🍺 Beer Priming Sugar Calculator
Compute the exact priming sugar for bottle conditioning. Enter batch volume, target carbonation, bottling temperature and sugar type to get total sugar for the batch and per-bottle dose, with residual CO2 automatically subtracted based on temperature.
Style Presets (Carbonation Level)
How It Works
Each liter of beer needs about 4.0 g of corn sugar per extra CO2 volume (the common rule of thumb: ~4 oz corn sugar per 5 US gallons ≈ 2.5 vols).
Formula: sugar(g) = (target vols − residual vols) × volume(L) × 4.0 / glucose equivalent.
Residual CO2 is subtracted automatically from a Henry's-law fit (0°C≈1.70, 10°C≈1.15, 20°C≈0.85 vols), so warmer beer needs more sugar.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does bottle priming work?
A small amount of fermentable sugar is added to each bottle. Residual yeast ferments it and produces CO2 that, because the cap is sealed, dissolves into the beer as carbonation. The dose depends on target carbonation, temperature and sugar type.
What are volumes of CO2?
One volume means the dissolved CO2 volume equals the beer volume at the liquid's temperature and 1 atm. American lagers ~2.5-2.8, Belgian ales ~3.0-3.8, English bitters ~1.8-2.2.
Why does temperature affect the sugar amount?
Cold beer holds more dissolved residual CO2 that need not be produced by added sugar, so warmer beer requires more sugar. This tool subtracts residual CO2 automatically.
What does the glucose equivalent (GE) mean?
It is how much CO2 one gram of a sugar yields relative to glucose (1.0). Sucrose ~1.046, honey ~0.82, lactose is essentially unfermentable (~0.1). Switching type rescales the dose automatically.