1st Kegging/Keg Ageing

This is the first time I've kegged so I'm very unsure about the process...

So I've got two batches of beer "coconut porter" and "strawberry wheat" which have been sitting in a carboy for 3 weeks. I'm about to add the kegging sugar and keg these two beers.

I'm using beersmith recipie creator and it has me using 1.5-2.5oz of sugar for each batch, this seams really low compared to the 3/4 cup I used when I bottling... I don't expect that beer smith is wrong, but why is less used when kegging rather than bottling?

After I add the kegging sugar... what next? It sits at fermentation temperatures for another 3+ weeks to let the yeast carbonate the beer? Then I refrigerate? Do I let it age in the keg at all? If so, at refrigerated temperatures of fermentation temperatures? Or somewhere in between?

I'd force carb the keg... if you prime it you'll end up bleeding off more yeast off the bottom of the keg. Basically wasted beer...

Someone told me that force carbed beers have a forced carb taste. That the natural way creates smaller more enfused bubbles. Either way I'd still like to know the technique for both

I only force carb, the key is still to wait and let co2 get into the fluid at the level you want. There are a ton of methods and threads covering them, but what I do is bring the keg to temp, hook it up to the gas at serving temp, then I bleed off the air that floats to the top. Then I get my workout shaking that keg until I need to call my doctor.

Then I let it sit for an hour, a day to a week at pressure till its good to go. Using sugar just adds too much yeast back into the good stuff.

Co2 is Co2... I guess you can get more noticable carbonic acid if you force at high pressure and drink it right away. If you just least it as serving pressure for week it tastes fine.

I just put my keg under serving pressure in my kegerator and bleed out the air then give it a little shake. Then I let it sit a week or so and its ready.
I think the biggest culprit of "forced carb taste" etc. is people not having the patience to wait it out properly and want to drink the next day once on tap. Some may even confuse that taste with green beer since when using priming sugar one pretty much has to wait a few more weeks to let it carb.

As far as your question though, I don't get that difference either myself. 5gal is 5gal to me and the only reason to vary from the standard might be due to the style of beer and volume of CO2 wanted etc...

Best of luck!

Sorry, I just read "coconut porter" and gagged a bit... I have an aversion to that stuff. Just wanted to say.

Coconut is a love it or hate it sort of food.

You use less priming sugar because the headspace in a keg is different than the headspace of a bottle.

weight is the right way to do priming sugar, but for a volume measurment, its usually just 1/2 cup sugar in a keg, versus 2/3 cup when bottling 5 gallons at an 'average' CO2 volume.