Priming Calculator

[Cloud Surfer]

I’ve seen a few different bottle priming calculators, but they give me slightly different results. Is there a goto calculator everyone uses, that perhaps someone could link for me. Cheers

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I’ve seen a few different bottle priming calculators, but they give me slightly different results. Is there a goto calculator everyone uses, that perhaps someone could link for me. Cheers

You could try the Brewers Friend, I think they are mainly guess work when it comes to temperature of the beer being primed.

 

[Paddy Melon]

Hi Guys, Does it matter what temperature the beer is at if you bulk Prime? does temperature make a difference to the amount of dextrose that should be used?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Hi Guys, Does it matter what temperature the beer is at if you bulk Prime? does temperature make a difference to the amount of dextrose that should be used?

You could have some dissolved CO2 in the beer, how much is guess work. I take my fermenter out from cold crash and is probably 5 to 8 C in the bottling bucket I generally put down 15 C in the calculator and don't end up to far off.
Beer Priming Calculator - Brewer's Friend

 

[Paddy Melon]

Thanks WEAL, I have been priming straight from cold crash and have found that my lagers are brilliantly carbonated but the Ales are way less using the same amount of Dex. There's nothing wrong with the ales in fact they are great too but the bubble size seems to be a lot smaller than the bubbles in the lagers. I do prefer a gassier beer than a flat one fortunately to date I've only had one turn out flat even with the same amount of priming sugar. Couldn't work that one out.

 

[Vini2ton]

I use the brewers friend one and put in the temperature I fermented at. Never had an issue. Mostly now I just look in my brew-diary to past brews. Saves a trip to the computer. Funny to think now about funnels and teaspoons of sugar. Back then, some may have a bit over-carbed. "Do you get wafers with it?"

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I don't like my English ales too carbonated, I used to just peg in the fermenting temp also, but drop below that now. and I do get the head made up of finer bubbles which I like.

 

[Cloud Surfer]

You could try the Brewers Friend, I think they are mainly guess work when it comes to temperature of the beer being primed.

Brewers Friend is slightly on the heavy side of priming requirements compared to some other websites I’ve seen. Not much though. It’s an easy calculator so I’ll use that one until I get a feel for things.

 

[Cloud Surfer]

Hi Guys, Does it matter what temperature the beer is at if you bulk Prime? does temperature make a difference to the amount of dextrose that should be used?

I don’t know much, but I know this one.

You base the amount of dextrose required on the maximum temperature the brew reached during fermentation. As it gets hotter it loses CO2, and never gets it back when you cool it/cold crash it later. So if you are basing your dextrose calculation on the cold bottling temperature, instead of the much hotter temperature it reached during fermentation, then you’ll be under priming by quite a bit, which is probably what you’re seeing in your ales.

 

[Paddy Melon]

I use the brewers friend one and put in the temperature I fermented at. Never had an issue. Mostly now I just look in my brew-diary to past brews. Saves a trip to the computer. Funny to think now about funnels and teaspoons of sugar. Back then, some may have a bit over-carbed. "Do you get wafers with it?"

I don't know what wafers are but using the higher temperature makes sense. I never used the Priming calculator, as has been mentioned, I just went by a chart I found on some beer site.

 

[Paddy Melon]

Thanks guys, That was a new lesson, will save me trying each batch incrementally.
Much appreciated.

 

[yankinoz]

You could have some dissolved CO2 in the beer, how much is guess work. I take my fermenter out from cold crash and is probably 5 to 8 C in the bottling bucket I generally put down 15 C in the calculator and don't end up to far off.
Beer Priming Calculator - Brewer's Friend

Do you pipe CO2 into the fermenter when you cold-crash? It's relevant. If not, the temperature at the end of fermentation should be the best guide to CO2 content. Cold crashing increases the capacity of the beer to dissolve and retain CO2, but additional CO2 isn't going to come from fermentation at that stage and those temperatures.

 

[Vini2ton]

 

[Paddy Melon]

No I don't pipe CO2. but now have an understanding of the effects of temperature. I've already calculated the next amount I'll need for priming based on my usual method of fermentation etc.. This was a great lesson, something simple that I hadn't picked up before, simply because I relied on a chart that gave a range but didn't mention temperature.
Again guys thanks for your time.

 

[Paddy Melon]

View attachment 118781

I'm still confused, should I be researching or laughing?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I either read, or watched a podcast of Charlie Bamforth and he did state that after cold crashing letting the fermenter warm up to ambient will lift everything out of suspension.
If bottling , cask or keg I do it as cold as possible, I don't bother about piping CO2 in, I just crack the lid. Putting 20 + litres of wort in at 19 C will take a while to get down to target crash temperature (I aim for -1 C) so will still be creating CO2 as far down as 3 C I don't think there is a lot of dissolved CO2 in the beer otherwise my bottles would end up overcarbed. I am happy using 15 C as my marker in the Brewers Friend calculator.

 

[Vini2ton]

I'm still confused, should I be researching or laughing?

When I said some bottles may of been over-carbed, I meant they produced abundant foaming head. Back in the day, if a barman poured you a beer with a copious head, you would ask if you got got wafers with it, ala ice-cream sundaes. Goodluck with your carbing. And yes, do both, laugh and research.