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Carbonation calculating

G

GregKelley

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?
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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