BeerSmith™ Home Brewing Forum

BeerSmith Software => Support for v1.4 => Topic started by: GregKelley on October 02, 2008, 08:06:10 AM

Title: Carbonation calculating
Post by: GregKelley on October 02, 2008, 08:06:10 AM

I really like the carbonation calculation.  Its allowed me to be more consistent and get rid of some really high carbonation issues.  Now I just have to dial it up a little more.

Anyway, I see how it recalculates how much to use if you are choosing corn sugar, DME or force carbonating.  What if I'm using honey?  How does that compare?  I have a holiday ale that used 1.75 lbs of honey (among other fermentables) and it was suggested that I use honey to carbonate.  Do I just use the settings for corn sugar?

Title: Re: Carbonation calculating
Post by: UselessBrewing on October 02, 2008, 02:31:34 PM

I have never done this, but I don't see why it would not be feasible.
The Potential's:
Honey is 1.036
Corn Sugar is 1.046
DME is 1.044
It would take a little more Honey to make up for the differences. I'm not sure how much to use, I will have to do some calculations to find out how much. Because there is a difference in the potential's, I would not feel right telling you what setting to use.

I have a great Citris Hef I think I will try this on.

Cheers
Preston

Title: Re: Carbonation calculating
Post by: GregKelley on October 02, 2008, 08:18:44 PM

Thanks Preston.

Its not just the potential, though, its also how clean it ferments.  While the potential for DME and Corn Sugar are real simple, the calculations in BeerSmith show a considerable more amount of DME required for the same carbonation levels.  This is because DME doesn't ferment down as much as corn sugar.

Title: Re: Carbonation calculating
Post by: Blackfriar on October 04, 2008, 04:55:27 PM

In John Palmer's book "How to Brew" there is a table that rates honey as: Extract 38 ppg, Fermentability 95%.  He suggests 4.7 ounces for a 5 gal batch, to give around 2.5 volumes.

Title: Re: Carbonation calculating
Post by: UselessBrewing on October 06, 2008, 07:34:08 AM

Thanks BlackFriar for the info. I will have comb through Palmer's book again. It's a good read and well worth another look.
Cheers
Preston

Title: Re: Carbonation calculating
Post by: GregKelley on October 08, 2008, 11:51:36 AM

Yeah, that is great information.  I don't have his book, yet.  What statistics does he give with regards to corn sugar?  That way I can compare and adjust my formulations accordingly.

Title: Re: Carbonation calculating
Post by: Blackfriar on October 10, 2008, 02:28:58 AM

Greg, He suggests for corn sugar 42 ppg,  100% fermentability and 4 ounces for a five gal batch.

Cheers,
Mike.

Title: Re: Carbonation calculating
Post by: GregKelley on October 16, 2008, 08:30:46 AM

Thanks.  Those numbers will help me determine the corn sugar to honey ratio.  Using BeerSmith to tell me how much corn sugar to use, I can implement the ratio to get a good idea on how much honey to use.