Calculator for beer carbonation with sugars. Carbonizing beer at home How much glucose is needed to carbonate beer

How does carbonation take place?

To saturate beer with carbon dioxide, 2 approaches are used:

• natural carbonation
• forced carbonation

natural carbonation.

Natural carbonation is the process of producing carbon dioxide during secondary fermentation. This happens due to the yeast, which absorb the fermentable sugars and release carbon dioxide in the process.

To do this, after the main fermentation, a new batch of sugars is introduced into the beer. This is done using various additives:

• Sugar
• primer
• Dextrose
• and etc.

When using such additives, one should take into account their possible influence on the taste of beer. For example, sugar adds some flavor, and honey brings its own notes to the aroma, and makes the taste sweetish.

The use of glucose or dextrose for natural carbonation is fully justified. These sugars have little to no effect on the taste of the beer, and ferment well.

However, the best way to naturally carbonize is to use a primer. The primer has the same composition as beer, minus the sugars. Thus, its effect on beer is minimal.

Primer is still unfermented wort. It is taken from the total volume of the wort even before the introduction of yeast and stored separately in the refrigerator or freezer.

When using sugar, dextrose, honey or other additives, it is recommended to dilute them in clean water first, and also boil them.

Forced carbonation.

Mostly used in the commercial field and consists in connecting a cylinder with carbon dioxide. But in home brewing, forced carbonation is rarely used, and it's not particularly interesting)

Beer carbonation methods. Carbonization is one of the key stages of brewing technology, the meaning of which is the addition of carbon dioxide to beer. As a rule, the carbonization process directly affects the quality of the finished beer, and specifically how the beer will foam. The carbonization process can be carried out by forced or natural methods.

Natural carbonation method

This is the usual saturation of beer with carbon dioxide (CO2). This is achieved due to the fact that the yeast at the time of active fermentation emit carbon dioxide. To get this into unfiltered, young beer, sugar is added (in any form or in pure form). This promotes the secondary fermentation process. As a result, the beer is saturated with the product of the sugar decomposition reaction. As a result, due to the presence of live yeast, the process of natural beer carbonation occurs.

Forced carbonation

In cases where after fermentation of beer there is an insufficient amount of CO2, then it is used for the method of artificial carbonization. The reason for the insufficient CO2 content was most likely the loss of gas during production processes.

In such cases, the beer is placed in a sealed container and carbon dioxide is pumped in under pressure. Typically, this carbonation method is used for filtered beer. This method is becoming a necessity in industrial scale brewing technology. At home, a method of forced carbonation of homemade beer can be done using siphons, which are used to carbonate water.

The maturation and carbonation of homemade beer takes place under similar conditions as the primary fermentation. This process lasts 1-3 weeks, depending on what raw materials are used for natural carbonation.

This method is more economical, since it does not require filtration and significant costs. Most current homebrewers use this method. American, classic English and Belgian ales are carbonated by this method.

Raw materials used to stimulate natural carbonation

"Primer" is what brewers call the glucose and sugar they use for natural carbonation.

Sugar in its pure form is undesirable. This can affect the taste characteristics of beer, giving it a taste of mash or kvass. Its source can be honey, licorice extract, corn sugar. As an alternative raw material, molasses, cane sugar, chocolate syrup, juice concentrates, etc. can be used.

Syrup

Molasses is the raw material used to make an imperial stout, or a dense poter to stimulate natural carbonation. It is consumed in the ratio of 250 ml of syrup per 20 liters of beer. In order for the molasses to be evenly distributed throughout the volume of beer, you need to make syrup from it. Molasses is dissolved in water in equal proportions, and boiled. The foam that formed during the boil is removed, after which the finished syrup is poured into beer. Carbonation stimulated by the addition of molasses lasts up to 2 weeks.

Honey

Honey is often used for natural carbonation. For 20 liters of beer, you need about 100 ml of honey. Honey is bred in the same way as molasses. Carbonization takes place within 2 weeks.

Correction of carbonization errors

Almost all of the problems associated with inaccuracies in the carbonization of home beer can be easily eliminated. We list the most common of them:

• poor quality plug can cause most of the hydrocarbon to escape, resulting in insufficient carbonation. It is necessary to replace the cork, shake and set aside for a couple of days;
• even if after 2 weeks the beer is not carbonated enough, you can move it to a warmer place;
• low-quality raw materials or insufficient quantities of raw materials may cause the effect of carbonization to be small. Adding an extra few grains of dried yeast to each bottle can make the difference;
• drinking heavily chilled beer can reduce carbonation levels.

You will most likely be interested in this

There are more than a dozen ways to carbonate beer. We will talk about the most important ones below.

Why you need to carbonate beer

Saturation of beer with carbon dioxide is one of the obligatory rituals. It is still unknown whether our tongue receptors capture the taste of CO2 or whether this is just an illusion of bursting bubbles - it does not matter.

Carbonization will give the foamy drink:

• Characteristic beer taste.
• Resistant foam cap.
• Upward bubbles in a drink.
• Pleasant tingling in the mouth when consumed.

If carbonization is not carried out, or it is unsuccessfully done, instead of a foamy sizzling drink, you will get an outdated tasteless liquid.

Types of carbonization

There are 2 types:

• natural;
• forced.

When natural, we add certain ingredients (primer) to the drink, which awaken fermentation, as a result of which carbon dioxide bubbles are formed.

With the forced method, special pressurized CO2 cylinders are used. The beer is carbonated very high quality, without yeast sediment. But there are also disadvantages: this method is very expensive, plus it requires certain skills. Yes, and cylinders need to be refilled from time to time, which can also bring inconvenience. In this sense, the natural way is much simpler and more convenient. Next, we will talk about the natural way.

natural carbonation. Popular methods.

With this method, the primer introduced into the wort causes fermentation, as a result of which saturation with carbon dioxide occurs. Any wort with a high sugar content can act as a primer: honey, young beer wort, dextrose.

Now let's move on to specific methods:

1. Carbonation with young must.

The cheapest way, which uses the wort of the prepared foamy drink.

This is done as follows: during the brewing of the wort, before laying the fragrant hops, we select approximately 1/10 of the must in a separate sealed container and put in the refrigerator. After the beer has fermented, we add the primer to the total container for 30 minutes. As soon as fermentation is activated, we bottle the drink and remove it for final ripening.

2. Carbonization with dextrose.

A very simple method, in which dextrose is added to the wort after fermentation at the rate of 5-10 g per 1 liter. Then the bottle is tightly closed and put away in a dark place for final ripening.

An excellent method that is very popular with brewers. The only thing we would advise is not to simplify and not to use regular sugar instead of dextrose. This will negatively affect the taste of the finished drink.

3. Carbonation with malt extract.

The method gives good results, but the main problem is that the malt extract must be bought separately in specialized beer stores.

The technology itself is very simple: malt extract is added to the fermented wort at the rate of 9-12 g per 1 liter of drink. Then the beer is bottled, tightly closed and put away in a dark place for final maturation.

4. Groove method

It is possible to saturate the beer with bubbles without a primer or a CO2 keg, if you use the tongue-and-groove method. It's quite simple, you just need to know the initial gravity of the wort. Measure before adding yeast.

Next, shortly before the end, measure the density again. When it reaches 1-2 units, bottle the beer. As a result, saturation with carbon dioxide will occur due to the processing of the remaining sugar directly in sealed bottles.

Timing of carbonation and maturation of beer

On average, it takes 7-14 days for full carbonization. As for the time of final maturation, there is such a pattern - the more strength in the beer, the longer it matures.

Average times look like this:

• Wheat- the fastest maturation. It is recommended to consume within 2 weeks after bottling. Then it will start to lose its taste.
• Light light varieties, ripen in about 1 month. Samples can be taken after 2-3 weeks.
• Dark and strong varieties it is advisable to leave to ripen for 3 months.

Failed carbonization - what to do

Sometimes it happens that carbonization does not go according to plan or does not start at all. This is not uncommon, and no one is immune from this. Therefore, it is important to know how to act in such situations so as not to lose the entire game.

The main reasons for failure are:

1. Incorrectly selected temperature mode of maturation of beer.
2. Violation of the proportions of primer use.
3. Use of poor quality yeast.
4. Use of non-sterile primer or beer production equipment.

If after 2 weeks you open the sample bottle and realize that things are bad, don't panic. There is still a chance to save the beer, you just need to restart the process.

To do this, take a portion of fresh yeast, dissolve it in a small amount of beer wort and pour it into each bottle. The next tasting will have to wait another week or two.

If that doesn't work and the carbonation didn't go well, mix the failed beer with the one that carbonated successfully. This will help mask production flaws.

Bottling beer for carbonation (video)

Conclusion

In this article, we have named the most popular carbonization methods. Of course, beer can also be carbonated with honey or beet sugar. However, when using these ingredients, the drink will almost certainly have a distinct leavened flavor, which is not to everyone's liking. You can also use fructose. But the downside is that it is not so easy to find on sale.

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 the beer ferments under high pressure, but this 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.

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

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

The easiest and cheapest way to carbonate homebrews is to add some sugars to the fermented wort to cause a slight re-fermentation, resulting in 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 make beer primer

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

1. Beet sugar or honey. The most accessible 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.

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.

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 the right amount of primer in grams with the same amount of water in milliliters, bring to a boil, boil 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. The most correct method, usually experienced brewers, by the word “primer” means 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.

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.

One of the important steps in the preparation of foamy alcohol is gas saturation. This is a time-consuming and complex process that requires patience and knowledge.

But without it, alcohol can come out not so tasty or even spoiled. What is carbonization and how does it happen?

Beer carbonation- this is the saturation of alcohol with carbon dioxide, less often with nitrogen. It is carbon dioxide that is a universal means of saturating the drink and is used both in home brewing and on an industrial scale. Of course, the drink of different varieties is carbonized at different levels.

The level of carbonation is expressed as the volume of carbon dioxide per the same volume of liquid to which it is added. There is no separate unit for measuring such a volume. That is, by adding gas to a liter of beer, you get one liter of carbon dioxide dissolved in one liter of alcohol.

Most beer varieties are carbonated at one or two volumes. The process can take place in several ways: natural and forced.

The first method is suitable for both home brewers and craft brewers. The second method is used in most cases in large-scale production enterprises and in bars, but can also be used at home.

Forced carbonization can also be performed if the level of carbon dioxide in alcohol after fermentation is low or large gas losses have occurred during the technological process.

Did you know? Real English ale is practically devoid of a "carbonated" component, on the contrary, some types of lager are very saturated with carbon dioxide and can even be poured in several stages due to the huge amount of foam.

Methods of carbonization

Natural saturation with carbon dioxide implies the introduction of a primer - a fermentable substance. Primers can be a variety of ingredients. Forced carbonation is the saturation of alcohol using machines that dissolve carbon dioxide under pressure.

Primer carbonization of beer

The essence of the method is to add to the wort, which has already fermented, one of the components that, during fermentation, helps to release carbon dioxide. For example, the primer can be sugar, dextrose, honey, malt extract. Such components have the least impact on the final taste of the product due to the minimum amount of impurities.

Adding primers requires strict adherence to proportions. If tableted or bulk elements are added as primers, they are applied in the form of a syrup so that they do not leave a residue.

Carbonization of beer with dextrose

This ingredient is most commonly used to carbonate beer. According to most brewers, it is the most reliable and ferments almost completely, almost without changing the taste of the final product. In order for dextrose to be distributed evenly and the drink is not contaminated with foreign bacteria, it is pre-prepared.

• The amount of dextrose used is dissolved in one part of water.
• Stir well until completely dissolved.
• Put on fire and bring to a boil.
• The solution is boiled for five minutes.

The prepared dextrose is mixed with the entire volume of the prepared beer. You can first pour the resulting syrup into a container and then pump the existing wort. The amount of primer added varies depending on the type of beer being made and the temperature at which it is served.

• Alcohol, which is liked to be consumed warmer, is carbonated with 177 ml of dextrose per 19 liters of wort, or 157 ml if lighter carbonation is preferred.
• A drink that is liked to be consumed cold is mixed with 240 ml of dextrose per 19 liters of wort, since cold liquids absorb more carbon dioxide.

Dextrose carbonation lasts from 7 to 14 days.

Malt extract

This method is great for browns and dark ales, as the primer produces the frothy, dense head that is characteristic of these beers. Both dry extract and syrup are used.

Pale malt is preferred, but other types can be used. Malt extract is used more than dextrose due to its lower fermentable content. To begin with, the extract is boiled for several minutes until hot coagulation is obtained. It is better to use a container of large volumes, since active foaming occurs at the beginning of the boil.

Usually 295 ml of malt extract per 0.5 liter of wort is used, but you can experiment to get the results you need.
Saturation of CO2 with such a primer lasts at least 10-14 days.

Honey

The primer must be fresh and liquid. It should also be first dissolved in one part of water and boiled, removing the resulting foam. Then the liquid is cooled, and it can be mixed with the main beer mass.

The normal dose to add is 118 ml of honey per 19 liters of wort, but still the ideal proportions are different for everyone and they are achieved by trial and error. Saturation with carbon dioxide also occurs within 10-14 days.

Syrup

Molasses is good for carbonating porters or imperial stouts. This form of beer carbonation sugar is pre-treated in the same way as malt extract.

Use of unfermented wort

This method is also called spaise. It has its own advantages:

• due to the lack of a concentrated sugar solution, the initial density of alcohol does not increase;
• the method does not affect the smell of the final product.

The process has its own nuances:

• a certain amount of the original wort is taken and frozen before the bottling stage;
• at the bottling stage, the wort is thawed and boiled for several minutes;
• the liquid is cooled and added for bottling;
• you can additionally add fresh yeast or remaining after the first fermentation to the unfermented wort.

Kreuzening

This method uses an actively fermenting mass, which is separated from the foam and added to the original wort just before bottling. Yeasts other than those originally used are also added for a more consistent result. In order to obtain the required level of carbon dioxide in the drink, the density of the actively fermenting wort should be measured before bottling. Based on the density indicators, the required volume is calculated, and only then the spill is carried out.

Forced carbonation of beer

In the case of forced carbonation, food carbon dioxide is pumped through the drink, which is placed in a hermetically sealed container, under pressure. Most often, filtered alcohol is carbonized in this way. Similarly, saturation with carbon dioxide occurs in breweries.

Did you know? At home, this can be done using soda siphons or CO2 bottles. The latter are ideal if you use kegs.

How to Carbonate Beer with a CO2 Tank

This method requires patience and gives consistently good results.

• First, thoroughly rinse and disinfect the kegs.
• Remove oxygen from the keg with a carbon dioxide purge.
• Pour the drink into a container and filter it.
• Close container and pressurize to 10 psi.
• Leave it like that for one minute.
• "Release" the pressure and purge the container again to remove residual oxygen.
• Determine the temperature of the alcohol.
• Set the control valve to the desired pressure mark.

The process will last two days, provided that the temperature is correctly determined, and the control valve will completely close.

Beer carbonation table

Minimum and maximum carbon dioxide saturation of the main.

Now that you've learned what beer carbonation is and how it's done, it'll be easier for you to figure out which ingredients and approaches to use to get a "playy" frothy drink.

Remember that there are special calculators on the Internet to more accurately calculate the proportions you need. Also, do not forget to use special brewing literature, as the process itself is very complicated and requires precision and knowledge.