Hello Everyone,
When I brewed a few weeks ago I saved some of the wort and froze it, thinking that I would use this wort for priming.
Has anyone tried this?
I realize that using corn sugar or DME may be easier, but I like the idea of using the original wort for the priming.
Has any one tried doing this?
Any words of wisdom before I embark on this endeavor?
Thanks!
i have not tried it, though i save some for starters. i think it would be fine but a few things i would consider (not sure how relevant) i would still boil it, which you have to melt it anyway, and second, i would dilute/concentrate until it is close to the same specific gravity that corn sugar would give you. that way you should have close to the same carbonation without exploding bottles or poor carbonation. keep good notes and let us know
I’m sure it would work, but you’d need roughly 2 L of 1.040 wort (assuming 75% apparent attenuation) to carbonate a five-gallon batch, and I’d worry about the flavor impact of diluting it that much.
I know you said you like the idea of doing, but I’ve gotta tell ya that after trying it 3 times, I wouldn’t do it again. I found it to be inexact and hard to control the carb level, and it really didn’t produce better beer than using sugar for priming.
+1
Sean and Denny make great points here. While using 3rd runnings for carbonation may not be a great idea–a better one might be to use it for your 2 L yeast starter.
I commonly carbonate with wort. But I use leftover post boil wort. This way I don’t change the beer. I do agree that using the 3rd runnings may change the taste of the beer.
Either way you can use this spreadsheet to calculate carbonation: http://braukaiser.com/documents/Kaiser_carbonation_calculator_US.xls
Kai
Kai,
Yes, now that I think of it, the post-boil wort would make the most sense.
In the end, my wife insisted that I go the kegging route, so that batch is now happily kegged and carbonating under C02.
Thanks to everyone for the ideas …