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Priming Sugar - Adjust Amount?
Hi. I've just finished my first batch of beer - American Pale Ale from Brewer's Best (birthday gift). I must have had a lot of evaporation during the boil, because when all is said and done, I only got up to 4 gallons (instead of 5) in the bucket before I was at risk of going below the starting gravity. So......when I prepare to bottle in a few weeks, do I use the full amount of sugar in the kit or reduce it by 20% because I have 20% less beer than the 5 gallons?
Any help appreciated. Thanks. -E
take some of the priming sugar out. you don't want to have over carbonated bottles.
Thanks. That's what I thought.
Is it typical to lose that much volume when boiling? I suspect the kettle was too wide creating too much surface for evaporation.
Your kit should come with a set amount of "sugar" in it that would allow you to top off and still hit your OG. That is just an assumption though. I would calibrate your thermometer and hydrometer to make sure both are correct.
Thanks, Andrew. I learn something new every day.
The only extra sugar the kit contained is the priming sugar. I'm probably going straight to recipes on the next batch anyway for this very reason - something is always missing from a kit.
I did not calibrate the hydrometer that day. I did just check it today and it read 1.001.
Thanks again,
-Eric
When I stated "sugar" what I meant was the sugars in your extract to bring you to your specific gravity. Sorry for the confusion.
Ah. I understand.
Unfortunately, it did come with a set amount and required addition of all of it during the boil. Thanks, Andrew.
Taking Andrew's point one step further is he is saying that the amount of extract provided for the kit is the exact amount to provide the necessary sugar concentration for exactly 5 gallons. If you overboiled and evaporated down to 4 gallons, you now have a stronger concentration. By adding distilled water to top off back to 5 gallons is OK, because that is the amount originally intended for the amount of sugar the extract in your kit provided.
In other words if your recipe called for an OG of say 1.050 at 5 gallons, you probably wound up with an OG of 1.062 for 4 gallons. Which is still OK, you will just wind up with a beer of about 6% ABV instead of 5%, as long as you had enough yeast to carry out the higher concentration of sugar during fermentation.
In the future with kits (extract with predetermined sugar volume) top off to the correct recipe volume, and always take good hydro readings. Also keep in mind what Andrew was suggesting was your hydro reading may have been off if you took it at temps higher than 60 degrees. As the temp gets hotter, the hydro may tell you less, although you really have more- have to adjust according to tables for temps at reading.
Thanks, Thirsty. That is a very helpful clarification. When you suggest that I may have overboiled to cause the evaporation, are you thinking that it boiled too hard? I followed the time exactly, so that's the only thing I can think of. A little stronger ABV won't hurt in my book, as long as the flavor wasn't hurt.
I really appreciate all the advice everyone offers here. I've been wanting to get into home brewing for some time and am really looking forward to it. I'm transferring to the carboy tomorrow as I've read that will produce better clarity. Any recommendations in that area? -E
Emusum, you are now wandering into some of the decision point stuff that causes us all to be forum members. The decision to leave your fermenting beer on the yeast cake or immediately go to secondary for clarification is a good example. Most of the kit instructions that I am aware of suggest rather immediate secondary clarification. Personally, I tend to do without secondary and leave my fermenting beer in the primary on the yeast cake for anywhere from 10 to 14 days, and then go from there in to the keg (bottle in your case). Reasons that I do this include letting the yeast ferment out completely without disturbing them and still keeping my yeast concentrations high, and letting the yeast clean up after it self. Clarity is not a primary concern with my beer, but taste is. Ultimately, I have not been disappointed in how the beer looks, but I also ferment in carboys, so there is little or no chance of oxygen leaking in through bucket lid seals or the plastic walls of the bucket itself. That's me, where I am in my "growth" as a brewer. Were I you, I would follow the kit instructions now, and the build on what you get. One thing I know is that you will be impatient to taste that first beer, and will most likely be happy with this first brew. Enjoy your self, try to keep notes if you can, and trust that almost no matter what you do "right" or "wrong," your likely to end up with drinkable beer this time and most of the time you do this. In brewing for five or six years now, I have only had to throw out two batches. One from an equipment malfunction that scorched the beer so badly that the carbon taste totally ruined the beer. The other was an infection that happened just recently I have yet to fully understand. All in all, your beer will get better and better and better, as you learn this art/science. Enjoy.
Fritz
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