kegging question

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spokaniac

spokaniac

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I am about to get a set of kegs, CO2 bottles and a 4 tap chiller from a friend next payday and he has offered to give me one of the kegs early. I have a stout that I was going to bottle this weekend.

Would it work to just rack it into the keg with the priming sugar and let it carb/condition in the keg for a few weeks. Then when I get the rest of the gear set the CO2 pressure just enough to push it out of the keg and keep it carbed?
 
spokaniac said:
I am about to get a set of kegs, CO2 bottles and a 4 tap chiller from a friend next payday and he has offered to give me one of the kegs early. I have a stout that I was going to bottle this weekend.

Would it work to just rack it into the keg with the priming sugar and let it carb/condition in the keg for a few weeks. Then when I get the rest of the gear set the CO2 pressure just enough to push it out of the keg and keep it carbed?
Click to expand...

Yep, should work fine.
 
The short answer is yes you can, but use half the amount of priming sugar. That seems to be the rule of thumb.
 
Just like a bottle, chill it down for at least 48 hours before serving. The first glass is all trub, and after that you should be fine.
 
Cool. Thanks for the answers.

Now what am I gonna do with the 4 or 5 cases of empty bottles I've managed to scrounge up. :tank:
 
spokaniac said:
Cool. Thanks for the answers.

Now what am I gonna do with the 4 or 5 cases of empty bottles I've managed to scrounge up. :tank:
Click to expand...

Offer them up on here of course! But you're probably going to want to keep some so you can bottle for travel, competitions (if that's your thing) and if you consider giving some to friends.
 
spokaniac said:
Cool. Thanks for the answers.

Now what am I gonna do with the 4 or 5 cases of empty bottles I've managed to scrounge up. :tank:
Click to expand...

I am in the same position but now find that it is good to have them if i want to bottle from the keg.
 
I plan on hooking it up to CO2 before serving to keep the pressure up so it doesn't go flat or spoil.
 
Another thought. What if I wanted to bottle a 12 pack of it. Could I prime the whole batch in the keg the use the picnic faucet hooked up the the wand to fill a dozen bottles?
 
spokaniac said:
Another thought. What if I wanted to bottle a 12 pack of it. Could I prime the whole batch in the keg the use the picnic faucet hooked up the the wand to fill a dozen bottles?
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There are lots of threads on this. But yes you can fill from a keg. I just did yesterday to bring some to a homebrew club mtg. I attached a racking can to a picnic tap and attached a stopper to that. Didn't let much air in the bottle and filled from the bottom.
 
Yes. That is after the beer is carbed up and conditioned. I was going to fill some bottles right after racking it into the keg. Thinking I could purge the keg with some CO2 and give it just enough pressure to push some out into bottles, so I could compare the bottle conditioned beer to the keg conditioned beer.
I was wondering if you only used half of the priming sugar when putting the whole batch in the keg, would the bottles I drew off then have enough to carb up. Why do you only use half of the sugar when conditioning in the keg vs bottle conditioning? Would it be a big deal if I used the full amount of priming sugar in the keg?
 
spokaniac said:
Yes. That is after the beer is carbed up and conditioned. I was going to fill some bottles right after racking it into the keg. Thinking I could purge the keg with some CO2 and give it just enough pressure to push some out into bottles, so I could compare the bottle conditioned beer to the keg conditioned beer.
I was wondering if you only used half of the priming sugar when putting the whole batch in the keg, would the bottles I drew off then have enough to carb up. Why do you only use half of the sugar when conditioning in the keg vs bottle conditioning? Would it be a big deal if I used the full amount of priming sugar in the keg?
Click to expand...

You are making this too complex. One of the big advantages to kegging is getting skip out on the priming sugar step and being able to drink your beer faster.
 
Sorry about that. The reason I was thinking this way is that I am getting the keg today, but won't get the full CO2 rig and rest of the set up for a couple weeks. Thought I would experiment and try conditioning some in the keg and some in the bottles. I wasn't trying to make it too complex, just trying to take advantage of what I have to work with right now.
 
spokaniac said:
Sorry about that. The reason I was thinking this way is that I am getting the keg today, but won't get the full CO2 rig and rest of the set up for a couple weeks. Thought I would experiment and try conditioning some in the keg and some in the bottles. I wasn't trying to make it too complex, just trying to take advantage of what I have to work with right now.
Click to expand...

understandable. I would just choose one method or the other. Either carb with priming sugar in the keg and then use the CO2 to push the beer. Or just wait until you get the CO2 tank and then go from there. Good Luck!
 
Thanks, that what I was planning on, carbing with priming sugar in the keg. Then before I seal up the keg fill a dozen bottles or so.
It's just that there were some suggestions earlier about only using 1/2 the priming sugar if I was doing it in the keg. What is the reason for that? and would it leave the bottles taken from that under carbed?
 
Ok. Well I used the sugar pack that came with the kit and kinda used the keg like a bottling bucket. The racking cane fits just right into the short picnic tap that I got with it so after I racked it into the keg I just hooked the bottling wand up and siphoned out the tap into a dozen bottles. From what I could find the reason for using reduced sugar is that there is smaller headspace in the keg, since I was taking a 12 pack worth out I figured I increased the headspace, so used the full amount of sugar.
 
Did you consider using those priming tabs? Not sure how they work, but seem to fit the bill for what you're looking to do.
 
I didn't have any of those, but may look into getting some if I try it this again. This batch was a kit I ordered before I knew I was getting kegs and it came with the priming sugar. I just thought it might be an interesting experiment to bottle some and keg condition some for comparison and was wondering if it would work. Will find out in a couple weeks.
 
Actually I think I am pretty happy with the method I used. After a couple weeks both the bottled and kegged beer are carbed up and taste great. Will probably do this for future batches as well. Just use the keg as a bottling bucket and when I bottle as many as I want, seal it, let it sit for a while then hook it up. :mug:
My only problem is the chilled tap system dispenses the beer a little too cold and I have to let the pint sit for a few minutes before drinking it.

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