PSI reading - carbonate with sugar in keg

I am going to try and carbonate with sugar inside my keg. I have a ball valve with a pressure gauge that I could attach to it. In general, what should I hold my pressure at and for how long. 10 days at 30 psi and 65F? Would that yield 2.58 volumes of CO2 in my beer? I pulled those numbers from a chart just not sure about the length of time and if my gauge would tell me if it were ready or not.

I will measure out my sugars correctly before hand and I could just wait 3 weeks to be sure but I want to be more scientific than that.


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When I set my kegs to 30 for force carbing, I use no sugar. I would assume that priming the keg with sugar and a high psi setting may over carb your beer. Maybe stick to just serving pressures.
Hopefully someone with more experience with priming kegs and step in on this.

I just added corn sugar, half what I would have added for bottling, then purged the O2 about 7 times and left the CO2 in there the final time. I did it at 25 PSI. I haven't had a chance to try it yet.

TimelessCynic said:

I am going to try and carbonate with sugar inside my keg. I have a ball valve with a pressure gauge that I could attach to it. In general, what should I hold my pressure at and for how long. 10 days at 30 psi and 65F? Would that yield 2.58 volumes of CO2 in my beer? I pulled those numbers from a chart just not sure about the length of time and if my gauge would tell me if it were ready or not.

I will measure out my sugars correctly before hand and I could just wait 3 weeks to be sure but I want to be more scientific than that.


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I keg condition all my beers. I start by boiling 3/4 oz/ gal of priming malt (darker beers) or priming sugar ( light beers) in about 2 cups of water. Chill in a bowl of ice then pour into the keg. Fill keg w/ CO2. Relapse pressure and transfer your beer to the keg. A blanket of CO2 will remain protecting against oxidation. Then close keg & and seal w/ CO2. I leave my kegs at room temp for two weeks.
Chill the keg for a couple of days w/ the CO2 line attached @ serving pressure. Then connect tap line and enjoy.


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That's for the input everyone. It will be interesting observing the internal
pressure throughout the conditioning process. Since it's an IPA i will use 1 cup of sugar instead of the standard 3/4. And I will leave it undisturbed for two weeks to be sure it carbs.


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TimelessCynic said:

That's for the input everyone. It will be interesting observing the internal
pressure throughout the conditioning process. Since it's an IPA i will use 1 cup of sugar instead of the standard 3/4. And I will leave it undisturbed for two weeks to be sure it carbs.


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That's likely going to result in a foamy overcarbonated mess for a variety of reasons. Measuring your sugar by weight rather than volume is much more accurate. Depending on the type and coarseness of the sugar, there can be rather large differences in the amount of sugar that fits into a cup. 3/4 of a cup of sugar weighs on average a little over 5 oz, which would result in ~2.75 vol of carbonation if bottling, which is on the high side (BJCP suggests 1.5-2.3 vol for IPA's). One cup of sugar would result in ~3.5 vol of carbonation, which is very difficult to serve from a keg without foaming problems. The difference in relative headspace between bottling kegging requires that you use less priming sugar in the keg to achieve the same carb level. Many people use 1/2-2/3 the amount they would for bottling. It's a whole lot better to have your beer slightly undercarbed than overcarbed. If it's undercarbed, once it's been at serving pressure for a few days it will come up to exactly where it needs to be. If it's overcarbed, you'll have to disconnect the gas and vent the pressure every time you think of it for a few days to lower the carb level.

I don't want to offend anybody but I don't really understand why you would want to carbonate a beer using sugar, corn syrup or wort once you're in a keg?
I force carbonate my kegged beer in 10 minutes and it's ready to drink. Nice thick head and it's just right every time. Am I missing something?

Your not missing anything tootal. I simply want to do it because i never have before. And i brew soo frequently i don't have time constraints so 10 weeks or 10 minutes are not that different.

And Moore. I'm gonna try with 1 cup. And purge my keg if it is to over carbed. I don't care what jcvd or whomever recommended.


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TimelessCynic said:

Your not missing anything tootal. I simply want to do it because i never have before. And i brew soo frequently i don't have time constraints so 10 weeks or 10 minutes are not that different.

And Moore. I'm gonna try with 1 cup. And purge my keg if it is to over carbed. I don't care what jcvd or whomever recommended.


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I find that I end up w/ a much more consistent carbonation by keg conditioning as above. It only takes 10-14 days & it doesn't require as much CO2.


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TimelessCynic said:

And Moore. I'm gonna try with 1 cup. And purge my keg if it is to over carbed. I don't care what jcvd or whomever recommended.

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Just wanted you to be aware that it's going to result in over 3.5 vol of carbonation, which is really really high. If that's what you're going for, you're going to need to serve your beer near freezing and use extremely long beer lines. Even then it will likely be problematic.

JuanMoore said:

Just wanted you to be aware that it's going to result in over 3.5 vol of carbonation, which is really really high. If that's what you're going for, you're going to need to serve your beer near freezing and use extremely long beer lines. Even then it will likely be problematic.

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3.5 volumes would be interesting. In any case I will probably over carbonate my beer as you have predicted. I'm eager to see what pressure I get in the keg. Then when I cold crash I can dial in my spunding valve to 10 psi at 31F and let it auto purge. According to the tables this is 2.76 volumes of CO2. I wonder if doing it this way is essential the opposite of force carbonating with the constant being the pressure.



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TimelessCynic said:

3.5 volumes would be interesting. In any case I will probably over carbonate my beer as you have predicted. I'm eager to see what pressure I get in the keg. Then when I cold crash I can dial in my spunding valve to 10 psi at 31F and let it auto purge. According to the tables this is 2.76 volumes of CO2. I wonder if doing it this way is essential the opposite of force carbonating with the constant being the pressure.



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FWIW the carbonic acid produced from carbonation doesn't always go away when the carbonation is reduced. Overcarbonation can result in excess carbonic acid and a harsh metallic flavor.

I'm not sure why you'd want to knowingly overcarb your beer to such an extreme degree. Why not just use the amount of sugar that will provide the carbonation you're seeking?

tootal said:

I don't want to offend anybody but I don't really understand why you would want to carbonate a beer using sugar, corn syrup or wort once you're in a keg?
I force carbonate my kegged beer in 10 minutes and it's ready to drink. Nice thick head and it's just right every time. Am I missing something?

Click to expand...

Well in my case I had no room for to hook a new keg up but I had beer sitting around waiting to be bottled or kegged. I picked kegged and I used that route since it is sitting in my garage waiting for me to make a new home for it. So that is why some of us will go that route over forced carbonation.

Hello said:

Well in my case I had no room for to hook a new keg up but I had beer sitting around waiting to be bottled or kegged. I picked kegged and I used that route since it is sitting in my garage waiting for me to make a new home for it. So that is why some of us will go that route over forced carbonation.

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I'll probably be forced to do this same thing shortly, current taps are full and want to carb another keg to be ready in a few weeks. Just be sure to use a priming calculator so you don't over carb the beer:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

tootal said:

I don't want to offend anybody but I don't really understand why you would want to carbonate a beer using sugar, corn syrup or wort once you're in a keg?
I force carbonate my kegged beer in 10 minutes and it's ready to drink. Nice thick head and it's just right every time. Am I missing something?

Click to expand...

I'm missing something..your technique! I turn my kegs upside down and shake, but still find it takes at least a few hours and I usually prefer to wait for the next day.

Can you share how you get your beer ready so fast.

Cheers!

I don't think using 1 cup of corn sugar dextrose which for me weighs out to 5 oz will carbonate it to the point of being hard to deal with. I just want to ensure I have enough carbonation. At 2.5 oz or even 3 I'm skeptical of that and I want it a little extra fizzy because it is an IPA. The carbonic acid thing you mentioned is interesting. I had a belgian ale that was very carbonated and it had a little metallic taste.

Anyhow. If it fails miserably I was warned and will learn from it. I'm a trial and error guy. With A LOT of errors in my history. 🍺


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CB_in_Tokyo said:

I'm missing something..your technique! I turn my kegs upside down and shake, but still find it takes at least a few hours and I usually prefer to wait for the next day.

Can you share how you get your beer ready so fast.

Cheers!

Click to expand...

I put an "OUT" disconnect on my CO2 line and connect it to the OUT side of the keg. I have the regulator set at 30 psi. The beer is between 30 to 35 degrees. Look at one of the Volumes of CO2 charts to figure out where your final pressure should be at the temperature of your beer. Now I sit down and put the keg between my shoes and start rocking it back and forth pretty hard. Do this for 1 minute at the 30 psi pressure. Now lower it to the pressure you chart shows for your beer temp. Keep shaking until you don't hear anymore gas bubbling up from the bottom, usually 5 - 7 minutes. Set the keg back in your fridge/kegerator and pour yourself a reward!

Remember that your systems lines need to be the right diameter and length. Mine are 3/16" line, 5 feet long. This works for my taps at 12 psi on the kegs. The first pour is usually about 1/2 foam but by the time that settles and you've quaffed it down the second one has about 1" of head.

Results are not guaranteed and are only the results of the author. Your results may vary.

I have primed a keg with sugar...
I only add half the sugar that bulk priming for bottling would call for...so on my last 3 wheat beer, I added 1.8oz of corn sugar (with 1 cup of boiling water)...wait 2 weeks at room temp. once a tap opens up after that I just put the keg in the fridge and connect the gas at 12.5-13psi (I have 10' of 3/16ID line)...and serve (once cold)...carb's great...never over carb'd.

I do this if I have no room in the fridge...if I have room, set and forget 10-14 days at serving pressure.