First batch prime

[Rodcx500z]

Just doing first batch prime only 12.5L I have used brewmate calculator, its telling me I need 48g of sugar for a carbonation level of 2 at a beer temp of 14c, putting it pets to be on the safe side

 

[Clint]

What beer type is it?

 

[terrym]

Just doing first batch prime only 12.5L I have used brewmate calculator, its telling me I need 48g of sugar for a carbonation level of 2 at a beer temp of 14c, putting it pets to be on the safe side

I worked on the basis that if the main fermentation was finished before I crash cooled the beer then I use the fermentation temperature in the calculation, on the basis that the beer at lower temperatures will be less than saturated with CO2 (where's the extra CO2 coming from if the fermentation is finished?).
That said I am carbing all my beers now to about 1.85 at 20*C irrespective of what they are. I don't like cold gassy beer and the lower carbonation level helps prevent the yeast from being disturbed at bottle opening time.

 

[Rodcx500z]

What beer type is it?

Hi clint its just a knock up maris otter munich and porridge oats with challenger and some hellertua I had left should have got 15L finished up with 24 bottles and a sample which was very tasty and clear, think I shall call it knock up bitter

 

[Rodcx500z]

Terry all I did was put in the calculater temp amount and 2 it gave me 48g put it in pets while its first time I have done this

 

[terrym]

Terry all I did was put in the calculater temp amount and 2 it gave me 48g put it in pets while its first time I have done this

The calculator works on the basis that the lower the beer temperature the greater the capability to hold more dissolved CO2. Therefore if you fermented at 16*C you will need less sugar to carb up than if you fermented at 24*C to achieve the same carbonation level in the finished beer, assuming that there has been no change in temperature between fermentation and bottling. However if, after the fermentation is completed and no more CO2 is being produced, you then slowly increase beer temperature prior to bottling and then bottle at the higher temperature some of the CO2 will have been lost so you must use the higher temperature in the calculation. Conversely if you cool beer down from a higher temperature (and no more CO2 is being produced) the beer will be less than saturated with CO2 so you must still use the higher temperature in the calculator. So in short its use the highest temperature the beer was held at after fermentation was completed.
Well that's my take on it anyway. No doubt someone will disagree

 

[Clint]

I did use calculators when I first started but found,for bottling,bitters,British pales and stouts get 90g of sugar per 23l batch and US pales get 120g.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Thanks for that info chaps, I will use in later batches, its bottled up now 48g is not far off for 12.5L will let you know in a couple of weeks

 

[Rodcx500z]

Just a question how high can you go in bottles within a safe reason

 

[Drunkula]

how high can you go in bottles within a safe reason

I go 3.3 vols on my wheat beers even in crappy Koppaberg bottles.

I wonder what pressure it gets to in infected brews. I had a blackberry stout that got infected and I had it venting constantly for over 20 minutes in the sink, had about 2cm of beer left by the end of it. The pressure must have been immense.

Only had two broken bottles. One the bottom came off and I only knew because the box with the beers in stunka booze, the other one happened in the room near me. There was a pop like a fuse blowing and the top of a bottle from the shoulder just popped off into the air only about 15 cm. It left a jagged glass of beer that was perfectly drinkable and a makeshift weapon to stab some sucka in the throat with. I keep it by the bed.

 

[Winterbournebrewery]

I use the calculator & use the temp’ that i condition at. Seems to work for me. Not had any issues yet ? However I do have 4 bottles of the 1st ever stout I made getting on for 2 years old & having primed back then I am slightly nervous of them now, they have the potential to be incendiary devices I feel. I have stored them in the annexe at the bottom of the garden with hazard tape bound around them for good measure. Moved them out of the wife’s wardrobe 6 months ago as life would of been unbearable if they’d gone up in there.

 

[terrym]

I use the calculator & use the temp’ that i condition at. Seems to work for me. Not had any issues yet ? However I do have 4 bottles of the 1st ever stout I made getting on for 2 years old & having primed back then I am slightly nervous of them now, they have the potential to be incendiary devices I feel. I have stored them in the annexe at the bottom of the garden with hazard tape bound around them for good measure. Moved them out of the wife’s wardrobe 6 months ago as life would of been unbearable if they’d gone up in there.

As soon as all the fermentable sugars have been consumed after packaging, the yeast stops working and no more CO2 is produced. It makes no difference whether that's 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months or longer the effect is the same. The only reasons you will create more CO2 than you would want is if the primary wasn't finished before packaging, and/or the beer was overprimed.

 

[Winterbournebrewery]

Overprimed I reckon Terry.

 

[Neil Whittaker]

So far I've only put my beer into a Keg forced carb, but would like to try PET bottles as this would help me share my home brew.
Questions are:
1. Will a cold crash of the FV effect bottle priming? I'm thinking along the lines of the amount suspended yeast.
2. I ferment under pressure, so my beer already has some carbonation, how would this effect the process? I guess the amount of extra carbonation would be reduce and thus less sugar required.

 

[Drunkula]

1. Will a cold crash of the FV effect bottle priming?

Not unless you were cold crashing it for months on end.

2. I ferment under pressure,

You'd need to work out how many volumes of co2 are already in the beer. If you know your temperature and pressure use this chart to find out how many volumes of co2 that gives you:
https://jollygoodbeer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/JollyGoodBeer_PSI_Chart_for_CO2.pdf
So find the temp on the left, follow right until you find your pressue, heading of that column gives you the co2 vols already in it.

Then you can trick the sugar priming calculator here:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

Work out the carbonation you want, sub the carbonation you've already got and add one. So if you've got 1.9 vols in your beer already (from the PSI chart) and want 2.7 you'd get 2.7 - 1.9 + 1 = 1.8

Put 1.8 into the required volumes in the calculator and set the temp to 15c. The 15c sets it to already having 1 volume which gets you where you actually want to be.

Make sure you dissolve the sugar first when priming your beer so it doesn't make it froth up something horrid.

EDIT: That PSI chart doesn't have values for brewing at under 12 psi at 20c - awkward but you could muck about with this to find how many volumes you'd already have by putting in your temperature then messing about with the volumes until it matches your current pressure then using that with the stuff above. What a palaver! And there's probably a calculator out the for it somewhere.