Conditioning Kegged Beer @ Room Temp

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

timmah84

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2011
Messages
86
Reaction score
0
Location
Seattle
I am conditioning a keg of beer (a Raspberry Fruit beer) at room temperature (around 68-70F, depending on the day.)

I've always used CO2 to carb my kegs. This is the first time I used priming sugar. I used the same amount I would have for bottling 5 gallons of beer. Am I risking the beer to be overcarb'ed?

If so, how can I mitigate it? Release the pressure every so often?

I was thinking about tapping it and serving it at 9 psi for a pint to see how foamy it is. It has been about 2 weeks in the keg. The wedding is 9/21. I would hate to present a foamy beer to the groom :).
 
I am conditioning a keg of beer (a Raspberry Fruit beer) at room temperature (around 68-70F, depending on the day.)

I've always used CO2 to carb my kegs. This is the first time I used priming sugar. I used the same amount I would have for bottling 5 gallons of beer. Am I risking the beer to be overcarb'ed?

If so, how can I mitigate it? Release the pressure every so often?

I was thinking about tapping it and serving it at 9 psi for a pint to see how foamy it is. It has been about 2 weeks in the keg. The wedding is 9/21. I would hate to present a foamy beer to the groom :).

This is what I do and have been experimenting with the amount of corn sugar I add. The last batch i added 80% of what i would of at bottling and it was still a bit low. My most recent batch I did 90% so we will see how that comes out. After 3 weeks or so I put my keg into the fridge for 48-72 hours and then purge the head space and connect it to the co2.
 
I add about 75% of the bottling sugar and it seems about right. I don't think you will have too much issue with the corn sugar you added (are we talking 4 or 5 oz here?).

I would wait 1 more week at room temp. Drop the temp for 2-3 days and take a sample. You'll need to get some of the yeast out of the first pint or two anyway. Then you can purge/vent as needed if its overcarbed.

The 9/21 date sounds about perfect. Keep it fridged for those 2-3 weeks and it should be yummy. The only concern I'd have is disturbing the yeast on the bottom. Can you set it up on location a day or two in advance to let the yeast re-settle?
 
I add about 75% of the bottling sugar and it seems about right. I don't think you will have too much issue with the corn sugar you added (are we talking 4 or 5 oz here?).

I would wait 1 more week at room temp. Drop the temp for 2-3 days and take a sample. You'll need to get some of the yeast out of the first pint or two anyway. Then you can purge/vent as needed if its overcarbed.

The 9/21 date sounds about perfect. Keep it fridged for those 2-3 weeks and it should be yummy. The only concern I'd have is disturbing the yeast on the bottom. Can you set it up on location a day or two in advance to let the yeast re-settle?

I believe I used about 4.5 oz.

Can't set it up prior :( I'll be putting it on ice I assume, so I hope my 32-34 degree kegerator will be similar in temperature to a bucket pail of ice.
 
I also only have room for two kegs in my kegerator. Is it going to harm one of my tapped beers to sit out at room temp for a couple days while I chill the wedding keg?
 
No, should be fine for a few days at least. I'm assuming you always purge the O2 out of the headspace prior to tapping. So just CO2 in there.
 
I use more like 60% of the amount of priming sugar when I naturally carb my kegs, and I've run into this figure time and time again on brewing sites. A corny keg with a full 5 gallons in it has a fraction of the headspace of 55-60 bottles of homebrew, so you have to account for the diminished headspace.
 
I have always read when priming in kegs to halve the amount of priming sugar required for the batch.

However, in my personal experiences of priming about 15 batches of beer in kegs, that amount suggested is simply not enough. Now I do 75-90% of the required batch size amount.
 
Back
Top