So, I have been sharing some of my homebrew, and this has required me to bottle 5 gal of some of my batches. Since bottling 5 gal of kegged and carbonated homebrew is a hassle (and messy), I was hoping to just bottle condition like I used to. The trouble is that my process is quite different from what it had been and the two batches I have bottle-conditioned so far have been horribly over-carbonated. I now cold crash my beer and store it at near-freezing temperatures before bottling. My question is this: if I allow a beer to ferment to completion, then raise the temperature to ambient to help it clean up, and THEN cold crash, do I still need to use less sugar to get proper carbonation? I know the sugar scale Palmer published shows that a lower temperature requires less sugar, but is that true even if the beer has already had a chance to ferment out fully?
And, if anyone cold-crashes and then bottle-conditions, how much sugar do you use for a moderate-high rate of carbonated style like an American Pale Ale or a Kölsch?
I have assumed that the temp in question for priming calculations was the highest post fermentation temp the beer acheived. so if, after fermentation is complete you bring it up to 65-70 to clean up that is the temp you should use in the calculations.
The priming rate charts account for CO2 still dissolved in the beer from fermentation. It will lose CO2 when warmed and that CO2 won’t go back in just because the beer cools down.You’d likely need more sugar if you warm it before crashing.
But in general the temp the bottles are priming are what determines the amount of sugar needed, though you’ll require slightly more sugar as ambient temp goes up.
Seems counterintuitive. But it works for me.
I like bottles in addition to my kegs- especially effervescent beers like Hefe-weizen or Belgian styles.
For the most part, it isn’t going to make a substantial difference, but that could get you in trouble. If you had a lager that never got above 50°F but was being conditioned at 75°F, for example, you’d end up with ~0.4 vol CO2 more than you wanted.
Well the issue is that I have tried this twice with 5 gal batches - first 2/3 cup of corn sugar and then .58 (1/3 plus 1/4 cup) of corn sugar. On both occasions, the beer was decidedly overcarbonated. And on both occasions I brewed an ale that fermented in the high 50’s and was steadily ramped up, then spent over 1 week at ambient after fermentation was complete, then was cold-crashed and kept at 30-34F for at least one week. That amount of sugar would not have overcarbonated beers I had brewed “the old fashioned way” by fermenting without a starter at ambient for 2 weeks, then given 2 weeks in secondary, then bottling. So I really don’t understand what I am doing wrong.
