A LOOK AT PRIMING, CARBONATION & CONDITIONING Issue 1 Sean O Toole MCB Meeting Birmingham 11/03/17
Introduction! Until recently I have only bottled beer. I like to try and carbonate my beer to the style, so have experimented with how bottled beer is primed. Whilst the results have always been drinkable, the results haven t always been what I wanted.! Hence today s discussion.! As part of this, a questionnaire has recently been circulated and the results are covered here at appropriate points. Thanks to the 26 respondents so far.
Packaging our beer! So, we have completed fermentation and we are ready to package our beer.! When we start out brewing most of us bottle all our beer because it requires little investment in equipment a few crown caps, a hand held or bench capper, sanitiser, a syphon, if your FV doesn t have a tap, tubing and the bottles themselves which are often free.! Many of us progress to kegging, either pressure kegs or corny kegs and carbonation is often created through priming or forced with gas bottles.! So what do MCB respondents do?
When packaging your beer do you If you keg beer, what kind of kegs do you use? Only bottle 23.1% Cask 8.7% Bag in a Box 8.7% Other 4.3% Pressure Kegs 17.4% Only keg 3.8% Bottle and keg 73.1% Corny / Corny style kegs 60.9% Total responses = 26 Total responses = 23
Carbonate using a Krausening method 4.3% When kegging, do you. Carbonate using a Krausening method 7.7% When bottling, do you. Neither 7.7% Carbonate with priming sugars 34.8% Force carbonate 60.9% Carbonate with priming sugars 84.6% Neither 0.0% Total responses = 23 Total responses = 26
Cold Crashing?! What is Cold Crashing?! Cold Crashing is the process of rapidly dropping the temperature of the beer before carbonation so that yeast, proteins and other solids fall out of suspension resulting in a clearer beer. It can also reduce chill haze.! It generally requires a temperature controlled cabinet or spare fridge space. Alternatively a bucket of water and ice would do could do the job. In winter placing the FV outside for a day or 2 ill also work.! and MCB respondents?...
Do you cold crash before bottling or kegging? After cold crashing, do you package your beer from cold or allow it to come back to room temp first? Room temp 17.6% No 40.7% Yes 59.3% From cold 82.4% Total responses = 26 Total responses = 17
Carbonation! Typically different beer styles have different amounts of carbonation.! eg: a Traditional German Wheat beer has much more fizz than a English bitter which can have very low amounts of fizz or even be barely more than flat.! The amount of fizz in your beer is commonly measured by the volumes of CO 2 dissolved in the beer.! A volume of CO 2 is the space that the CO 2 would take up at a pressure of one atmosphere (one bar or about 15 psi) and at a temperature of 0 C that s Standard Temperature and Pressure (STP). In other words, if five gallons of beer contained three volumes of CO 2, the CO 2 by itself would occupy three times the space the beer takes up, or 15 gallons. 1! Beer holds more CO 2 when it is cooler or under greater pressure. When you drink a beer, there s usually more CO 2 in the beer than the equilibrium value because it is often stored cooler than than the temperature of the room where it is being served. You then release the pressure by opening the bottle. Eh Viola! The gas comes out of solution and bubbles form. 1. Lauriston, Rob. "Master The Action: Carbonation". Byo.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Mar. 2017. https://byo.com/bock/item/1132-master-the-action-carbonation
Priming! So how much CO 2 is right for different styles. Range Vols of CO 2 Min Max 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Bri=sh Style Ales 1.5 2.0 Porters and Stouts 1.7 2.3 Belgian Ales 1.9 2.4 European Ales 2.2 2.7 Eauropean Lagers 2.4 2.6 American Ales 2.4 2.8 American Lagers 2.5 2.8 Lambics 2.4 2.8 Fruit Lambics 2.5 4.5 German Weizens 3.0 4.0! When kegging, several tables and calculators are available to recommend the pressure to force carbonate the beer at.! The most widely used method of carbonating homebrew is bottle conditioning. It s called conditioning because the beer also matures and ages during this fermentation.! Bottle conditioning is done by fermenting the beer out completely, priming the beer with a small amount of sugar, bottling, and then waiting a couple of weeks for the secondary fermentation to take place 2.! But how much and what type of sugar? 2. Lauriston, Rob. "Master The Action: Carbonation". Byo.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Mar. 2017. https://byo.com/bock/item/1132-master-the-action-carbonation
Priming Amount of Sugar! When I started brewing I saw several references to add a teaspoon of sugar to each bottle. Being an engineer, that didn t sound too precise never mind the mess of adding to each bottle.! Several more experience brewers told me to add 3g per litre.! Initially I brewed with kits and used Carbonation tablets one per bottle. This was fine for some beers but totally unsuitable for say stouts.! The best method of being more precise is to keep notes on how you ve carbonated, and keep track of the results. Record temperatures, handling involved in the process, what you used to prime and how much of it, and any other factors that could affect carbonation.! Research tells me that one of the biggest factors that affects carbonation is the temperature at which bottling occurs.! Assuming primary fermentation is complete, this flat green beer will contain varying amounts of CO 2 already dissolved in it and the amount will depend on the temperature of this flat beer. The CO 2 is dissolved in the green beer as it has had CO 2 bubbling through it continuously during fermentation.! To decide on the amount of priming sugars required, we need to know:! How much CO 2 is already in the green beer! What level of CO 2 do we required in the finished conditioned bottled beer.
Priming Amount of Sugar! The amount of CO 2 saturated in green beer can be estimated as follows 3 : Temp, C Vol CO 2 Temp, C Vol CO 2 0 1.7 10 1.12 2 1.6 12 1.05 4 1.5 14 0.99 6 1.4 16 0.93 8 1.3 18 0.88 10 1.2 20 0.83! Determining the amount of priming sugar is based on the fact that adding 4g of sucrose (cane/beet/granulated sugar) per litre will ferment to give 1 vol of CO 2 3! Example: We wish our final beer to have a final CO 2 volume of 2.4 and our beer has fiinished fermenting and is ready for bottling at 19 C. From the above table this gives us a saturated CO2 volume of 0.9.! If we subtract the initial 0.9 vol. CO2 in the green beer to find that we need another 1.5 vol. CO 2. This is achieved by adding 1.5 x 4 = 6 g/l priming sugar 3. 3. Hibberd, Mark "A Primer On Priming". Brewery.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 10 Mar. 2017. http://www.brewery.org/library/yprimermh.html
Amount of Sugar Online Resources! There are sevaral online priming calculators available to help you calculate the amount of priming sugars. I usually use http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/! There is a disclaimer on their website about the temperature of the beer which is worth reading I wish I had read it before using this calculator!! Other calculators I have experimented with are:! http://kotmf.com/tools/prime.php! http://www.homebrewing.com/ calculators/? page=tools§ion=sugar! http://www.northernbrewer.com/ priming-sugar-calculator! All give priming sugar quantities for different sugars but give slightly different values.
Priming Types of Sugar! Most brewers and most home brew books suggest using white / granulated sugar which is 100% fermentable.! Other sugars can be used but it should be noted that the other sugars are not 100% fermentable and the amount of priming sugars adjusted accordingly. Dry malt extract can be anything from 65-80% fermentable depending on it s source.! Other sugars can give other characteristics to the finished beer such as honey in a Golden Ale or perhaps Dark brown sugar or molasses in say a Russian Imperial Stout.! I have also heard of people rescuing a flat beer in a bottle buy cracking the caps and adding a carbonation tablet and resealing quickly.! Another more involved method of priming beer is a Krausening method which involves adding unfermented or actively fermenting wort to the fermented beer before bottling. I have not covered this as part of this discussion but note that one member has used this method when reviewing the questionnaire feedback. I krausen hoppy beers with wort collected from the kettle, I squeeze the hops, let the trub settle out, then freeze that wort until packaging. Gives good fresh flavour and aroma. Works for kegs and bottles.
Priming How to prime! Priming bottles individually! After you have calculated the amount to add, just spoon it into each bottle before filling with beer.! Potential disadvantage is that you may vary the amount of sugar in each bottle. Also, if your batch is using several sizes of bottle you will need to adjust accordingly for each bottle size.! Batch Priming! Calculate the amount for the entire batch, dissolve it in 300-400 ml of water and bring to the boil, then cool and add to a clean santised FV. Then rack your beer into this FV and bottle from there.! Advantage is that complete batch of beer is primed to the exactly the same amount.! Potential disadvantage is that the more often you rack your beer, then the chance of oxidation increases. Having said that, I have never had this issue.! The recent questionnaire explored priming and the results are covered on the following pages.
When priming for bottling I USUALLY.. I never prime my beer 7.7% When priming I use the following sugars.. Carbonation Drops 8.8% Other 8.8% LME 0.0% Honey 0.0% Batch / Bulk prime 46.2% Prime bottles individually 46.2% DME 8.8% Glucose 5.9% Dextrose (Corn sugar) 11.8% Granulated sugar (Brown, Demerara, etc) 11.8% Granulated sugar (White) 44.1% Total responses = 24 Total responses = 34
Do you vary the amount of priming sugars according to beer style? No 33.3% I do not vary the amount of priming sugars because..*! Habit.! I buy restaurant style sugar sachets (2.5g) so just use one sachet per bottle.! Going on a general guide, 80g is safe for a 40 pint batch.! Because there is no point.! Unecessary. Yes 66.7% *A selection of answers Total responses = 24
What level of carbonation do you like to achieve in your beer? Are you familiar with online priming calculators? Low carbonation / almost flat (eg Bitter, EPA) 18.5% Midcarbonated (eg APA) 25.9% Carbonate according to style 55.6% No 42.3% Yes 57.7% No carbonation 0.0% Very carbonated (eg Weissebeer) 0.0% Total responses = 27 Total responses = 26
Do you use online priming calculators? Please state the online priming calculator you USUALLY use. Yes 23.1% Beersmith / Beersmith2 33.3% No 76.9% http:// www.brewe rsfriend.co m/beerprimingcalculator/ 66.7% Total responses = 26 Total responses = 6
IF you do not use an online calculator but you do vary your priming sugars according to style, please briefly state how you decide on the amount to use.*! I judge by eye with each bottle.! Estimate usually use 80-150g or 1-2 carnonation drops! Home Brew UK book! Decision is based on previous examples of the beer and 36 years experience (some may say guesswork!)! Experience-Usually 3grams per litre unless something like a Weissbeer when I use 4 grams per litre.! I normally go with 3g per litre if the beer is at FG, but will add more for more carbonated styles.! Experience! Experience-Usually 3grams per litre unless something like a Weissbeer when I use 4 grams per litre. *A selection of answers IF you also keg beer AND you use priming sugars in the keg, do you. When kegging I do not use priming sugars 41.2% Use the SAME amount of priming sugars as when bottling 23.5% Use DIFFERENT amount of priming sugars as when bottling 35.3% Total responses = 17
Conditioning! Our beer has been primed, now it is just a matter of time?! Well, yes and no. We can help the beer along.! A period of warm conditioning helps to carbonate the beer say a week at room temperature followed by a period of cooler conditioning helps to clear the beer and smooth out the flavour.! The total conditioning period varies according to the beer It can be as quick as a few weeks from bottling but for heavily hopped or high ABV beers this can be several months.! and our respondents said.
After priming, do you consider how to store your beer during condition phase How do you store your beer after bottling / kegging for the conditioning phase? No 4.2% At ambient temp in the garage 15.2% Spare unheated room 15.2% Dedicated temp controlled cabinet / fridge 27.3% Yes 95.8% Warm room 42.4% Total responses = 24 Total responses = 34
Do you monitor / control the temperature of the area in which the beer is conditioning? What temperature do you aim to condition your beer at? 7 6 Note: where the response was a range, the central figure has been recorded (eg: 16-20 is recorded as 18) Total responses = 19 5 No 53.8% Yes 46.2% No of responses 4 3 2 1 0 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Room temp Total responses = 26 Target Conitioning Temperature, C
After the conditioning phase, how do you store your beer? Pantry 15.4% Spare room / garage at ambient temp 61.5% Dedicated temp controlled cabinet / fridge 23.1%! After bottling kegging 2wks at 19-21C, 1-2 wks at 1-3, then 13C until drank or into stotrage at ambient.! I will use a spare room for cool conditioning if the ambient temperature is circa 12c! Beer may may take 3 months to condition without priming but to me this is satisfactory. Total responses = 26
Priming An experiment!!!!!!!!! I recently did an experiment where following cold crashing for 4 days, I then bottled my beer at two different temperatures. Half (9L) was bottled immediately when it came out of the fridge at 2-3 C. The other half (12L) was bottled 24 hrs later when the temperature of the beer had risen to 15 C. Both were targetting 2.3 vols of CO2 Both were batch primed using the brewers friend calulator as a guide. Beer style: American Amber recipe based on a BrewDog 5am Saint receipe but tweaked by me. OG: 1047 FG 1009 ~ABV 5.0% Bottling Date: 13-14 Feb 2017 Result: You decide samples available today.
Conclusions! Several home brewers go on experience. It works for them.! There is no right or wrong. If it works for you, great.! By far the most common sugar used for priming is white granulated sugar (cane or beet).! Online priming calculators are a useful resource but beware, they all give varying results, so if using them, use them as a guide and as your experience grows, couple the calculators information with that.! The temperature at bottling does affect the final carbonation of the bottled beer but in my experiments the effect is not as great as the online calculators would suggest. Useful links! https://byo.com/bock/item/1132-master-the-action-carbonation! http://www.brewery.org/library/yprimermh.html