Priming keg w/ sugar

Probably been asked before, but I couldn't really find a good answer. I'm going to keg my hefe tonight instead of bottling it. However, I do not have a CO2 tank yet. Should I throw in priming sugar to prime it tonight when I keg it? It'll probably be another week before I get the CO2 tank and am ready to dispense.

Man, I really gotta get to brewing. I have a feeling, drinking my hefe draft out of a nice tall hefe glass, it's going to go fast.

Priming a keg uses HALF the normal prime. And, just like bottles, need to be conditioned at room temp for a couple of weeks.

It's not necessary, but it means you can start drinking earlier and will help seal the corny. But only use 1/2 to 2/3 of the normal dose of priming sugar you would use if you bottled that hefe. And remember to VENT THE KEG *BEFORE* you hook up your nice, new CO2 system. Otherwise, you might backflow from the pressure in your keg into the regulator.

Why do you use only have to use half the priming sugar when you prime in the keg?? What difference does it make overall whether it's in bottles or kegs?

Honestly, I don't know. It is one of those questions nobody seems to have the answer to.

However, if you put in the normal amount used for bottling, you will overcarbonate the same amount of beer in the keg.

It probably has something to do with the fact that with kegs, you are delivering the beer under CO2 pressure, but not in bottles. But in my mind, that still doesn't account for everything. Maybe someone else will chime in with a complete answer.

I don't know the answer either. It's just something I've read.

Here's my guess. There's more power in numbers. Just a few yeasts in a 12 oz bottle eating a little more sugar carbonate to a degree of X. If you take those yeasts X 48, and add the sugar X 48, then you get a carbonation degree of 1.5X. Therefore, you add less sugar, since you can't remove yeasts.

Kinda like ripping a phone book. Easy w/ 10 pages, but near impossible w/ the whole thing.

Oh.. well now. I wish I'd read this a day earlier. I primed a keg just the other day with the regular amount I'd used to do bottles. What am I in for? :-/

dale

is it possible to just keg your beer but not have a co2 tank/system? I only ask because I am thinking about starting to keg, but the entire system is a bit expensive for me, and on ebay can get 2 kegs for about 40 dollars. So would you guys suggest that I just stick with bottles( a pain) or just prime kegs?
Daum

daum said:

is it possible to just keg your beer but not have a co2 tank/system? I only ask because I am thinking about starting to keg, but the entire system is a bit expensive for me, and on ebay can get 2 kegs for about 40 dollars. So would you guys suggest that I just stick with bottles( a pain) or just prime kegs?
Daum

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It's possible..you can prime with sugar, and the beer will carbonate just like in bottles. But after you drink the first couple, the rest of the keg will go flat. You could also get one of these, but the CO2 cartridges wil cost you a fortune pretty quickly.

Bike N Brew said:

You could also get one of these, but the CO2 cartridges wil cost you a fortune pretty quickly.

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I'm considering getting one of these to start with. It won't be my permanent deal, but I will need one anyway if I want to take some homebrew to tailgating in a few months. I'll be the only person out there w/ a mini kegerator. :rockin: :rockin:

yeah, priming only carbonates the keg'd beer...you still have to run CO2 to dispense it.
when you decide to keg, you pretty much need to go all the way, or you're gonna hit snag after snag after snag.

two cornies for $40 on ebay is just an OK price...possibly a rip off if they want $20 to ship them. can get two kegs for $32 here and it was $15 for fedex home delivery to my location. http://brewersdiscount.com/item5095.ctlg

you'd have to prime the kegs with sugar to get CO2 pressure to completely seal it...normally you use your CO2 tank to do that.

Nothing wrong with buying piece by piece as you have the cash. but without being able to dispense your brew...you'll probably get a little frustrated for a while.

neckbone said:

Here's my guess. There's more power in numbers. Just a few yeasts in a 12 oz bottle eating a little more sugar carbonate to a degree of X. If you take those yeasts X 48, and add the sugar X 48, then you get a carbonation degree of 1.5X. Therefore, you add less sugar, since you can't remove yeasts.

Kinda like ripping a phone book. Easy w/ 10 pages, but near impossible w/ the whole thing.

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My guess is that the air space in 50 bottle necks is more than the air space in a 5 gal. corny keg. You need more co2 to fill those 50 bottle necks. Just a guess.