Weighing/measuring Dextrose Without Scales!

[kocken42]

Hey guys,

I forgot to pick up some scales from the shop and I really want to bulk prime due to my variation in bottles sizes (330ml, 345ml, 375ml)...can anyone tell me an approximate of the quantity of dextrose required per litre i.e. 1/4 cup per litre...etc.

...and is it generally 6g/L of beer for dex? this is for a Aussie Lager.

Cheers.

 

[kelbygreen]

i use i tablespoon to a longneck you could just tip 30 tablespoons into it. I really dont find bulk priming any good takes me 1h 40mins to bulk prime a brew and 55mins to just use a spoon and tip it into the bottles. I dont really care about the perfect carb for each style found how i like it and stick with it

 

[DU99]

this help

http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Methods/BulkPriming/SimpleGuide.shtml

herefore, there are 3.2g of dextrose in a teaspoon and 153.6g dextrose in a cup of pure dextrose. Now all you have to do is use these facts to figure out your serving.

153.6g = 1 cup

153.6g/2 = 76.8g in a 1/2 cup

153.6g/3 = 51.2g in a 1/3 of cup

153.6g/4 = 38.4g in 1/4 of cup

 

[kocken42]

Thank you very much!

 

[tavas]

You live in Margaret river...surely someone down there has scales

 

[kocken42]

Hahaha yeah everywhere has them...but I want to bottle now and obviously didn't organise very well

 

[DU99]

order a set of scales from ebay for next time

 

[Screwtop]

Hahaha yeah everywhere has them...but I want to bottle now and obviously didn't organise very well

Another READY, FIRE, AIM moment

Screwy

 

[pk.sax]

With sugar (any type), you can always dissolve it in water and measure the gravity of the solution with a hydrometer to work out its sugar concentration. Add a set volume of sugar, any sort of small cup lying around will do, to a litter of water and measure the specific gravity of the solution. Convert to grams/litre. Now you know exactly how many grams of sugar were in that cup of sugar. Add away.

 

[Silo Ted]

I really dont find bulk priming any good takes me 1h 40mins to bulk prime a brew

That's confusing. Takes me about 10-15 minutes. Grab a spare fermenter that I have cleaned and sanitised from last time, give it a spray over again with sanitiser that is made up anyway to do treat the bottles. While the kettle is boiling, I grab my batch, attach a hose and start the transfer. By this time the kettles boiled so I measure out my dex in a pyrex jug, add the boiled water, stir for a minute then add gradually to the priming bucket. Cleaning the priming bucket at the end is a breeze, a quick was then another sanitise, and back into storage for next time.

With sugar (any type), you can always dissolve it in water and measure the gravity of the solution with a hydrometer to work out its sugar concentration. Add a set volume of sugar, any sort of small cup lying around will do, to a litter of water and measure the specific gravity of the solution. Convert to grams/litre. Now you know exactly how many grams of sugar were in that cup of sugar. Add away.

Great suggestion. That's a very clever approach for someone without scales. The only small downside is adding a litre of extra water instead of 300ml or so. One litre extra is no big deal over a full batch. Any scale-less readers out there wanting to use practical fools approach might find the following calculations a handy reference.

Based on one litre priming solution, and allowing the boiled water temperature to cool to within the stated operating range of your hydrometer:

140g dex/sugar = 1.054
150g dex/sugar = 1.058
160g dex/sugar = 1.061
170g dex/sugar = 1.065
180g dex/sugar = 1.069

One word of advice is if doing this, you would want to transfer your hydro sample back into the solution, so make sure the gear is cleaned and sanitised too. I know my hydro and tube is disgustingly crawling with bacteria and never gets anything more than a quick rinse becuase it generally doesnt ever come into contact with the batch, the samples are tipped or drank after measuring

 

[Pennywise]

Keep in mind that temps the wort reached during fermentation will need to be taken in to consideration for the amount of priming sugar used

 

[pk.sax]

That 1 litre method I suggested is for OCD ppl and those trying to be really exact. You discard that 1 litre solution. Point of making that sample of sugar syrup is to exactly measure two things:
Sugar content of the particular sample of sugar/dextrose you have (in case u picked up a new brand and not sure of purity/composition).

Suppose you have a small arbitrarily sized bowl/cup and want to find out how many grams of sugar it holds when filled level. Even the exact measurement of a spoon etc can be determined. So u find out how much that cup/L or tea-tablespoon/L really is in grams/L.

Hehe, I didn't suggest tipping a litre of water in ur wort by any means

Hey, if those figures you gave up there are for pure dex, then they can be used to measure dex equivalent to any sugar you have handy and match to a recipe