Priming a barley wine

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cc986
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Priming a barley wine

Post by cc986 » Wed Apr 17, 2024 11:04 am

I brewed my first ever English barley wine about five months ago and it has been sitting in a 10 litre carboy since then. I'm starting to think about bottling it soon so I just used an online priming sugar calculator to get some idea of how much dextrose I should use and it is showing 59.69 grams. I used one of these online calculators before and I think it recommended a little too much, so I'd really appreciate a second opinion from someone on JBK if possible please - does 59.69 sound about right?

Max fermentation temperature was 20.6c
Bottling volume is 10 litres (maybe 9.0-9.5 by the time I get it out of the carboy)
ABV is 9.3%

I intend to put it in some 33cl Belgian beer bottles and keep for years.

What about if I didn't prime it at all - would it still build up enough carbonation over time? I ask because when I put it in the carboy there was a little left over that wouldn't fit in so I put it in three small bottles. When I opened one of those after 6 weeks in the bottle there was a very small amount of carbonation present.

Many thanks,
Chris

Rookie
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Re: Priming a barley wine

Post by Rookie » Wed Apr 17, 2024 4:06 pm

The amount seems about right.
After five months and with 9.3% you may want to consider adding some fresh yeast.
I'm just here for the beer.

cc986
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Re: Priming a barley wine

Post by cc986 » Wed Apr 17, 2024 4:44 pm

Rookie wrote:
Wed Apr 17, 2024 4:06 pm
The amount seems about right.
After five months and with 9.3% you may want to consider adding some fresh yeast.
Thanks very much Rookie.

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IPA
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Re: Priming a barley wine

Post by IPA » Thu Apr 18, 2024 7:20 am

I recommend 20 gr white sugar dissolved in a little boiling hot water and stirred gently into the 10 litres of beer before bottling.
Every online calculator I have seen advises far too much priming sugar. You could even split the batch in two and try my ratio against the online calculator. Then you will know in the future which one is more accurate.
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cc986
Steady Drinker
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Re: Priming a barley wine

Post by cc986 » Thu Apr 18, 2024 7:55 am

IPA wrote:
Thu Apr 18, 2024 7:20 am
I recommend 20 gr white sugar dissolved in a little boiling hot water and stirred gently into the 10 litres of beer before bottling.
Every online calculator I have seen advises far too much priming sugar. You could even split the batch in two and try my ratio against the online calculator. Then you will know in the future which one is more accurate.
Ok, thanks very much IPA. That's my concern about the online calculators as well. If I was to use 59.7g as per the calculator and prime each bottle individually that would result in 1.8g of sugar in each 33cl bottle, which does seem a lot when you look at it that way (assuming I have worked that out correctly).

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