priming water to sugar ratio
- Thread starter juggabrew
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It matters. If you use a lot of water in priming, you're basically watering down your beer which will make everything about it weaker. Diluting 5 gallons of beer with a pint of sugar water isn't a big deal. Using a gallon of sugar water, say, in 4 gallons of beer would change the beer in a huge way.
Stick with a pint and weigh your sugar.
Cool Thanks. This is the confirmation I was looking for. I do 2.5 gal batches and I was only using 1 cup water to roughly 1.5 oz sugar. which should have given me ~2.0 carb level. Ill go with 2 cups next time
Huh? Why more water? Use the least amount that you can easily dissolve the sugar in. 1 cup is plenty. Or you will water down your beer.
Yes, my thoughts exactly. boiling down 1 cup would result in a more consentrated solution.
Maybe I didn't ask the right question at first. Does the carb level change if your using less water vs more?
I don't think so, no. I do 5 gallon batches, so boiling 2C of water is fine to dissolve the weighed amount of priming sugar in. 1C boiled for priming 1 gallon should be plenty, or 2 1/2 gallons for that matter.
dkevinb
Well-Known Member
I've always used 2 cups of water for a 5-gallon batch of beer, mostly because that's what the instructions said when I started bottling. I use proportionally less for 1- or 2-gallon batches. I don't think it's critical. You want enough water to dissolve the sugar but not dilute the beer.
Dissolving the priming sugar in boiled water is mainly to make it dissolve into the beer easier than mere granulated sugar will. Sugar is dry, so microbes would have a hard time living in/on it without moisture & warmth.
I usually do anywhere from 200ml to 600ml depending on what my FG looks like and whether or not I want to squeeze a few extra bottles out.
One thing I like to do is start with 600ml and boil it down until it gets yellow and caramelized. I figure it adds more of that flavor to the beer but I've never done any testing.
One thing I like to do is start with 600ml and boil it down until it gets yellow and caramelized. I figure it adds more of that flavor to the beer but I've never done any testing.
I weighed out 3 ounces of granulated sugar and then mixed it into a few cups of water, stirring it as it heated up. I let it boil for 10-12 minutes and then cool it down before racking the beer on top of it. I just don't like the sugar to be too thick and syrup like so it'll mix easier with the beer. I also give the mixture a little stir after filling a dozen of bottles or so just to be sure.
I just boil the water a few minutes first. I even took to using spring water for this as well. The sugar will sanitize in seconds at 160F, let alone in boiling hot water.
