Dextrose (Priming Sugar)

Dextrose is a simple sugar made from corn that is very fermentable. It’s widely used in brewing beer. Dextrose can be added during the brewing process to increase the gravity thus having more alcohol in the end. Dextrose is also used for bottling purposes. Using dextrose during the bottling process will carbonate your beer.

If bottle priming (bottle conditioning) it recommended to boil the dextrose in 250ml to 500ml; cooled down to room temperature and then added to a sanitized bucket. You then transfer the beer (racking) in the bucket. From there you can siphon the beer in bottles.

Carbonation Priming Chart

Information from Brew Your Own Magazine @ BYO.com

The amount of carbonation in bottle-conditioned homebrew is dependent on two things — the residual level of carbon dioxide after fermentation and the amount of carbonation obtained from the priming sugar.

To get the level of carbonation you desire in your homebrew, choose a level of carbonation (from Section A) and subtract the amount of residual carbonation in your beer after fermentation (from Section B). This is the amount of carbonation you need to add via priming sugar given in Section C.

For example, let’s say you fermented an American pale ale at 20 °C with dextrose. From Section A below, you decide that you want your carbonation level to be 2.4 volumes of CO₂. From Section B, you see that you should have 0.85 volumes of CO₂ in your beer after fermentation at 20 °C. Subtracting 0.85 from 2.4 gives you 1.55 volumes of CO₂, the amount of carbonation required from the priming sugar. From Section C, you see that adding 128g yields 1.53 volumes of CO₂, which is pretty close.

Section A: Levels of Carbonation in Various Beer Styles

Style	Volume of CO₂
American ales	2.2–3.0
British ales	1.5–2.2
German weizens	2.8–5.1
Belgian ales	2.0–4.5
European lagers	2.4–2.6
American lagers	2.5–2.8

Section B: Residual Carbonation Left Over After Fermentation

Temperature (°F/°C)	Volumes CO₂
47 °F (8.33 °C)	1.21
50 °F (10.0 °C)	1.15
53 °F (11.7 °C)	1.09
56 °F (13.3 °C)	1.04
59 °F (15.0 °C)	0.988
62 °F (16.7 °C)	0.940
65 °F (18.3 °C)	0.894
68 °F (20.0 °C)	0.850
71 °F (21.7 °C)	0.807
74 °F (23.3 °C)	0.767
77 °F (25.0 °C)	0.728
80 °F (26.7 °C)	0.691
83 °F (28.3 °C)	0.655

Section C: Priming with glucose monohydrate (dextrose monohydrate)

Dextrose (oz.)	Dextrose (g)	Volumes CO₂/19 L
1.0	28.3	0.34
1.5	42.5	0.51
2.0	56.7	0.68
2.5	70.9	0.85
3.0	85.0	1.02
3.5	99.2	1.19
4.0	113	1.36
4.5	128	1.53
5.0	142	1.70
5.5	156	1.87
6.0	170	2.04
6.5	184	2.21
7.0	198	2.37
7.5	213	2.54
8.0	227	2.71
8.5	241	2.88
9.0	255	3.05

1kg

Dextrose

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