Carbonation time with sugar in a keg

I was wondering if a week of sitting in a keg at room temperature, would the batch be carbonated and ready or would it be 2 weeks?

HaveADrinkOnMe said:

I was wondering if a week of sitting in a keg at room temperature, would the batch be carbonated and ready or would it be 2 weeks?

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I tried one week before and it was flat but 2 weeks or even 12 days did the trick. Cheers

I have a dark holiday ale that I want to half-bottle and half keg (I want to bring about half the batch to the family holiday party out of town). I want to prime the whole 5 gallons bottle half then transfer the rest to the keg to naturally carb. The common theme around here is to add only half the normal amount of priming sugar when naturally carbing, but I figured priming with the normal amount to allow me to bottle would be okay since there will be a lot more head space in the keg. Will this over carb the batch? If I naturally carb, do I let sit at room temp for two weeks, chill, vent, and then put on serving pressure?

It's on the same timeframe as naturally carbonating in a bottle, you are just carbonating in one large bottle.

More ABV = longer time.

A typical 1.04-1.05 OG, 5-6% ABV beer will take 2-3 weeks at 70F to naturally carb. It goes up exponentially from there depending on ABV.

Keep in mind, you use LESS priming sugar when you put it into a keg to carbonate. The better carbonation calc sites have selections for using kegs, instead of bottles.

Golddiggie said:

Keep in mind, you use LESS priming sugar when you put it into a keg to carbonate. The better carbonation calc sites have selections for using kegs, instead of bottles.

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Right. But if I'm carbing only a half batch in the keg (other half in bottles) wouldn't it make sense that I would use more primer in the entire batch?

I'll check the carbing calculators, but wanted to see what folks here thought.

mmcouch said:

Right. But if I'm carbing only a half batch in the keg (other half in bottles) wouldn't it make sense that I would use more primer in the entire batch?

I'll check the carbing calculators, but wanted to see what folks here thought.

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IMO, no. If you're really set on going this route, then figure out how much to use for each part. Fill the keg first, add the priming solution to it, then the sugar the bottled section will need to properly carbonate. Otherwise either the keg will be over carbonated, or the bottles will be under carbonated.

Golddiggie said:

Keep in mind, you use LESS priming sugar when you put it into a keg to carbonate. The better carbonation calc sites have selections for using kegs, instead of bottles.

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Unfortunately I didn't realize or research enough the proper amount of priming sugar to use when keg carbonating so we ended up using the same amount as we would for bottles. Does this mean I need to purge the keg at all, or what are the drawbacks to using the same amount for bottles? Also where can I find a carbonation calc site, is there one on hbt forums or a link?

HaveADrinkOnMe said:

Unfortunately I didn't realize or research enough the proper amount of priming sugar to use when keg carbonating so we ended up using the same amount as we would for bottles. Does this mean I need to purge the keg at all, or what are the drawbacks to using the same amount for bottles? Also where can I find a carbonation calc site, is there one on hbt forums or a link?

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Without knowing what you kegged this way and how much sugar you used, it's impossible to say with certainty. BUT, I would wager that it will be at least somewhat over carbonated. So, once it's chilled, you'll need to pour a pint, or two, and see. If it is over carbonated, you'll need to purge it 2-3 times a day for 2-3 days to get release the excess pressure. Then put it back onto the CO2 feed at the correct pressure (for the temperature) to get the carbonation level correct. IMO, you're better off just carbonating with CO2.

we kegged a cream ale with priming sugar this time around because the last batch of Kolsch we CO2 carbonated was a little flat to the taste even after the giant head of foam went down after pouring it in a glass, now this might have had to do with me not replacing the o rings on the used keg system I bought, which were replaced for this cream ale batch, and also because I didn't let the keg sit long enough at the proper CO2 level

and the amount of sugar we used was 5 oz of corn sugar

HaveADrinkOnMe said:

we kegged a cream ale with priming sugar this time around because the last batch of Kolsch we CO2 carbonated was a little flat to the taste even after the giant head of foam went down after pouring it in a glass, now this might have had to do with me not replacing the o rings on the used keg system I bought, which were replaced for this cream ale batch, and also because I didn't let the keg sit long enough at the proper CO2 level

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Giant head of foam and flat beer afterwards is usually a sure sign of overcarbonation. If you've ruled that out, look for kinked serving lines, or places where rapid temp change could occur before pouring like warm serving lines.

HaveADrinkOnMe said:

we kegged a cream ale with priming sugar this time around because the last batch of Kolsch we CO2 carbonated was a little flat to the taste even after the giant head of foam went down after pouring it in a glass, now this might have had to do with me not replacing the o rings on the used keg system I bought, which were replaced for this cream ale batch, and also because I didn't let the keg sit long enough at the proper CO2 level

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How'd it turn out? Or still carbing?

mmcouch said:

How'd it turn out? Or still carbing?

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Our kegged cream ale still has until next weekend before it should be ready, I will post the results after a tasting. This also was an experiment for us to see if CO2 carbing or sugar tastes different and if so which one tastes better.

CO2 is CO2. If you do it right, they should taste the same!

I think this time around also I will leave the dispensing tubing in the fridge with the keg so that there is no temperature change for the beer once it hits the lines when dispensing. I think the warm lines mixing with the cold beer might have had something to do with our bad CO2 experience the last time also.

Well our cream ale turned out very nice actually. Despite having somewhat of a Hefeweizen flavor at the beginning it finishes with a crisp ale taste. I was surprised at how well it turned out because we kegged the 5 gallons and carbonated it using 5 oz of priming sugar, which is the same amount used when bottling, and I had read on some posts and threads on here that you aren't supposed to use the same amount of priming sugar that you use when kegging. Turns out that it is just fine, plus this time around we replaced the o ring set and used some keg lube which without a doubt added to the success of this batch. I also successfully bottled a number of bottles and growlers just using the bottling cane attached to the dispensing faucet, pretty much fits exactly but I did notice that it was helpful to not even start dispensing until you had the cane inserted in the faucet and then had the cane all the way down in the bottom of the bottle/growler allowing it to be open before you flip the faucet on to pour, other wise you will shoot the bottling cane out of the faucet insert thus causing spillage and stickiness.