Priming sugar, for those who bottle their homebrew, is the sugar you add at bottling time to carbonate (prime) the beer. A given beer's level of carbonation is measured in "Volumes of CO2", which are defined by the style it is. Each style has it's own ideal level of carbonation, and in a competition, a properly carbonated beer can be the difference between winning and falling a few points short. Besides that, having a properly carbonated beer is more enjoyable than one that is a bit flat or one that is gushing out onto the counter. But how much priming sugar should you actually use? Well, there are a few factors to take into account.
Checking out the style guidelines for the beer your making is a great place to start, both for flavor profiles and recipe building, but for carbonation levels as well. Here is a basic overview of major styles and their "acceptable" volumes of CO2 ranges:
| Style | Volumes of CO2 |
| British Style Ales | 1.5 - 2.0 volumes |
| Belgian Ales | 1.9 - 2.4 volumes |
| American Ales and Lager | 2.2 - 2.7 volumes |
| Fruit Lambic | 3.0 - 4.5 volumes |
| Porter, Stout | 1.7 - 2.3 volumes |
| European Lagers | 2.2 - 2.7 volumes |
| Lambic | 2.4 - 2.8 volumes |
| German Wheat Beer | 3.3 - 4.5 volumes |
Current Volumes of CO2 + Added Volumes of CO2 (from priming sugar) = Final Volumes of CO2.
There is obviously more than goes into it numbers-wise than that, but the important take away here is that after fermentation there are already some volumes of CO2 in your beer. You add a specific amount of priming sugar to bring the volumes of CO2 up to your final level.
So now we have a grasp of volumes of CO2, and know that there is some amount of dissolved CO2 already in your finished beer. The amount of dissolved CO2 is related to the highest temperature that your beer ever was, not its current temperature. If you have a fermentation chamber, that's good, as you set the temperature for the beer and it's going to be within just a couple of degrees of that. If you fermented in your living room or basement, you'll have to make a rough approximation. Remember that the temperature does rise a few degrees during active fermentation. The higher the temperature was, the less CO2 is in suspension. It's similar to how you finish the conditioning process for your beer in the fridge for a few days. This allows the beer to absorb more CO2 before serving. Without this cold period, there is some CO2 in the headspace of the beer and it may seem to be under carbonated when serving closer to room temperature. If I put my whole carboy in the fridge, will it absorb CO2 back into solution? Some, but remember that a sealed beer bottle is a different environment than an "open" carboy, where gas can escape through the airlock. Most of that CO2 that was expunged is now gone through the airlock and can't be reclaimed into the beer with a colder temperature. Here are a few base points for volumes of CO2 based on it's highest temperature:
| Highest Temperature (F) | Volumes of CO2 in Suspension (roughly) |
| 65 | 0.91 Volumes |
| 68 | 0.86 Volumes |
| 72 | 0.80 Volumes |
| 75 | 0.78 Volumes |
As you can see the being a few points off on an estimation won't drastically ruin your calculations, with a 10 degree difference representing a 0.13 difference in Volumes of CO2, but it's important to keep in mind.
We have all the parts and understanding we need to begin putting it all together. It's time to calculate how much priming sugar you will need to use. Before going into this step, make sure you have the ability to weigh ounces out to at least the hundredth place. Some places may give you a volume measurement but these can be inaccurate, so weight is the preferred measurement. Note: The following process is for priming with corn sugar (priming sugar). Step One: Choose your desired volumes of CO2 and subtract the current suspended CO2. In this example, I want to carbonate my 72 degree (remember highest temp reached) brown ale to be 2.75 volumes of CO2. So we look at the chart and see it's sitting at roughly 0.81 volumes.
2.75 - 0.80 = 1.94 (we need to add 1.94 volumes of CO2 via fermentation in the bottle).
Step Two: 0.54 ounces of corn sugar adds one volume of CO2 to 1 gallon of beer. Next we need to take that 1.94 we got earlier and multiply it by 0.54. This will give us the amount of priming sugar we need to add to reach 2.75 volumes of CO2 in one gallon of beer. If you only made one gallon of beer, you're done, this will be your final weight to add. If you made more there is one more step.
1.94 X 0.54 = 1.0476 (ounces of priming sugar per gallon)
Step Three: Do what yeast does... Multiply. Multiply the number above by the number of gallons you want to prime. Then you're done!
1.0476 X 5 (gallons) = 5.23 (ounces of priming sugar)
Important Note: Remember to calculate for the amount of beer you're bottling, not the amount of wort that went to the fermenter. There is trub loss to account for etc.
Now you're ready to prime your beer yourself, and understand the numbers behind some of the online calculators if you go that route.
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