Long time "helper", first time brewer

[MichaelJ]

Normally I don't hop on message boards but I have "helped" a friend (drank his beer and critiqued his process) enough to know that you need all the help you can get. The wife unit and I have been hitting up lots of breweries due the purchase of a Hop Passport, and now I wanted to give brewing a whirl myself. Starting small and hoping to nail it with the Brew Demon kit before moving on to bigger and better things. I've got the pilsner fermenting away as we speak at 70 degrees in the basement.

I do have a question about priming sugar. I am going to let the beer set in primary for 2 weeks. Due to other things going on I have to bottle at that time. I am then going to let the beer sit in the 1 liter bottles for 2 weeks. Using the Northern Brewer priming sugar calculator, the standard amount of sugar looks to be about twice what the calculator is saying I should use. I know the PET bottles can handle lots of carbonation, but since I will be in bottles at 70 degrees for 2 weeks, I was wondering should I lower the sugar added to match the czech pilsner found in the calculator. It would end up being ~1 1/4 tsp instead of the 2 1/2 tsp Brew Demon calls out. I would prefer not to over-carbonate just because I will not be able to actively monitor the batch. The batch will also be contained just in case there is a blowout before I can get to it.

[mashani]

Brew Demon and Mr. Beer recommend a lot more priming sugar then is required for many styles. Carb levels are style specific as you noticed on that calculator. But Mr. Beer and Brew Demon have to throw out a one size fits all amount for simplicity. The amount they suggest is more of a wheat beer carb level. I think it's just because Americans are used to really fizzy soft drinks and tend to prefer an over carbonated beer to an under carbonated one and they don't want to hear people complain about "flat" beer.

If you want to be more accurate to style, then use the style appropriate amounts of sugar, like the calculator suggests.

If you know that you prefer more fizz, then go with what Mr. Beer suggests.

I personally generally prefer a slightly undercarbonted beer vs. an overcarbonated one, except in styles where really high carb levels bring balance due to the "bite" (wheat beers, some Belgians), but everyone is different. I like British cask poured beers, which many people would just think of as "flat".

[HerbMeowing]

priming sugar should be weighed not measured ...
that said ... the 1 1/4 tsp dose looks about right

Here's why ...
1 tsp white sugar ~= 4.2g
1 Domino Dot = 2.5g

Back in the day ... I'd carb with Dots and put 2 per 1-L
Carbed it was nice but no way close to fizzy

Now ...
2 Dots = 5g
1 1/4 tsp white sugar = 5.3g
The difference be no biggie.

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[John Sand]

Welcome aboard Michael!

[MichaelJ]

priming sugar should be weighed not measured ...

Eventually I will get to doing everything by weight. I just don't feel like purchasing a scale that does 10th of a gram yet.

[bpgreen]

priming sugar should be weighed not measured ...

Eventually I will get to doing everything by weight. I just don't feel like purchasing a scale that does 10th of a gram yet.

You can get them for less than $10 on Amazon.

[MichaelJ]

Eventually I will get to doing everything by weight. I just don't feel like purchasing a scale that does 10th of a gram yet.

You can get them for less than $10 on Amazon.

Yeah, I know the cost isn't much. I was going to avoid buying at this time but I probably should. I am just being lazy really.

I have a LBK on the way that I am going to use as my bottling vessel. With a priming solution instead of per-bottle sugar I believe I can get away with a slightly less accurate measurement with my current scale. Also I will be able to sterilize the sugar before bottling.

[HerbMeowing]

2nd LBK for bottling must be a good idea b/c I too have one.
Do you have a bottling wand?

[MichaelJ]

I do. I got the Brew Demon kit that included the bottling wand. I have also ordered a BD spigot for use with the tube and wand from the LBK.