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Priming Sugar

MTBrewer

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I, personally don't like the idea of priming with corn sugar or white cane sugar. Is there a way to convert the priming calculations from corn sugar to honey or to Jaggery/Piloncillo/Panela? The reason this comes up is that I'm having a difficult time coming up with a precise figure when priming with those options, so sometimes I get underprimed, sometimes perfectly primed, sometimes gushers, and sometimes bottle bombs. Any ideas for conversions?
 
MTBrewer said:
Is there a way to convert the priming calculations from corn sugar to honey or to Jaggery/Piloncillo/Panela?

Greetings MT - if I understand your question, the simple answer is "yes".  If you look in the Carbonation Profiles section of the Profiles tab, you will see a Profile for Honey. Open it and you'll see that honey has a "Carb Rate" of 90.50%.  That number tells us that that Honey carbonates at 90.5% of Corn Sugar, which is pretty much the normal fernentable used for priming.

I did a little research a while back and found that Maple Sugar is 66.5% fermentable as compared to Corn Sugar.  While I believe that calculation is incorrect, my point is if you can find the carbonation rate of the ingredients you mentioned, simply add them as a New Carbonation item in your list of Carbonation ingredients.

Hope this helps!

Good luck!!!
 
Once you have the carb rate relative to corn sugar you can also go to Profiles->Carbonation and actually add a new profile from there.  Adding a new profile here will let you use it in any recipe just like the default ones.

Brad
 
Is this procedure applicable only to the 2.0 and up versions of Beersmith?
 
I don't think your problem is the sugar used for priming it but how you are coming up with a measurement.  Do you bulk prime or prime each bottle.  Do you weigh the priming sugar charge or try to eye ball a volume measure?  Do you know the volume of beer you are priming?  A calculator like this one may be of some help.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

I don't prime to style.  Some styles are too high and some styles are too low.

Bottle bombs are quite often bottling before the fermentation has completed.
 
KellerBrauer said:
MTBrewer said:
Is there a way to convert the priming calculations from corn sugar to honey or to Jaggery/Piloncillo/Panela?

Greetings MT - if I understand your question, the simple answer is "yes".  If you look in the Carbonation Profiles section of the Profiles tab, you will see a Profile for Honey. Open it and you'll see that honey has a "Carb Rate" of 90.50%.  That number tells us that that Honey carbonates at 90.5% of Corn Sugar, which is pretty much the normal fermentable used for priming.

Thanks KellerBrauer for the info .... I see the honey there, and that's a great help for using honey instead of DME/etc., and I've been using honey in the bottling (Carbonation) part of 'Fermentation' in the menu which tells me how much to use for that part.

I did a little research a while back and found that Maple Sugar is 66.5% fermentable as compared to Corn Sugar.  While I believe that calculation is incorrect, my point is if you can find the carbonation rate of the ingredients you mentioned, simply add them as a New Carbonation item in your list of Carbonation ingredients.
There's no info for other sugar products, like molasses, Jaggery, Panela, Piloncillo, maple syrup, date sugar, palm blossom sugar, etc., etc.. I'm willing to do the research, if you can point the way that would help - i.e. where did you get the info for the maple syrup?
 
BeerSmith said:
Once you have the carb rate relative to corn sugar you can also go to Profiles->Carbonation and actually add a new profile from there.  Adding a new profile here will let you use it in any recipe just like the default ones.

Brad
Thanks Brad, just got to see if I find those carb rates - I've been wondering about subbing honey in some recipes, so the above post steered me the right direction for that at least - now, when I get all the different rates together, I'll know how to add them into the profiles!
 
flars said:
I don't think your problem is the sugar used for priming it but how you are coming up with a measurement.  Do you bulk prime or prime each bottle.  Do you weigh the priming sugar charge or try to eye ball a volume measure?  Do you know the volume of beer you are priming?  A calculator like this one may be of some help.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

I don't prime to style.  Some styles are too high and some styles are too low.

Bottle bombs are quite often bottling before the fermentation has completed.
I use BeerSmith for my priming info. I measure it out, dissolve it in a cup or two of water, and then pour it into the bottling bucket - I measure it on a scale, and yes, I know how much volume of beer I have - I use a measuring device in the boil pot before transferring to the bottling bucket. IF the recipe calls for it, I will prime to that carb volume, otherwise, usually 2.0 to 2.3 vols, and BeerSmith figures it out for me!

I usually only make Stouts, Porters, and IPA's and I just go with the original online recipes for carbing info unless I'm experimenting .... then I like to be cautious and go with 2.0 or 2.1 for the first batch of that experiment.

I've only had bottle bombs on a large scale when I primed to each bottle - I ended that right away, even tho it was in the recipe that way! Other than that, I've had very few bottle bombs since, maybe one per batch or so, which I chalk up to a weak bottle (almost always seems to be a Guinness bottle).

One batch was all gushers, never did figure that one out, but then I didn't have the help of BeerSmith at the time - as a matter of fact, that was one of the prime reasons for buying the computer program, to avoid those incidents! Even tho I'm a computer illiterate, BeerSmith has been good to me, and I'll recommend it to anyone with doubts!
 
If you use DME the calculation for simplicity is 1 1/4 cups per 5 gallons. Honey can be a bit of a gamble as different strains of honey have different fermentable properties.
 
BILLY BREW said:
If you use DME the calculation for simplicity is 1 1/4 cups per 5 gallons. Honey can be a bit of a gamble as different strains of honey have different fermentable properties.
Good to know that about the different strains of honey!
I still haven't been able to find the "carb rates" for the other sugars, which is strange, to me, since Jaggery is a popular sugar in India, Palm Sugar is popular in the Middle East, Piloncillo is a popular sugar in Mexican communities, and Panela comes from Central and South America - and I'd venture to guess that many BeerSmith subscribers are using those sugars daily. Any clues as to where I might find that info? I've googled 'carb rates' and 'carbonation rates' for each of the sugars I mentioned, and have not found anything for an answer.
Thanks for the responses!
 
Right or wrong, my rule of thumb has been 3/4c corn sugar for 5 gallons. 1 1/4 cup of DME. I tried honey once and it didn't do the trick for me, it got very "bright" in the bottle. Almost like champagne. I think I used 1/2c of clover honey dissolved in 185 degree water and added to bottling bucket then introduced to wort.
 
I always use the BeerSmith calculation, which is close to 2/3 cup, but I weigh it on a scale cuz it's more accurate than eyeballing. Maybe your 1/2 cup was a little much?  ;D
Winter has slowed me down (in addition to my age), but I'm still looking for those other carb rates - I'll post them if/when I find them!
 
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