Joshua Hughes
Well-Known Member
Will there be a difference in carbonation from bottle conditioning?
Yes there will be. Theoretically you need to use less priming sugar. The reason for this that even though the beer to sugar solution ratio will be proportionally equivalent per oz of volume of beer, the headspace left in all the bottles regardless of their size will be equivalent (example 12oz and 22oz bottles will have the same headspace volume). Because of this, bigger sized bottles have a greater proportional amount of priming sugar to headspace and have an increased level of carbonation.Will there be a difference in carbonation from bottle conditioning?
Yes there will be. Theoretically you need to use less priming sugar. The reason for this that even though the beer to sugar solution ratio will be proportionally equivalent per oz of volume of beer, the headspace left in all the bottles regardless of their size will be equivalent (example 12oz and 22oz bottles will have the same headspace volume). Because of this, bigger sized bottles have a greater proportional amount of priming sugar to headspace and have an increased level of carbonation.
The calculators may not calculate for that. Think about it this way (I’m using simple numbers to make it clearer) say you have a 12 oz bottle and a 22oz bottle. Each fluid oz of liquid has proportionally equal amount of priming sugar to beer volumes regardless of the size of a bottle. However if you fill each bottle properly, both bottles regardless of size will have 1 oz of headspace volume. So for the smaller bottle it’s 1:12 and for the bigger it’s 1:22. The bigger volume has more actual sugar since there is more volume of liquid m but it has the same head space as the smaller bottle, so it will have a higher level of carb than it.What? So your saying if I want to bottle my 5 gallon batch and have it 2.5 volumes and it calls for 4.5 oz of priming sugar I should use less then what the calculator calls for if I'm using a bigger bottle then 12oz? The calculator I use doesnt have a box for bottle sizes.
Try this as an experiment then. Fill a 12 oz bottle to the bottom of the neck and then fill another 12oz bottle properly. Each beer will have an proportionally equal amount of sugar per fl oz but they will now have disproportionally amount of headspace(same thing happening in the 12oz vs 22oz ) wait 3 weeks and then do a side by side. The one with more proportional headspace will be less carbed than the one with less proportional headspace.All due respect to @Dgallo I think you can disregard any theoretical difference. Obviously that only applies if you are adding the priming sugar to the beer before putting the beer into bottles. If you are using carbonation drops or domino dots or otherwise individually dosing the bottles the amounts will be different.
The variables that matter for determining priming sugar in every calculator I have seen are:
- Volume of the beer being primed
- Type of priming sugar used
- Highest temperature the beer was held at for any length of time following end of fermentation
- Carbonation level desired
The size of bottles you are using does not appear in typical priming sugar calculators.
The one with more proportional headspace will be less carbed than the one with less proportional headspace.
It was noticeable for me when I was bottling. I would batch prime before filling bottles and bottled multiple of each size 16,22, and 32oz swing top bottles every batch. Wasn’t much difference between the 16 oz and 22oz. But there were very noticeable differences between 16 to 32 and even 22 to 32 oz. so the greater the difference between the two bottle sizes, the greater the impact isOk, but will the difference be noticable? Are we talking the difference is 2.6 vol instead of 2.5?
So you leave about an inch in a 12 Oz. How much for 22? I plan to follow kit instructions exactly if possible
I don't do bottles anymore but when I did I simply let it overflow only the slightest amount. Either way you will be fine. It's not super critical. Just depends on how you want to do it and with some practice you will know.Alternately, use a bottle filler as is, and try to fill until the liquid is just at the rim (not overflowing). Remove the bottle filler, and there you go. It leaves just the right amount of space. If you leave a little more space by filling slightly more conservatively, that's fine too.
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