Dextrose for carbonation. Natural saturation method

One of the stages in the preparation of intoxicating drinks is the saturation of beer with carbon dioxide during its maturation. This technological stage is called carbonation. Otherwise it is called carbonization. During this process, the drink matures and changes its palatability. This technological stage has several ways of carrying out. At home, natural carbonization is most often used to carry out the process, in industrial production- forced. Forced carbonization of beer at home can be carried out using special cylinders filled with CO2.

What is natural beer carbonation?

Natural carbonation is the process by which beer is saturated with carbon dioxide in sealed container. To do this, use special dry ingredients. They are called primers. The range of raw materials for home soda product is wide enough. Buy necessary ingredients you can in online stores selling raw materials for brewing. The most popular primer for homebrewers is corn-derived sugar. Most often it is replaced with reed.

Primers such as honey, molasses, and malt extract are also popular. Can be used in process different kinds syrups. Especially popular among them are chocolate and maple. Each of the primers has its own specific features and is intended for the preparation of certain varieties of hop product.

corn sugar

Adding this raw material to the foam product does not change its taste. Its aroma does not change either. Such an absolute advantage of the primer is explained by the fact that the sugar obtained from corn is completely dissolved during the carbonation process.

Before laying raw materials in young beer, it dissolves in a small amount water. The prepared mixture is boiled for 5 minutes.

In a young product, boiled syrup is added chilled. The solution is poured into container for bottling the product and thoroughly mixed with a hoppy drink. The dosage of the primer depends on the type and type of beer. It influences the choice of raw materials and the temperature of the drink recommended for its storage and consumption:

• for a drink with t 18-22 0 C, it is recommended to add 177 ml of solution per 23 liters of beer;
• for "ice" beer, 230-240 ml of sweet solution is taken per 23 liters of beer.

When the temperature rises, bottles of carbonated "ice" drink become explosive. It is necessary to closely monitor the process and control temperature changes.

The carbonization period with corn primer is completed within 1-2 weeks. A serious disadvantage of raw materials is their ability to cause diabetes. Beverages containing corn sugar should be consumed with extreme caution.

Malt extract

It is added to young beer in the form of syrup. Prepared from:

• 295 ml malt extract;
• 568 ml of drinking water.

The syrup prepared from the extract differs from other primers in more low degree sucrose concentration.

The dosage of the syrup is similar to the first version of the carbonization of the product.

The duration of carbonation is from 10 to 14 days. The primer is recommended for dark varieties foam product.

Other primers

• Honey. Used in the form of syrup. Dosed in the ratio of 118 ml of solution per 23 liters of beer. The carbonation period is from 10 to 14 days.
• Syrup. It is used in the preparation of a dense porter and an imperial statute. Dosage is the same as honey. The duration of the carbonization process is from 1 to 2 weeks.
• Brown sugar. Dosage and method of preparation is similar to corn.
• syrups. Can be used for any kind of beer.

Three different methods beer carbonation:

Usage regular sugar for carbonating a young drink can lead to souring of the product and acquiring the taste of kvass.

Replace regular sugar maybe dextrose. It is the most common glucose.

What is forced carbonation?

Young beer contains enough a large number of non-fermented substances
which, with the help of carbonization, dissolve during the ripening process when using carbonation of the drink. Forced carbonation is used in almost all industrial breweries. Saturation of the hop product with carbon dioxide is carried out when it is bottled. This method has its drawbacks:

• A hoppy drink with a high gravity may form a precipitate.
• In 1516, the Reinheitsgebot law was passed in Germany, which obliges brewers to use only dry primers for carbonation of foam products. This requirement is relevant for those who seek to comply traditional technologies brewing hop product.

Most homebrewers ignore the requirements of German legislation, which is advisory for them. Its implementation makes sense only for those who want to meet the standard. There are two methods of pressurized young product carbonation that can be used in home cooking practice.

Any pressurized beverage carbonation process requires rigorous calculations.

The amount of CO² added to a drink depends on its temperature and pressure. For each type of foam product, there is a corresponding level of carbonation:

• For ales - 1.9-2.3;
• For lagers brewed according to german technology — 2,4-2,7;
• Australian and Japanese lagers - 2.7-3.0;
• Wheat beer - 2.7-3.0.

On average, the carbonization process at room temperature takes from 1-2 weeks to 1 month.

What is useful to know:

• Glucose can be added to carbonate at home directly into the bottles during bottling. It dissolves perfectly and contributes very effectively to the maturation process.
• As a primer, you can use part of the wort used to prepare the drink before adding yeast to it.

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Beer carbonation: dextrose or malt wort. What's better?:

The characteristic pop when opening the bottle and a slight smoke from the neck appear due to carbon dioxide. The process of saturation of beer with carbon dioxide is called carbonization. The factories use special containers - after-fermentation tanks, in which beer ferments under high pressure but it is an expensive technology. At home, the most popular way to carbonate beer is to use a primer, a substance that contains sugars, which in turn cause re-fermentation.

You can visually determine the degree of carbonization of beer by the number of bubbles in a glass with a freshly poured drink: the more bubbles, and they rise more rapidly from the bottom up, the more carbon dioxide is saturated in the beer. The second proxy is head height, but head is more affected by malt and mash quality than by carbonation.

You can artificially carbonate home-brewed beer with a bottle of carbon dioxide ( forced carbonation). This requires special equipment: kegs, fitting, cylinder itself and reducer. Also, periodically the installation will have to be filled with carbon dioxide.

An example of equipment for the carbonization of beer in kegs

Advantages of the technique: the beer is transparent and without yeast sediment and kegs are easier to transport over long distances. Disadvantages - equipment for aeration is not cheap and requires correct use, after bottling beer from kegs to bottles, the shelf life is a maximum of a couple of weeks.

The easiest and cheapest way to carbonate home beer is to add some sugars to the fermented wort to cause a slight re-fermentation, resulting in a natural carbon dioxide. The disadvantage is that a yeast sediment forms at the bottom of the bottle, which cannot be removed with improvised means.

How to prepare a primer for beer

For gassing, the brewed and fermented beer is drained from the sediment into clean fermentation tank with pre-added one of the 5 types of primer.

1. Beet sugar or honey. Most affordable way. It takes 7 grams of sugar or 5 grams of liquid honey per 1 liter of beer. A significant disadvantage of carbonation with sugar (honey) is that the beer is almost guaranteed to have a leavened aftertaste.

Sugar is the worst primer

2. Fructose. It is a sugar derived from sweet fruits, not from beets. The main benefit of fructose carbonation is less kneady flavor. The correct dosage is 8 grams per 1 liter of beer.

3. Dextrose (glucose). Under two different names, one substance is hidden - dextrose is glucose in powdered form. Carbonization of beer with dextrose (requires 8 grams per 1 liter) gives even less beer (kvass) taste than sugar and fructose.

The syrup is easier to add and less risk of contaminating the beer

Sugar, fructose and dextrose can be poured dry directly into the bottle, but in order not to infect the beer with pathogenic microorganisms and speed up fermentation, it is better to make a syrup: mix right amount primer in grams with the same amount of water in milliliters, bring to a boil, boil for 5-10 minutes over low heat, removing the foam. Cover the finished syrup with a lid, cool to room temperature and add to the beer.

4. Malt extract (concentrate). Sold in brewing shops, it is a saccharified and boiled wort, from which a maximum of liquid has been evaporated. It is better to use unhopped concentrate. To carbonate 1 liter of beer, 9-12 grams of extract is required (the higher the quality, the less). It is desirable to cook syrup according to standard technology (described above). Does not give foreign smells and tastes. The disadvantage is that the concentrate must be purchased separately.

5. Young must. Most correct method, usually experienced brewers use the word “primer” to mean the carbonation of beer with wort, since in this case a pure taste is obtained, and the primer itself is easy to make at home.

Technology: in the last minutes of brewing (after adding aromatic hops), 10% of the wort is poured into a clean, sterilized container, for example, a jar, hermetically sealed and left in the refrigerator. After the beer has fermented, the wort is added for carbonation and mixed.

When carbonizing with wort, the main thing is not to forget to leave a primer

Beer with a primer is closed with a water seal for 30 minutes to activate fermentation, after which the drink is bottled, corked and transferred to maturation. The remaining brewer's yeast in the wort will cause a re-fermentation, which will saturate the drink with carbon dioxide. The beer carbonation time depends on the recipe and the degree of carbonation desired, usually 14-35 days.

» Beer carbonation primer

Calculator for beer carbonation with sugars

The calculator will determine the level of carbonation based on the type and amount of added sugar, including the residual amount of CO2 present in the beer due to fermentation temperature. In addition, it will calculate the additional alcohol obtained from the fermented sugar. The calculator supports dextrose, table sugar(sucrose), honey, dry and liquid malt extracts. Sugar is added during bottling. Residual yeast in the beer ferments the introduced sugar, which leads to the formation of CO2 and the natural carbonation of the beer.

A guide to carbonizing beer styles

See also:

• Step-by-step instructions for preparing a primer and carbonizing beer
• Download excel calculator for beer carbonation with fermentable sugars (available for VIP users)

* Beer temperature is used to calculate dissolved CO2:
The beer you are about to add sugar to already contains some CO2, as it is a natural by-product of fermentation. The amount of CO2 depends on the temperature of the beer, CO2 dissolves better in colder beer than in less. The addition temperature is usually the fermentation temperature of the beer, but other temperatures can also be used. If the fermentation temperature and the current primer application match, then it is enough to indicate the current temperature for the calculation.

However, in practice, it happens that the fermentation temperature may be higher or lower than the current temperature of the beer due to a diacetyl rest, or cold aging of the beer, or the temperature has changed for some other reason.... In this case, you will need to decide which specify optimum temperature, which is the most appropriate for the calculation. During cold aging, some CO2 will dissolve into the beer. If your cold aging lasts too long for a long time, then this can affect a significant increase in dissolved CO2.

This calculator uses the following equation to calculate CO2:
CO2 in beer = 3.0378 - (0.050062 * temp) + (0.00026555 * temp^2)

The calculator shows the CO 2 level before adding sugar. Since during the fermentation process, a certain amount of CO 2 is retained in the beer. The amount of dissolved CO 2 directly depends on the temperature.

Do not exceed the primer!
The calculator tells you the approximate amount of sugar needed to raise your CO2 level from start to finish.
Increased carbonation leads to a number of problems, such as excessive foaming of the beer, bursting of bottles and swelling of caps.

Note on sugars: Corn sugar and dextrose are one and the same. Dextrose is the most popular primer sugar. Table sugar is also used, and it is believed that corn sugar this is 91% of the table. And table sugar contains 100% sucrose. Dry malt extract (DME) is another option. This calculator uses 68% DME from sucrose.

The content of carbon dioxide directly affects the perception of beer - lightness, freshness, drinkability, in addition, it will help convey a magnificent aromatic bouquet, form a head of foam and, in general, emphasize the merits of your drink. Mistakes made during carbonization can, on the contrary, spoil the impression even about great beer. Insufficiently carbonated beer is characterized as flat, empty, stale, and foam formation is impossible without carbonation. Excessive carbonation leads to a number of other problems - excessive foaming during filling, broken corks and, in the worst case, even bottle explosions. However, using correct calculations and following certain procedures, it is not so difficult to achieve the desired degree of carbonation.

Typically, the level of carbonation is measured in volume fractions (hereinafter referred to as "volumes") or in grams per liter of dissolved carbon dioxide. If everything is intuitive with grams per liter, then the physical meaning of CO2 volumes is that a given amount of the same volumes of gas is dissolved in a certain volume of beer. For example, at a carbonization level of 2 volumes of CO2, 2 liters of carbon dioxide are dissolved in each liter of beer. Changing from one unit of measure to another is very simple: CO2 (volumes) = CO2 (g/l) / 1.96. Because the exact counts in this case are not required, coefficient 1.96 is rounded up to 2.

Most beers are carbonated at 2-3 volumes of CO2 (or 4-6 g/l), although there are exceptions. Traditional examples include English cask ales, where there is virtually no noticeable carbonation, and German wheat beers, where, on the contrary, carbonation levels can reach up to 5 volumes of CO2. Choosing the desired level of carbonation can be based on both stylistic guidelines and your own preferences. Below are the levels of carbonation and their approximate ranges of carbon dioxide content (in volumes).

• Low: 1.5 - 2.2
• Medium: 2.2-2.6
• High: 2.6- 4.0

There are two main ways of introducing carbon dioxide into beer - natural and forced. Each of them has its own specifics, advantages and disadvantages, and both are widely used in home and industrial brewing.

With natural carbonation, beer is saturated with carbon dioxide produced by yeast during its natural metabolism. So in commercial brewing, when the visible extract in the fermenting beer is 1-1.5 Plato higher than the final one, the discharge of CO2 from the fermentation tank is blocked, and the resulting high blood pressure carbon dioxide remains in the beer. IN home brewing in this form, the method is used very rarely, which, first of all, is due to the high cost of equipment, which must withstand and allow the pressure in the tank to be adjusted to at least 1.5 bar, as well as control and maintain the set temperature, have safety valves etc.

However, most homebrewers carbonize their beer. naturally. Usually, carbonization is carried out immediately in the final container (bottles), although nothing prevents it from being carried out in a keg. The method is based on the results of studies of the fermentation process, which indicate that during the fermentation of 1 g of glucose by yeast cells, in particular, 0.49 g of carbon dioxide is released. Based on this, it is possible to calculate what residual amount of fermentable sugars is necessary so that when fermentation continues in a hermetically sealed closed container, saturate the beer with carbon dioxide to the selected level.

However, pouring unfermented beer from the fermenter into bottles would be too risky - insufficient measurement accuracy, combined with poor predictability of the final degree of fermentation, will lead to a completely uncertain and unstable result. Therefore, to carbonize in this way (commonly referred to as post-fermentation in bottles), the beer is first allowed to ferment completely in the fermenter, and then, after adding precisely measured amounts of fermentable sugars, it is bottled and sealed. As a result, all the carbon dioxide formed during the fermentation of additional sugars remains in the beer.

Fermentable sugars can be either pure sugars (glucose or sucrose) or other sugar-containing products, such as honey or juice, if you want to complement the taste of future beer with them. One of the varieties of sugars are - this is the same sugar, only in a form convenient for adding to bottles. Excellent results obtained by carbonization of beer with wort, which was previously selected after brewing. It is convenient to select the wort in disinfected ones, which are kept chilled (in the refrigerator) or, even better, frozen during the fermentation of the main batch of beer.

Whatever carbonation ingredient you use (with the exception of hard candies, where recommended amounts are usually given by the manufacturer), the main question is how much should be added? To find out, you can use one of the carbonization calculators available on the Internet. If you do not trust calculators or like to play with the numbers yourself, then the amount of the ingredient being added is easy to calculate manually. To do this, you need to know the ratio of the content of fermentable sugars in it.

Ordinary granulated sugar 100% fermented, i.e. its coefficient is 1. Glucose (), mainly sold as monohydrate and contains about 10% water, so it must be taken into account with a coefficient of 0.9. When using or malt extracts, it is better to check with the manufacturer's data, but if they are not available, it can be taken as 0.68 and 0.49, respectively. When using the original wort, to find its coefficient, you need to multiply the initial extract (in Plato or percentage of sugar content) by the actual (real) degree of fermentation (do not confuse with the apparent!) and divide by 100. For example, the initial extract of your wort is 15%, the actual degree of fermentation was 61%, then the wort contains 15 * 0.61 = 9.15% fermentable sugars, i.e. the coefficient is 0.0915.

It is also necessary to take into account the residual carbon dioxide content in the beer after fermentation. Despite the fact that the beer in the fermenter does not look carbonated, quite a lot of carbon dioxide is already dissolved there. The more carbon dioxide left in the fermented beer, the less it needs to be added during bottle fermentation. At atmospheric pressure, the amount of residual carbon dioxide is directly related to the temperature of the beer. At a temperature of 25 ° C, fermented beer contains 0.76 volumes of carbon dioxide, at 20 ° C - 0.86, at 15 ° C - 1.02, at 10 ° C - 1.18. Other values ​​can be calculated approximately or found in the carbonization tables (use the column for 1PSI/0.07Bar).

Please note that if the primer is quite voluminous, such as wort, you need to calculate the amount of primer for the entire volume. finished product, including the one that the primer itself will introduce.

To avoid possible contamination of bottled beer, it is better to boil the primer for 10-15 minutes. This applies to both the wort that has been stored since the boil, as well as glucose and sugar (don't even count on them being sterile). Sugar, before boiling, of course, will need to be dissolved in a suitable amount of water. The cooled primer can be applied to each bottle by measuring, for example, with a syringe. This method is extremely time consuming, although it has several advantages - accurate dosing of the primer, reduced contact of beer with atmospheric oxygen, and potentially less chance of infection.

An alternative is to primer the beer, followed by bottling. In this case, to reduce the negative effects, it is better to pour the primer into an additional container (previously disinfected), pour beer onto the primer, during which they mix, and then bottling. This will also help to avoid spilling yeast into the bottles as you don't have to stir the beer and primer in the primary container. While too much bottled yeast is not desirable, too little of it can be Negative consequences. Usually yeast contained even in seemingly transparent homemade beer, quite enough for normal carbonization. The exception is beer that has been lagered (i.e., aged for a long time at a low temperature). In this case, the kreuzening technique can be used for carbonization, when the wort that is in the active stage of fermentation and contains a large amount of fresh healthy yeast is used as a primer, otherwise all processes are identical.

After bottling, the beer must be kept at a temperature close to the temperature of the main fermentation (for ales it is quite acceptable room temperature). Typically bottled carbonation takes about 2 weeks. When bottling in PET, the process of saturation with carbon dioxide can be controlled by the hardness of the bottles. When bottling in glass containers this is not possible, which is why some homebrewers deliberately pour one control PET bottle.

If there is a problem with under or over carbonation, the following points should be addressed first:

• caps leaking (this leads to carbon dioxide leakage, often happens with caps for PET bottles, it is easy to check by placing the bottle under water);
• the bottles are stored at too low a temperature (carbonization must take place at a temperature corresponding to the operating range for yeast);
• not enough yeast (perhaps if you have lagered the beer, you will have to wait a very long time long time or contribute fresh yeast);
• incorrect amount of sugars added (measure the amount of primer only by weighing, because due to different bulk density, measurement with circles, spoons, etc. leads to very inaccurate results);
• a lot of free space above the beer in the bottle (because the gas fills this free space, less of it will dissolve in the beer);
• the beer is not fully fermented before bottling (start bottling only after making sure that the fermentation is over, otherwise more fermentable sugars will end up in the bottles than you think);
• contamination (the metabolism of beer contaminants is different from that of yeast, they can process non-yeast fermentable sugars and release more carbon dioxide, which leads to overcarbonation or hashing).

Often a low carbonation beer can be salvaged by adding a little more sugar (or yeast) to the bottles, and an over-carbonated beer can be saved by slowly bleeding the bottles off. Also, with abundant foaming due to high carbonation, the bottles can be cooled more, this will slow down the release of carbon dioxide and, accordingly, reduce foaming during pouring.

As you can see, bottled carbonation is not difficult process. The disadvantages of this method are the long carbonization time and the large amount of yeast in the finished beer. At the same time, it has a number of advantages. Firstly, during bottle fermentation, the yeast partially recycles oxygen, which inevitably got into the bottles during pouring, as well as other by-products left after the main fermentation, which will positively affect the taste of beer. Secondly, this method does not require the purchase of additional expensive equipment. Thirdly, when carbonating in bottles, you immediately get a product that is convenient to take with you, cool in the refrigerator or give to friends. In addition, there are styles of beer that traditionally use bottle fermentation, such as Trapeist ales.

let me correct you maestro...
The content of fermentable sugars in the wort is very difficult to calculate - too many factors: actual malt extract, temperature and duration temperature pauses etc. The degree of fermentation depends on the strain of yeast, their release date, rehydration method, generation, fermentation temperature, etc., etc., etc. I.e. theoretically it is impossible to calculate and predict this value. I do it like this:
1. After mashing and boiling (for disinfection), I drain about 2 liters of wort. I cool and put in the refrigerator.
2. I measure the initial density of the wort left for fermentation
3. I ferment beer
4. I measure the final density

Click to reveal...

Here is a question. MASH BOIL THE WORT pour immediately onto the primer before throwing the chimel? Did I understand correctly?

--- messages united, May 22, 2015, date of first post: May 22, 2015 ---

Well, here you can’t tell in a nutshell ... But approximately everything looks like this: knowing the initial density and final density, you can use the calculator to calculate the required number of primers. The link was given by HBPro, or use this one Links only visible to registered users. Register or log in to view links! I used the second one.
1. Units (units of measurement) choose units of measurement - metric
2. Gravity Unit (density units) - I use Plato, but here it’s more convenient for anyone
3. CO2 Unit (degree of carbonization) - in the BJCP specifications, carbonization is indicated in volumes of CO2, select the first option
4. Volume Being Packaged (the amount of beer being poured) - indicate how much beer will go into bottling
5. Target CO2 Level (carburization level) - indicate what we want to get
6. Temperature at Bottling (filling temperature) - in principle, it does not matter
7. Beer OG ( initial density) - indicate the density of unfermented beer
8. Beer FG ( final density) - density at the end of fermentation
9. Priming Method (method) - Gyle - carbonation with wort, Krausen - carbonation with actively fermenting wort (I use the first one)

I further calculator calculates how much wort you need to add to beer to get the desired degree of carbonation. Let's say you got 2 liters of wort for 18 liters of beer. Begin.
1. Defrost the wort.
2. I boil it for sterilization for 15 minutes.
3. Chill the wort.
4. While the wort is cooling, I sterilize everything that is possible - bottles, tubes, corks, a syringe, and a little bit of the esophagus.
5. When the wort has cooled down, I pour it into bottles with a syringe - 100 ml per liter bottle.
6. I cover the bottles with corks, so no, no
6. I bottle beer
7. I expel the remaining air from the bottle.
8. I twist the cork tighter
9. I put in a warm dark place for a week

Then, depending on what kind of beer you brewed - either in the refrigerator for ripening, or further to settle, or drink if you like green

Click to reveal...

Since 15.05-2015, the English Bitner beer has been on carbonization with wort 1l per 10l, etc., it has always been put on the secondary on sugar.glucose. dextrose. Tell me there is a difference in the taste of beer Wort and sugar after carbonization