force carbonation vs priming a keg with corn sugar

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killian

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I'm working on a plan to compare the two methods side by side. The things I'm wondering are,
how much head space in the keg and how it will play a roll in priming.
seating the keg lid with co2 when priming how much co2 will be needed and will that amount of co2 need to factored in?

I know co2 is co2 but I'm planning on serving a mild cask style soon and I want to get this right.:mug:
 
I have had the kegerator going for little over a year. Force carbonation is great when you need some beer stored in the closet, or a fast 5 gallons to serve (24 hours and wham...carbonated beer!). I have noticed in the short amount of time that I have had the system up is, that forcing carbonating will not let it clear. I appreciate any imput on perfecting my clarity, but the ol 10 psi for about three days... it sure is clear!

Sorry but priming sugar in a keg, is beyond me. If I have priming sugar, I put it in when the recipe calls for the honey, or corn syrup (I am going for the alcohol content). :drunk:
 
We boil up about 2.5 ozs of sugar in some water and toss it in the keg. We fill the keg to a couple inches below the lid. Our PSI is usually set at about 30 to seat the lid (I'm sure you could do less), purge the air out, keep the CO2 connected a few minutes until we don't hear the hiss anymore, remove CO2 and let it sit for a few weeks to carb up.
 
We boil up about 2.5 ozs of sugar in some water and toss it in the keg. We fill the keg to a couple inches below the lid. Our PSI is usually set at about 30 to seat the lid (I'm sure you could do less), purge the air out, keep the CO2 connected a few minutes until we don't hear the hiss anymore, remove CO2 and let it sit for a few weeks to carb up.

that is pretty much the process that I'm thinking about, would that be for 2.5 volumes?
 
For some reason you use half the amount of sugar for kegging than you do bottling. I'm sure there is a scientific explanation but I don't know it.

I said 2.5 ozs because 5 ozs is what I use for bottling unless the style calls for something different. I have to admit I let Beer Smith do my calculations when it come to figuring out how much priming sugar to use. :eek:
 
I'm guessing that you are shooting for 2.5 volumes.

I have heard the same thing about the amount of sugar to prime with. I guess that I will use that as a starting point.
 
I'm guessing that you are shooting for 2.5 volumes.

I have heard the same thing about the amount of sugar to prime with. I guess that I will use that as a starting point.
No I love highly carbonated witbiers so I am going with 3.9
 
We boil up about 2.5 ozs of sugar in some water and toss it in the keg. We fill the keg to a couple inches below the lid. Our PSI is usually set at about 30 to seat the lid (I'm sure you could do less), purge the air out, keep the CO2 connected a few minutes until we don't hear the hiss anymore, remove CO2 and let it sit for a few weeks to carb up.

This is very interesting. You put 30 psi into it along with the priming sugar, remove the CO2 connector, and then forget it in the kegerator? What temp are you storing it at while it's doing it's business?
 
This is very interesting. You put 30 psi into it along with the priming sugar, remove the CO2 connector, and then forget it in the kegerator? What temp are you storing it at while it's doing it's business?

No, it doesn't go in the kegerator. It's stored at room temperature. It won't carb up at fridge temperatures as it relies on the yeast fermenting the priming sugar to carbonate.
 
Interesting. What's the benefits to this over just setting the regulator to 9 psi and letting it go for 2 weeks? You'd have hook it up to the CO2 tank anyway to serve it right?
 
Priming it with sugar just frees up your co2 for serving or other kegs. If you have the space in your kegerator your co2 setup, I say just use your co2. If you dont have room and have beer waiting in the wings for a keg to kick but it will take another week or two, then that is when I'd prime with sugar so you avoid any downtime with having to force carb when it would already be done with priming sugar.
 
I'm sure the person that asked why add the sugar will probably never see this being nearly 2 years later but if any one stumbles across this,,,

Adding the sugar is one way to "cask" condition in a keg
 
I don't have the room in my fridge to let kegs sit connected to the gas to get carbonated. Also tried forced methods and wasn't too happy with the results and used a lot of gas. So, I've been using priming sugar with mixed results. Still trying to find the right amount of sugar and the proper amount of time to let it do its thing.

How do the breweries carbonate their stuff?
 
I'm sure the person that asked why add the sugar will probably never see this being nearly 2 years later but if any one stumbles across this,,,

Adding the sugar is one way to "cask" condition in a keg

2 years huh? try 8 years
 
This thread is awesome !!! I have a German Alt naturally carbing right now. I did back off to 4 ounces of priming sugar, and sealed the keg with 20 PSI. I will let it sit for another couple weeks before checking it.

I also want to try this on a batch of mead I have going. Just need to figure out when to keg it, so it doesn't get over carbed.
 
I only force carb these days. Id like to get a bigger CO2 tank then the 5 lb one that came with my kegerator though.
 
I tried sugar carbing a keg once. I don't know what happened, but the beer soured BAD. This was a 10 gallon batch, 5 gallons force carbed (tasted great) and 5 sugar carbed. It was a brown so if it was going to go bad to begin with I wouldn't have known it. I've done nothing but force carb since then. Even with a 5lb tank I can go through a keg every two weeks and the tank will last almost 3 months.
 
when naturally carbonating a keg, I prefer to use about 3/4 the necessary amount needed to prime the keg. When the sugar restarts fermentation, if there are any residual sugars left, the yeast can continue to feast on the sugars, thus ending up with over carbonated beer. If one uses a bit less, then there is a lesser chance of it happening, additionally since the beer is warm, when you put it in the kegerator, after it cools it will absorb the additional over the next couple of days.

I have ended up with over carbonated kegs, they are much more of a pita to deal with rather than slightly undercarbed kegs.
 
What would I do if I wanted to bottle 4-22oz bottles and keg the rest?

Since the amount of sugar is different?
 
I guess you could add the 3/4 amount of priming sugar to the beer, in your bottling bucket. Bottle how ever many bottles you want, then rack the rest into a sanitized keg. It might take a bit longer for the bottles to carb up, but that's what I would do.
 
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