CButterworth

Recipes 

After a few years on not home brewing, I am beginning making my own beer again. Previously, I used to bottle my beers - mainly stout.

My wife has given me permission to buy a kegging system as it'll be easier than bottling and save on the glassware.

As I am originally from the UK, I do not want my beer ice-cold. For me, a best bitter or scottish style ale tastes great at the temp of my basement (55-60F). So, I plan on storing my legged beer in my basement. So, a couple of questions:

1. If I want to force Carbonate, do I need to chill the kegs as part of the carbonation process?

2. Presumably, if I use corn syrup to do a natural carbonation, this would be done at room temp?

3. Ball-lock or Pin-lock, does it really matter?

4. 5lb CO2 tank or 10lb CO2 tank?

Other comments would be helpful.

Thanks,
Charlie

garbageman

Recipes 

1. Nope. Carb rates differ slightly with temp,but your fine.
2. Yes. And a keg won't blow up if ou use too much sugar.
3. I prefer ball lock. Cheaper too.
4. 10# and get two. One as a spare/backup.

IceFisherChris

Recipes 

The keg will perform similar to bottling. Add the same amount of priming sugar to your keg as you would to your bottling bucket. I was a little nervous and went easy on the sugar, but then I had to add CO2 pressure to get it up to my taste. You don't have to keep them cold either, you just need a higher pressure.
I bought pin lock kegs. I'm not sure where the previous poster bought his kegs, but the pin locks were cheaper than ball locks. $10 cheaper in fact. I have no regrets and you would be fine with either. You might as well get a large tank. The larger the tank the cheaper the fill and CO2 will never go bad.

jhall4

Recipes 

Do NOT add the same amount of priming sugar as you would when bottling. There's a big difference in the amount of head space and you can very easily end up with an overcarbed or a sickly sweet beer that way. The general rule of thumb is to use approximately 1/2 as much priming sugar. You might even think about less if you're looking for a really authentic interpretation of low carb UK styles.

david_42

Recipes 

Since 1-3 are answered, I'll throw in my thoughts on 4. I had two #5 tanks. When I moved, the new supplier charges $2 (that's TWO bucks) more for a #10 swap, compared to a #5. Tank upgrades were only around $20, so after the second refill, I'm ahead.

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CButterworth

Recipes 

Thanks for the replies.

I finally got my two keg set-up from AIH and am currently preparing a 5 gallon batch of Scottish Ale.

When I keg it, I'll ensure that I use 1/2 of the priming sugar (maybe less).

Charlie