Corn Sugar, or dextrose, is used to "prime" your beer to produce natural carbonation in the bottle. "Priming" is the act of adding a small amount of fresh fermentable sugar to the beer just before bottling so that the residual yeast will consume it and produce carbonation in the sealed bottle. We recommend corn sugar for this purpose because it is easy for the yeast to consume and has a neutral flavor profile, meaning it will leave your beer tasting the way you designed it!
Use 4 or 5 oz of corn sugar to prime 5 gallons prior to bottling. Dissolve in 1-1.5 pints of water and boil for 5 minutes to sanitize prior to mixing with your beer.
If your fermentation ended at 68F it will retain about 1 volume of CO2. If it ended at 50F it will retain about 1.2 volumes of CO2. 4 oz in 5 gallons adds 1.48 Volumes of CO2. 5 oz adds 1.84 volumes of CO2 to 5 Gallons.
Suggested CO2 Levels:
- Cask Ales 1.5 to 2.0
- Ales 2.3 to 2.6
- Lagers 2.4 to 2.6
- Highly Carbonated Beers 3.0+
- Champagne is 6.3 and requires a special bottle.
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Multiply volumes x 1.96
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Dextrose Needed (lbs.) = (Actual Volume * (Target Gravity – Actual Gravity)) / 0.042