Priming Sugar Advice For A Kegger

[Ross]

Hi guys,

Having always kegged, I've never really taken much notice of sugar priming levels for different brews. Now that I've started AG brewing I'm bottling 4 tallies each brew in the hope of entering a few comps.
At the moment I'm just using one of those little plastic dual measuring devices from the supermarket & using 1 large measure. Is this a suitable quantity for all brew types or should i be making an adjustment for say - bitter, lager, stout?
Feeling very much a newbie on this one....

 

[Jovial_Monk]

If you are using malt extract to prime with the big measure should be OK. If using sugar, the big measure will make a rather fizzy beer.

Personally, I prefer to let the bottles self prime.

Jovial Monk

 

[Ross]

Personally, I prefer to let the bottles self prime.

Jovial Monk

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JM,
how do I get an Oktoberfest that's been lagering for a month to self prime??

 

[Trough Lolly]

Lager some of it in bottles...

 

[Jovial_Monk]

Still plenty of yeast in the beer, still plenty of sugars too.

I once brewed a 12.1% lager, lagered it for 4 months, bottled and left it to self prime.

Of course, the yeast was knackered after sitting in that much alcohol for 4 months and took 9 months to get to the actual fizz stage So next time I added some bottling yeast

JM

 

[pint of lager]

Priming AG brews is a real art. I suspect that some of the long chain sugars slowly break down, and become available to the yeast over a period of time. This means what may have been a flat beer, eventually gains some fizz over a period of time, usually called self priming.

Self primed bottles will be flat for quite a few months, then they will have a bit of sparkle, then eventually they may have enough fizz to be within the guidelines. The correct amount of carbonation is required for a beer to be judged.

What you will find, is that bottles that have the standard scoop of priming sugar added to them will be perfect in about 4 weeks, and then well and truely overcarbonated 6 months later.

And then, there is the requirement that different brews have different priming levels to be within style. So you have a real challenge to get the beer right, especially when you have a comp in mind.

I suggest that as a starting point, you use half your regular amount of priming sugar and work from there. Other options are to use dextrose instead of sugar, this gives a bit lower carbonation for the same weight, and also DME, which gives a bit lower carbonation compared to plain table sugar.

 

[Barge]

Another option for priming is krausening. As a newbie i've only read about it but the idea is that you make up a couple of litres of wort, pitch yeast and let sit for a day, mix with your lager and bottle/keg. if you go to that much effort you may as well bottle the lot.

worth a thought.

 

[Steve Lacey]

Ross, first you want to know how many volumes or grams/L of CO2 you want in the finished beer. Then you need to know how many are already in there (uncarbonated beer already has about 1 volume). Then you need to know how many grams of glucose per litre are needed to deliver that additional CO2. Then you need to know the glucose equivalent ratio for your priming sugar of choice. Then you multiply the grams per litre needed times the number of litres to prime times the glucose equivalent ratio. So if you need 6 g glucose per litre, and you use dry malt, and you are priming a 750 mL bottle, then you need 6g/Lx0.75Lx1.3 = 5.85 g. If you were using dextrose (glucose equivalent ratio 1.15), then it would be 5.175 g.

Now, 6 g/L is a fairly middle of the road priming rate. A low rate might be 3 g/L, and a high rate 8 g/L. All fairly small numbers when you are dealing with single bottles. That's why, for practical purposes, "one level teaspoon of sugar" generally works pretty well, provided the residual fermentables are not a major factor (big qualification, that). To get fine control for a few bottles, the only viable way is to make up a sugar solution of known concentration and administer it in precise volumes by syringe.

If you want to read more you could put yourself to sleep with this:
http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Methods/...lkPriming.shtml

Hope this helps.

Steve