Priming Sugar Help

[chop1620]

Hey, I am about ready to bottle my first melomel. I want to use priming sugar to make it a dessert mead.

1. How much sugar per champagne bottle is good to use.

2. And if I back sweetened it with fruit before I racked it to age, m i gonna to be risking a bottle bomb by priming?

3. After you prime and bottle it, is there a time frame that it loses carbonation by, or can i store it away for i.e. 5 years and still pop the cork?

Thanks a bunch.
Chop1620

 

[akueck]

Please post your complete recipe and process.

Did you already stabilize this? If so, and your yeast are all knocked out, your sugar addition will not give you carbonation.

 

[chop1620]

yeah I stabilized it and killed the yeast off, its just been sitting in the dark aging. I guess i missed my window to carbonate.

4lb honey
two cups melon pulp
1 gallon water
k1v-1116
teaspoon of yeast energizer and nutrients

back sweetened with:
2 cups melon cubes
1/3 cup honey

then i let it sit under airlock for 3 months

 

[akueck]

Well, if you've got a keg setup you can always force carbonate. Otherwise yes, this one is going to be a still mead.

As far as loss of carbonation goes, I've never noticed a problem unless the seal is bad. I think I've only had carbonated stuff of my own for about 1.5 years with a crown cap and commercial cork & cage about 3 years in the bottle.

 

[chop1620]

so, my next question would be....

i used the same recipe except with cherries. at what point of the process do i add the priming sugar.

Chop1620

 

[akueck]

Well, you need to have a dry mead and yeast with legs left to do bottle priming. What is your FG on that mead?

 

[Chevette Girl]

Essentially, you have to ferment out all your sugars first (SG below 1.000 and not moving) and still have a few % left on your yeast's tolerance. Age it as long as you like, if longer than about 6 months we'd suggest adding more yeast when you prime, but you prime right before you bottle, if you're using honey, 1 cup per 5 gallons is about what you need to get moderate carbonation.

 

[theEnvoy]

I have been experimenting with priming sugar -- I have been priming cider that has completely fermented out (.92-.98 FG generally), and add 1.5 teaspoons of melted sugar/water with a ratio of 1/1 to each 12 ounce beer bottle with crown caps -- at least 2 weeks to a month to carb. The result has been a nice aggressive fizz with no exploded bottles. 1 even teaspoon has produced bubbles but no aggressive fizz. Both produce a nice drinkable cider.

I am now about to try this with a ginger beer (Recipe calls for DME, Dextrose), but I read a lot about "exploding bottles. I don't think ginger beer should make any difference, as long as I let it ferment out in the primary before priming. (I may have to add a little splenda or something to sweeten).

Does anyone have any experience with this that they can add? Thanks.

 

[Medsen Fey]

If you do a search limited to me as author and search "atmospheres" as the term you'll find some good threads.

The key is to go by weight. Adding 4 grams of sugar per liter gives 1 volume of CO2 (equivalent to 1 atmosphere of pressure at a standard temp). You don't want more than about 3-3.5 volumes in a beer bottle. For higher than that level you need sparkling wine or Champagne bottles.

 

[theEnvoy]

Thanks -- that's very helpful. Will print this out...