I have a recipe that calls for 1 1/4 cup of Extra light DME for bottling after fermentation is complete. Is DME better for priming instead of priming sugar (Corn Sugar 1lb)? What is the difference in using DME or priming sugar for bottling?
IMO, you’re better off using a fully fermentable sugar for bottle priming (like corn sugar or table sugar). I’ve never used DME for bottle priming, and I’m sure it works fine, but since it doesn’t ferment out fully it is more likely to have a flavor impact on your finished beer. I can’t see any reason why you would need to use DME instead of corn/table sugar for bottle priming.
Unless you want those unfermentable sugars for flavor/balance issues. Germans typically use wort to bottle prime, so I don’t see any reason not to use DME, except for cost. If you’re using a lot of sugar to prime (like 0.75lbs for a Belgian beer @ 5 bar) maybe DME would be a better way to go.
DME takes longer to carb the beer than sugar and you have to know the fermentability of the DME in order to predict the level of carbonation. A PITA IMO. DME offers no benefits in taste or quality of carbonation, I found in an experiment I did years back. I’d say stick with sugar.
A better alternative to DME would probably be freezing or canning some wort out of the kettle and using it to carbonate (krausening). Basically no additional work, and by bottling time you already know the fermentability.
Just adding fresh wort would be using “speise.” Adding actively fermenting wort would be Kraeusening. Although auf Deutsch “speise” means “food,” which can mean dextrose or sucrose as well.
Danke. I tried to google it but couldn’t remember the spelling. Mein Deutsch ist schlecht.
I’m learning German so I can be obnoxiously pedantic in twice as many languages.
Also known as “priming with gyle”. Tried it a couple times. Kind of a pain and it didn’t work any better than sugar.
My .02 I have primed with DME. it took longer and I didn’t notice a difference in taste. If you are hung up on the beer purity laws then go for it.
Also tabel sugar over corn. I don’t see any difference. I believe table sugar to be ever so slightly more fermentable by weight than corn sugar and there are resources on the web to give you those numbers. I believe northern brewer has a chart on line.
one other thing;
unless you are doing a very large batch 1 lb of corn sugar is too much. you are generally in the 4-6 oz range for a 5 gallon batch, maybe a bit more for highly carbed beers like belgians a bit less for low carb beers like barley wines. 1 lb is going to net you bottle bombs for sure.
Good info for sure, but I wanted to add my .002 cents:
I “primed with Gyle” for a couple of years (I’m a notoriously slow troubleshooter)… and I finally determined that it wasn’t worth the trouble. Because the fermentability of different worts is going to be widely diverse, it is quite unpredictable. Kai once posted a formula to accurately predict the amount of wort needed, which was way more complicated (but probably more accurate) than the formula I was using. Anyway, after years of bottle bombs and gushers, I gave it up and have been using DME with great results. However, I like that Denny has experimented and determined that Corn Sugar is just as good, if not better (and cheaper) than DME… I will probably switch to that. If table sugar gets more votes, I might consider that as well, however I am a tad nervous about that…
Table sugar works just as well as corn sugar, and it’s a lot cheaper. Go for it.
Also with DME you might end up with a small aesthetically displeasing krausen ring in your bottles.
I only use cane sugar. Cheap, reliable and has no flavor impact.
I’ve been going with one ounce of corn sugar per gallon. It might be a slight bit higher than needed, but my beers don’t last long enough to become bottle bombs anyway (I only brew 3.5 gallons ATM, and I share a lot). In fact, I’ve only ever had one explode, and that one was given to a buddy who left it in his car in the summer time for three days. If anyone goes “gasp, horror” over that, do tell.
Get a digital scale that goes down to grams though, don’t use a measuring cup.
I can’t see any reason to use DME. That would be a PITA.
1oz per gallon would usually be about 1.9 volumes of carbonation, not counting any residual CO2. The only way you’d get into trouble with that much is if you brewed a beer at 40* and it never got any warmer than that.
Yeah Purity Laws, before kegging used DME exclusively. I can’t imagine the cost be a factor to a home brewer between DME, corn sugar or table sugar. Use what makes you feel good!