just about to bulk prime, but confused about how much DME to use...

[philistine]

Im just looking at the Brewersfriend.com beer priming calculator and trying to work out how much DME to use to bulk prime my pilsner.
The bit thats got me confused is the "temperature of beer' bit...

I fermented it at 10c, did a diacetyl rest, and now its sitting at lagering temp as cold as the fridge will go - which in this case is around 0-1 degrees i think....

So Im not sure what value to put here and the difference in the amount of DME between current temp and ferm. temp is almost double....

* Temperature of Beer used for computing dissolved CO2:
The beer you are about to package already contains some CO2 since it is a naturally occurring byproduct of fermentation. The amount is temperature dependent. The temperature to enter is usually the fermentation temperature of the beer, but might also be the current temperature of the beer. If the fermentation temperature and the current beer temperature are the same life is simple.

It goes on to say that the answer is debatable...

What do others do?
Should I be bringing the temp of the brew back up to ambient before bottling maybe?

 

[philistine]

Yum Beer said this to me the other day:

Use DME/LDM for your bulk prime, will drop clear in the bottle given a few weeks, which you will need anyway for a lager.
It may take 4 or more weeks to carb fully as you won't have much yeast left to do the job. I find 10gm a litre of Coopers LDM gives a nice light carb level, go up to 11 g/l if you want a little more carb.

BUt that also confused me a bit cuz I think we're using abbreviations differently.... I use DME to mean dry malt extract, but Yum Beer went on to say that he uses 10gm/litre of LDM which is what threw me... Is he referring to (what id call) LME - liquid malt extract? Im assuming it supposed to mean Dry Malt Ext. because he's talking about it in dry weight as opposed to liquid volume.... but if it is referring to dry weight of DME powder, then the 10gm/litre ratio gives me a completely different amount from the priming calculator as well...

ALL ROUND NOOB CONFUSION :blink:

 

[pat86]

By LDM he probably means light dried malt extract - which = DME, just that there are also amber and dark dried malt extracts...

In the past I have used the fermentation temperature for bulk priming calc. I Also tend to go on the low end for most styles (e.g. 2.0-2.5)

 

[philistine]

thanks pat - I got impatient and just decided to wing it and thats pretty much exactly what I ended up doing
Went with ferment temp and set it to the lower end of the style

 

[yum beer]

LDM.......Light Dry Malt. LME.....Liquid Malt Extract

Sorry if I have caused any confusion.

The difference from the calculators is based on experience from priming cold conditioned lagers, ie brews that have sat for 2-4 weeks at close to 0c.....meaning little yeast to create carbonation.
If you are carbing an ale or a lager that has not been kept cold for a longer period then the lower amounts given in the calculators is probably closer to the mark.

Recent batch of Aussie Lager, 2 weeks cold condition at -0.2c, 10gm a litre LDM, took 6 weeks to carb and its still on the light side...only just but definetely not commercial serving carb. Possibly needed 11-12gm a litre.