Matt Up North

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I don't have a CO2 tank yet and was wondering if to prime a keg I use the same amount of sugar that I would for bottles? Also will it stay carbed until empty? I have a party pump but was under the impression that it puts air in the beer, hence good for party, bad for long term.

I plan to drink my cornie within a month of tapping.

Yooper

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You can prime a keg by using approximately 1/2 the normal amount of corn sugar. It will stay carbonated just fine- but you'll need something to dispense it with (besides a pump). What kind of keg do you have? I assume it's a sanke keg, if you have the party pump with it. That party pump will keep the beer dispensing, but the flavor will only be good about one day due to the oxygenation.

If you have a corny keg, you can get a little co2 charger to push the carbonated beer. It's more expensive to do it that way (in the long run) but it'll save you the expense of buying a co2 tank just for dispensing at parties.

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Steel-Reserve

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I have a question! Say you do prime it with sugar then all of a sudden u get a C02 tank and decide u want it right now and then force card like the next day or so.. will that mess it up the beer flavor or anything like that? or will it just have a little more sugar than usual??

GearBeer

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You'll probably end up with a super-carbonated beer. I don't think the additional pressure would kill off the yeasties. Once you put that ball in motion it's gonna ferment till it's dead.

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Kyle

Yooper

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It won't be supercarbed or anything like that- you can just pull the pressure relief to de-carb the beer so overcarbanation isn't an issue.

But, you do have about 2.5 ounces of priming sugar added to a keg- so it may be a little bit sweeter than you planned if you don't let it ferment out. I don't know how detectable that would be, though- that's a pretty tiny amount of sugar in 5 gallons of beer. If you stick it in the fridge after you prime it, the yeast will go dorman and not ferment that sugar. I'd let it sit at least 5 days to ferment out before sticking it in the fridge, even if I suddenly got a co2 tank. I mean, it's only a few days, no need to rush it.

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david_42

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To dispense without the beer going flat, you have to keep adding CO2 (or air). No way around that.

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Matt Up North

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I used 6 oz when I did the bottles, you are saying about 2.5-3 for a corny? The problem is that I have nitrogen, not CO2 and I don't want flat tasting beer. I could push it with the nitrogen if the keg will remain naturally carbed for the life of it (roughly a month, maybe 3 weeks).

If I do this and dispense with NO2, what pressure would I look at? 10psi?

Any reason not to do it this way?

Matt Up North

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Has anyone every primed a keg, then bottled from the keg in order to get pre-carbed bottles (all using sugar, not a CO2 tank)?

Arneba28

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http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/. Yes

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rdude6

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I am about ready to keg my first batch and want to prime without force carbonating. Does the yeast that settles out get pushed through the dispensing line into any part of the beer?