Oct 25, 2019

How to Prime 5 Gallons of Beer with Corn Sugar or Dried Malt Extract (DME)

Dextrose (corn sugar)

For bottling-priming 5 gallons of fully fermented beer using dextrose (corn sugar), add three quarters (¾) of a cup to achieve an appropriate carbonation level. You may wish to add slightly less or more depending on the style of beer or your own individual preference.

For kegging (mini or Cornelius)- priming 5 gallons of fully fermented beer using dextrose (corn sugar), add one third (1/3) of a cup to achieve an appropriate carbonation level. You may wish to add slightly less or more depending on the style of beer or your own individual preference.

Dried malt extract (DME)

For bottling-priming 5 gallons of fully fermented beer using dried malt extract, add one and one quarter (1¼) cups to achieve an appropriate carbonation level. You may wish to add slightly less or more depending on the style of beer or your own individual preference.

For kegging (mini or Cornelius)- priming 5 gallons of fully fermented beer using dried malt extract, add one half (½) of a cup to achieve an appropriate carbonation level. You may wish to add slightly less or more depending on the style of beer or your own individual preference. Malt extract will take slightly longer to condition the brew than dextrose will. Be patient and all will turn out well.

Is there an advantage to one over the other?

In our opinion, there is no advantage to priming with DME. While both DME and priming sugar do not add flavor, priming with DME takes much longer. Since we cannot know the exact degree of fermentability of DME, we can’t precisely control the carbonation level of beer. On the other hand, priming sugar is much more reliable. The same ratio will get you the same level of carbonation with high consistency.

Some brewers maintain that using DME gives produces “finer” bubbles. However, this perception is largely due to the extended time required for DME to fully carbonate a bottle, which results in less CO2 in bottles during early conditioning. This causes bubbles to be smaller at first, but this will difference will gradually disapate as the DME is fully fermented and the beer is fully carbonated.