I was looking at some priming sugar calculators to figure how much sugar to add for my recent RIS and I noticed that it was asking for current temperature of beer. This had been cold crashing for 24 hours at ~38F so when I finally got it out and it was time to bottle it was sitting around 55F. The calculators said that due to re-absorption of CO2 from the headspace when cold crashing that I would need less priming sugar and that it was based on the current temperature. I ended up going with the calculator suggestion and am just waiting it out at this point but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this. It makes me worried to use less sugar than I would at room temp (and less than I have used for a similar recipe before) but I understand the rationale. I just don't want to end up with an undercarbed stout. Thanks in advance
I'm guessing the 55F was at the start of bottling and was probably quite different by the time you finished(assuming you were bottling indoors and are as slow as I am) so you may have used slightly less sugar than you might have otherwise. It'll likely be fine.
Here's a pretty good explanation of what's going on: https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/ This explanation makes it clear that it is not always clear. Ideally you want to use the temp at which your beer has most recently stabilized. My experience is an overnight cold crash does little to reabsorb CO2 . . . leaving it for many days is a different story. It's easy enough to raise the beer to bottling temp and let it stabilize (with air lock), give it a day or so to be sure. I keg, and sometimes when I raise the temp it will off-gas (through the prv), sometimes I get nothing. I would definitely give it a day+ at bottling temp if there is extended cold conditioning and use the bottling temp in the calculator.
I typically cold crash for 4 - 7 days before I bottle and I ignore the temperature field on the calculator (I usually just put 67 even though the beer is about 35*). I have never had any over carbed beers or bottle bombs, it seems to work that way for me. I will definitely be interested to see what happens with your stout at the temp adjusted priming level.
It should be okay. With that style of beer, sometimes a little less carbonation provides a smoother mouthfeel. So long as it builds up enough pressure in the bottles, you will be fine, Generally it's good to be a little under than a just a bit over.
Have some patience for carbonation to occur. I've seen many posts in this forum that "my high ABV beer hasn't carbonated after 3 (or 4, etc.) weeks." It seems like this concern typically happens with the RIS style. I don't recall the discussions and the possible reasons why this occurs with some beers but not others. Your's could be okay, but I wouldn't necessarily expect carbonated bottles in two weeks.
