Concentrate for priming

[dirtybasementbrew]

What should I look for in a concentrate to carb a 5 gallon batch? I want to use apple concentrate and honey. And can I boil the concentrate add honey vanilla and nutmeg and use the whole concoction for priming

 

[twistr25]

Particular reason you want to do this? Priming is just adding a little extra fermentable to the bucket to increase CO2 production to carbonate the beer. I can't say I've heard anyone do this yet, but not to say it's not possible.

 

[seckert]

i would think that there would be too much sugar in the concentrate and the honey. i would be afraid of getting bottle bombs or best case scenario over carbed beer. unless you can tell how much sugar you would be introducing i think its risky. however if you do this and it works out i would love to hear about it!

 

[dirtybasementbrew]

Is there a way to measure fermentables In a concentrate. Reason for the experiment is I love a hopped up brew and I have a pretty good pipeline but I'm trying to put something together for thanksgiving. A brew that everybody in the family will drink not jus me and a few cousins. I brewed an ale using perele hoops so there is not a profound hop flavor. I wanted to get the apple and spice upfront but not to show case it throughout the whole taste.

 

[seckert]

the only way i can even think to measure the fermentables in concentrate would be to look on the label and see how much sugar it says is per serving then multiply by how many servings there are. i still dont know how accurate that would be though...

 

[Calichusetts]

Make a little spice tincture from vodka and let it sit for a few weeks. Add it to the bottling bucket first before you bottle. You may want to test it in some beer to get an idea of the strength (use an eye dropper and a beer)

 

[JimRausch]

I bottle carbonated a cider last year with 2 cans of apple jiuce concentrate (look at the cider forum for hints). This year I will probably only use 1 can. No bottle bombs, but alot of carbonation and huge head from the 2.

 

[jflongo]

I also used 2 cans of apple juice concentrate for a 5.5 gallon cider batch. It had a good amount of carbonation, but no bombs.

 

[BigFloyd]

Is this for a beer?

If so, the small amount of fermentable sugars needed for bottle carbonation isn't really enough to significantly impact the flavor of the beer.

The problem is accurate measurement. Sugar (corn or table) is quite easy to weigh and then use to make a priming solution to achieve the desired volumes of CO2. Apple concentrate and honey are not. It'll be a crap-shoot.

 

[BlackGoat]

I have an old "homebrewing for dummies" book from the early 2000s that mentions this as a possibility, suggesting that people could use fruit liqueurs. Personally, I'd avoid it on account of not really knowing how much sugar there is in there, and therefore you can't predict whether you'd have too much or too little carbonation. If adding late addition flavor is really important, consider adding a quantity of a high quality flavor extract along with your priming sugar to the bottling bucket.

 

[jflongo]

I'm sure you can find a chart for honey. Apple Concentrate would be a shot in the dark probably. You can look at the sugar amounts in the nutrition area and see if you can estimate it though.

 

[fireroadjunky]

I think it could actually be pretty simple. I usually go the unfermented wort route, but the theory seems the same.

Make your priming concoction, then check the gravity. Based on the gravity use the amount listed in the chart in the link below... I use this chart pretty much every time I bottle, and it seems more consistent terms of getting my desired CO2 level compared to using the various priming sugar calculators that are out.

http://www.breworganic.com/tips/tips_Kraesening.htm

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

You could always add what you want(to taste) then pasteurize the beer. There's a sticky about how to do it on the stove top in the bottling section. I do it all the time when I make cider you just have to make sure to wait 2 days then try one each day so its not over carbed.

 

[JimRausch]

I think it could actually be pretty simple. I usually go the unfermented wort route, but the theory seems the same.

Make your priming concoction, then check the gravity. Based on the gravity use the amount listed in the chart in the link below... I use this chart pretty much every time I bottle, and it seems more consistent terms of getting my desired CO2 level compared to using the various priming sugar calculators that are out.

http://www.breworganic.com/tips/tips_Kraesening.htm

Thanks for this link, fireroadunky! I've wanted to do this with my upcoming 'German beer' series(alts and lagers for the Fall, baby!)

 

[seckert]

ugh! stove top pasteurizing is a pain in the butt! however cleaning up bottle bombs might be worse...

 

[peterj]

Make a little spice tincture from vodka and let it sit for a few weeks. Add it to the bottling bucket first before you bottle. You may want to test it in some beer to get an idea of the strength (use an eye dropper and a beer)

Is this for a beer?

If so, the small amount of fermentable sugars needed for bottle carbonation isn't really enough to significantly impact the flavor of the beer.

The problem is accurate measurement. Sugar (corn or table) is quite easy to weigh and then use to make a priming solution to achieve the desired volumes of CO2. Apple concentrate and honey are not. It'll be a crap-shoot.

+1 to both of these. With the small amount you will need to carbonate, you're not going to get much flavor. Definitely no honey flavor and probably no apple flavor either. It would be much easier to just prime with corn sugar and add some flavoring at bottling. If you want the honey or apple flavor, you needed to have incorporated that into the recipe. You can get an apple extract and add some at bottling though. And making a spice tincture with vodka will work for the spice flavor. Just experiment with a similar beer in a glass and scale up how much you add. Then add about 75% of that to the beer before bottling and try it to see if you need more (you can always add more, but you can't take any out).

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

ugh! stove top pasteurizing is a pain in the butt! however cleaning up bottle bombs might be worse...

You can do most if not all of them at once if you do it in a cooler. Put em in the cooler then fill it up with 160f water. Also works to prevent getting hurt if a bottle were to burst.

 

[dirtybasementbrew]

Ty all for the help. It's been 4 weeks in the primary so I'm gonna bottle this weekend that gives me enough time to experiment with the spice concoction. As for flavor MLHBS has a variety of flavor extracts.

 

[Beergazzi]

I was going to try priming an ale with apple juice (Apple Ale?), just to experiment. I figured something along the lines of 2g of priming sugar per bottle, so about 100g (going by memory here) in total (for a 5gal batch / 50 12oz bottles), and was just going to use the nutritional label to figure out how many oz's I needed...never did og through with it.

Also thought about priming a stout with kaluha, or some kaluha, following the same basic math.

 

[seckert]

You can do most if not all of them at once if you do it in a cooler. Put em in the cooler then fill it up with 160f water. Also works to prevent getting hurt if a bottle were to burst.

never thought about doing it in a cooler. I have always done it on the stove in a pot. a cooler would b so much faster. thanks for the idea. I will definitely use this if I pasteurize again.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

never thought about doing it in a cooler. I have always done it on the stove in a pot. a cooler would b so much faster. thanks for the idea. I will definitely use this if I pasteurize again.

Welcome!