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kilroy

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I am sorry if this is a silly question -

I made my first batch of Hard Lemonade and kegged it the other night, using a 5 gallon corny.

I put in the 1 cup corn sugar, and stirred like crazy, put the lid on, and left it.

is there a temperature concern when conditioning in the keg?
do I need to maintain a set temp.

How will I know if it is working?

How long will it take?

Thanks

Kilroy
 
Keep it between 55-70F. Should be done in two weeks. You can check on the pressure by burping the release valve. Do not be surprised if it's all foam, 1/2 cup is more than enough in a keg. (I used 1/2 cup in my most recent porter & it still foamy) Fortunately, unlike over carbonated bottles, you can vent a keg.
 
I had 7 gallons in total, so I filled the keg, and bottled the rest

I have the bottles sitting in a plastic storage box, just incase they decide to go boom

Kilroy
 
It's much more efficient and cost effective to carbonate a keg by just hooking up your CO2 bottle, setting it to your standard serving pressure and sitting back to let it do it's thing.
 
Kilroy, once you have conditioned your lemonade how are you goiing to get it out of the keg? If you have a CO2 source/regulator then your set. If not, you might try a party keg charger to keep it flowing. Just a thought.
 
Kilroy, you have joined us that now only bottle when we want to rather than becasue we don't have another option. You should look into Mikey's advice and force carbonate, you will be gratified much quicker.
 
3rd and Long said:
Kilroy, you have joined us that now only bottle when we want to rather than becasue we don't have another option. You should look into Mikey's advice and force carbonate, you will be gratified much quicker.


I do plan on doing both force and natural carbonation - Because this was my first attempt at using a keg, I thought that I would try it "au natural".

I have 3 more kegs empty, with 10 gallons of hard hard waiting to go into them.

1 of the hard ciders I will keg condition, just cause I will have the time to do it, the other I will probably force clear it, and then force carbonate it.

The other keg is going to be used for an Island Mist Wine kit, force carbonate it and have a wine cooler for the summer next year.

I do have a 10lb CO2 tank that i purchased new, and regulator and hoses etc for 1 keg, will need to get a line splitter to get more lines for the gas, and ..... and .... and .... does the list ever really end :)

THanks very much for the advice.

Kilroy
 
FYI, it seems a lot of folks like the idea of "natural" carbonation with kegs. There's really no difference, except with "natural" carbonation, you get yeast settling in your keg, have less control, and have to wait. My guess is you won't be doing it both ways for long once you try force carbonation ;)

Oh, and the list never ends ;)

Cheers! :D
 
kilroy said:
I am sorry if this is a silly question -

I put in the 1 cup corn sugar, and stirred like crazy, put the lid on, and left it.

Kilroy

Be careful to stir gently when you add priming sugar to the keg / bottling bucket. You don't want to add air to your precious brew (which can lead to spoiling).
 
BlightyBrewer said:
Be careful to stir gently when you add priming sugar to the keg / bottling bucket. You don't want to add air to your precious brew (which can lead to spoiling).

Good advice - I did not think of that - thank you :)

Kilroy
 

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