I’m working on my first batch ( 5 gallons of IPA) and am trying to figure out how much dextrose I should add…I’ve seen 4ozs, 5oz, and everything in between. It seems that there isn’t one simple answer out there. Can someone help me? My beer is fermenting at about 70 degrees F (give or take) according to the self stick thermometer I have attached to my fermenting bucket. When I prepare the mixture, how much water should I melt the sugar in, before adding it to the bottom of the priming bucket?
Don’t bottle it too soon. No sooner than 2.5 weeks from brew day. If you plan to dry hop in a secondary vessel, don’t do it sooner than 2 weeks from brew day.
On bottling day, determine how much sugar to add to the bottling bucket based on how much beer you actually transferred to the bottling bucket. There are plenty of internet based calculators that will tell you how much sugar to add or you can ask here when you get to that point.
I suggest going to howtobrew.com and checking out the free book on line. Read the section on bottling.
The amount to add depends on how much beer and desired level of carbonation. Dont consider the beer done by a time line or by airlock activity. Two gravity checks a few days apart that are the same number means you are probably done. Then bottle a couple days after that. Two or three remaining points can make a big difference and you end up with overcarbonation.
There are too many variables to give you an absolute rule of thumb. Use a calculator like the one above and you’ll be much better off for it.
I dissolve my sugar in the least amount of water needed. Generally its an ounce or two of water for every ounce of sugar.
Make sure you stir in your dissolved priming sugar with a sanitized spoon. Otherwise it may not mix evenly, and some bottles will be overcarbonated and some will be under.
The average homebrewer uses too much priming sugar. 4 oz sugar, or 2/3 cup, in 5 gallons is plenty, I promise. Dissolve it in about 2 cups water (plus or minus a little), bring it to a boil, cool off a little, and dump it into your bottling bucket. Then rack your beer onto it. Pretty easy.