres of clean beer in the fermenter above the yeast cake.
20 times 4.8 is 96 grams of sugar to put into a saucepan and boil up in 500ml of water and boil to make the syrup to use in bulk priming.
Again this post is to teach you the math and methods I got through in my head, not priming techniques so refer to other posts to learn about those. Hopefully it is enough to teach you that 150-170 grams of sugar is way to much for Ales and well into Lambic territory and if you understand that then thats a good start on your way to making good carbonation levels and less bottle bombs.
This will work for 98% of the beer out there, the other 2% is the caveat, very high malty beers left in the bottle for months on end break down their larger volumes of dexrins and can push the carbonation in the bottle up to another 1.0 volumes over time. Too bad I don't have beer that can last that long in the bottle before being drunk
Cheers,
Brewer Pete
4 grams of sucrose (cane/beet/granulated sugar) per litre will ferment to give 1 volume of CO2.
Therefore 3 grams of sucrose (4 times .75) per 750ml bottle will ferment to give 1 volume of CO2.
Therefore 2 grams of sucrose (4 times .5) per 500ml bottle will ferment to give 1 volume of CO2.
Therefore 1.4 grams of sucrose (4 times .35) per 350ml bottle will ferment to give 1 volume of CO2.
you get the point now and can calculate to your hearts content....
Next up fermented beer will already have CO2 in solution from the fermentation process.
If its 10 degrees C its about 1.2 volumes of CO2 in solution.
If its 14C to 15C then its about 1.0 volumes of CO2 in solution.
If its 18C to 20C then its about 0.85 volumes of CO2 in solution.
German wheat beers and lambics are high volumes of CO2 in solution for bottled product anywhere from 2.2 to 4.4
All your ales will fall in the normal 2.0 to 2.7 volumes of CO2 in solution range.
Porters and Stouts are in the 1.7 to 2.3 volumes of CO2 in solution range.
British Ales are the least carbonated with 1.5 to 2.0 volumes of CO2 in solution.
I have a bog standard Pale Ale to bottle, temperature is about 14C average.
My beer already has 1.0 volumes of CO2 and I want to hit 2.2 volumes of CO2 in the bottle for a nice light carbonation. Yum!
I have 750ml bottles so 3 grams of sugar will give me another 1 volume but 2.2 minus the original 1.0 in solution equals 1.2 additional volumes of CO2
So 3 times 1.2 = 3.6 grams of sugar per bottle to get 1.2 volumes of CO2 to add to the 1.0 volumes in the beer to finally reach 2.2 volumes of CO2 in the bottle.
And thats what I'll do.
With the advent of cheap (see my posts on cheap digital scales from china) $16 or less digital scales with resolution down to 0.1 grams its easy to hit your 3.6 grams of sugar per bottle. Bottle on the scale, small funnel in the top, tar the scale to 0.0 grams and let in sugar slowly from a spoon and you'll hit 3.6 in no time. This is what I've settled on but not the only way.
If you want to bulk prime all at once in your bottling bucket or fermenter, no worries I won't say pro or con on anyone else's techniques as it all works in the end but I have tried them all and the way that gets me the best results after using all the methods is of course the one I use.
4 grams per litre is 1.0 volumes of CO2 we want 1.2 so
4 times 1.2 equals 4.8 grams of sugar per litre to get an additional 1.2 volumes of CO2 into the beer.
I have 20 usable litres of clean beer in the fermenter above the yeast cake.
20 times 4.8 is 96 grams of sugar to put into a saucepan and boil up in 500ml of water and boil to make the syrup to use in bulk priming.
Again this post is to teach you the math and methods I got through in my head, not priming techniques so refer to other posts to learn about those. Hopefully it is enough to teach you that 150-170 grams of sugar is way to much for Ales and well into Lambic territory and if you understand that then thats a good start on your way to making good carbonation levels and less bottle bombs.
This will work for 98% of the beer out there, the other 2% is the caveat, very high malty beers left in the bottle for months on end break down their larger volumes of dexrins and can push the carbonation in the bottle up to another 1.0 volumes over time. Too bad I don't have beer that can last that long in the bottle before being drunk
Cheers,
Brewer Pete