Just kegged my first APA - HELP!!!

This past weekend I kegged my first American Pale Ale. My plan was to force carb to have it ready for a family get together the following week. I was under the impression that I still needed to add priming sugar prior to force carbing, I’m now realizing I was wrong. So after sitting in my primary fermenter for little over three weeks I transferred my brew to the keg. At this point I dumped 1/3 cup of priming sugar into the keg and hooked it up to 30 lbs of CO2 to ensure a proper seal.

My first question is should I have added water to the priming sugar before dumping it into the keg?

Second question, is 1/3 cup of priming sugar enough to ensure the beer is properly carbonated?

Third, since I’m not able to force carb how long am I going to need to wait before I can drink my APA? Should I keep it at room temp during this time or can I place it in the deep freezer at around 32 degrees? Will this speed up the time?

Any help and advice would be much appreciated.

simple procedure: boil 1/3 cup sugar in a cup of water for a few (5-10) minutes, dump it in the keg, close it, hit it with 30 psi to seal the top, burp the keg a couple times with the co2 still on it, remove co2, done.

1: yes, see above procedure
2: yes, for a keg
3: keep it at room temp for 4-5 days for the carbing to happen, then cool for a couple days. not ideal, but works for emergencies

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Why can't you force carb? You don't have a co2 tank?

I just dumped the sugar into the keg without boiling it in a cup of water. Its it going to be okay? I do have a CO2 tank but I thought since I’ve already added the priming sugar force carbing was out of the question, am I wrong?

So, your plan was to have that keg ready by this weekend?

If you've been holding the beer at fermentation temperature since, say, Saturday, that sugar has likely been turned into CO2 by now, and you can start chilling the beer down to serving temperature.

If your keg seals have held, the beer will eventually reach the desired carbonation level. But it's cutting closer than "close" that it'll be satisfactory by this weekend...

Cheers!

themartinezmafia said:

I just dumped the sugar into the keg without boiling it in a cup of water. Its it going to be okay? I do have a CO2 tank but I thought since I’ve already added the priming sugar force carbing was out of the question, am I wrong?

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No, it's not out of the question.

You have a couple of choices: leave the keg at room temperature 2 weeks or so, and it should carb up, or put the keg in the kegerator at 12 psi for 2 weeks or so, and it should carb up. Either is fine.

If you're in a huge, huge, hurry, you could chill the beer and keep it at 30 psi for 24-36 hours and then purge it and reset to 12 psi and it will be ready in 4-5 days or so.

This is good information. Thanks! I'm going to place it in the kegerator at 30 psi for 24 hours, purge it and reset to 12 psi and keep my fingers crossed.

Once its carbed, should I lower the psi?

10-12 psi is about right for serving pressure on an APA. What you did is no big deal BTW you should just ignore that you added the priming sugar and force carb. The priming sugar will just increase the alcohol a bit. You can carb it in a few hours if you need to with 30 PSI and shaking the keg. Also it needs to be cold or it will take forever.

Was your keg at room temp with the sugar in it? If so how long? If it was chances are your keg might be partially carbed. If I was you I would find out how carbed your keg already is. That way hooking up gas at 30psi for 24 hours won't over carbonate your beer.

yeah, pour a glass and see how it is coming along

Yes my keg was at room temp for about 6 days. On Wednesday, which was the six day, I placed the keg in the kegerator at 30 psi for about for 24 hours. Last night I purged and reset to 12 – 15 psi. I just poured me glass to try it out and its tastes pretty fantastic. I can tell it needs to carb some more but I think its going to be ready by Sundays family gathering.

Just had my first taste of the APA and it taste phenomenal. Not overcarb or undercarbed but just right. This is going to go nicely with my 10 pound brisket and and rib eyes steaks. Thanks for all of your advice and help. Cheers!!!

I'll gladly accept a ribeye as payment

take two

Hillhouse, it's in the mail.

Hmm....Some beer, a syringe, and a baby bottle....

NOOOOOOO! DON'T DO IT!

Cheers!

day_trippr said:

Hmm....Some beer, a syringe, and a baby bottle....

NOOOOOOO! DON'T DO IT!

Cheers!

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And I thought getting to have the first sip of the beers I would get from the fridge for my dad when I was 8 was bad. Your starting em early!

That is quite humorous. Good luck with your party though. Ive made several damn good brews and when it came time for me to show what i had was a silly pale mild. Wasn't bad just didn't have a noticeable taste, really. Strange.

O and nice new Belgian Trippel. Had one of those last night. It is one of those beers that tastes exactly like the plants on the label.

Hey, my wife and I have three kids under the age of 4 so don't judge.