Imperial Stout Priming Advice

[Trent]

Gday
I have had a russian imperial stout in secondary for the last 8 weeks, and am planning on bottling tomorrow night (or maybe tues night, workload depending). I have heard that some people let their big beers self carbonate, cause they will continue to ferment a bit more in the bottle. I am a little wary of doing that, but on the other hand, dont wanna overprime and end up with bottle bombs or something. I am almost positive it wont go down any more points (started at 1.087 and is now at 1.018, and quite tasty). I will be priming with dextrose, so any advice will be much appreciated.
Also, I have been very lazy getting the american brewery photos up, I will do it this week, honest!
All the best
Trent

 

[Kai]

Sounds like fairly good attenuation.

I just bottled a RIS using around 3.5g/L sugar.

 

[Sean]

I never prime anything anymore (assuming an all-grain brew) unless I'm in a hurry for it to condition and I've never had a beer fail to condition, given long enough. I certainly wouldn't prime an IRS that has heaps of residual sugars and needs a long maturation time anyway.

 

[Trent]

Sean
It is an all grain brew, but I am figuring that it has come down four points lower than I was expecting, so I think at least this time I will prime it, but next time I may try the no prime method. How long do you leave it to condition when you bottle without priming?
Kai
Thanks for the info. I think 3.5g sugar is fairly similar to 5g dextrose? I have no idea where I found a little table that told me that. And yeah, it was very good attenuation, I think. I pitched it onto a secondary yeast cake from a porter, and aerated really well. I lost 1.5L out of the blowoff tube in the first 24 hours, so it was pretty vigourous (and that was with over 5L headspace).
All the best
Trent

 

[SJW]

Trent, I have had big dramas priming big Stouts. Now what I found I primed a big Oatmeal stout & and Sweet Milk Stout both with 100g of Dex for about 24 litres. They were both great drinking from about 10 weeks to 6 or 7 months but after that they were way over carbonated. So maybe do half with 3 or 4 grams per litre of DEX and half with none.
Good luck.
STEPHEN

 

[Sean]

How long do you leave it to condition when you bottle without priming?

As long as it takes. Not the most helpful answer perhaps, but an accurate one. I usually expect to leave them at least 2 months. I like to be able to keep the beers for a long time (years) and if primed they would be certain to over-condition.

 

[Trent]

Thanks for that guys
Maybe I will try what you said Stephen, prime half of em, and not prime the other half. I also plan on keeping them for a while, so it cant hurt. Just not try the unprimed ones for 3 or 4 months
All the best
Trent

 

[Kai]

Kai
Thanks for the info. I think 3.5g sugar is fairly similar to 5g dextrose? I have no idea where I found a little table that told me that.

Neither do I, sugar and dextrose are pretty much the same quantity on a weight basis when it comes to priming.

Considering it's a rare beer of mine that lasts longer than three months after bottling, I would never dream of not priming any of my beers.

 

[dougy]

Thanks for the info. I think 3.5g sugar is fairly similar to 5g dextrose? I have no idea where I found a little table that told me that.

Trent, try
Technical Guide to Bulk Priming

Under the 3rd Table;
"Note: For table sugar (sucrose) or pure glucose, multiply these numbers [Dextrose] by 0.87."

Maybe what you were remembering??


dougy