Kegging a Stout

So i will be kegging a Dry Irish Stout tomorrow, and this will be my first kegged beer. I have done plenty of research on how to carbonate this style of beer and have come to the conclusion that force carbonation is NOT the way to go. I would appreciate it if somebody who has kegged this style of beer leave a response on how they did it, step by step please, i don't wanna screw this up. Thanks for your input!

If you are natural carbing, you would use half the amount of sugar you would normally use for bottling. Just add it to the keg before you rack your beer to it.

1. Boil 2.5 ounces of priming sugar with 1/2 cup of water for 5min
2. Let cool
3. Add to keg
4. Rack beer to keg
5. Seal keg and set lid with 30psi for a few seconds
6. Let keg sit for 2-3 weeks(may take longer) before hooking up to gas and serving

I force carb mine. Force carbing or priming doesn't really matter. Carbonated is carbonated. Many people prefer a real "creamy" head on their stouts, so they use nitrogen set ups, or "creamer" faucets. I have neither, so I just set it at a slightly lower pressure than my more highly carbed beers and it's fine. The flaked barley and oats in my oatmeal stout still provide a creamy mouthfeel.

Yooperbrew-
At what PSI did you force carb it and for how long? Also, did you use any priming sugar?

mike1978 said:

Yooperbrew-
At what PSI did you force carb it and for how long? Also, did you use any priming sugar?

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No, I forced carbed. Mine is at 8 psi, I believe, in my 39 degree fridge. It took about 10 days to 2 weeks to be carbed up, if I remember correctly.

mike1978 said:

Yooperbrew-
At what PSI did you force carb it and for how long? Also, did you use any priming sugar?

Click to expand...

If you are force carbing, do not use any priming sugar or your beer will be overcarbed.

Sorry to be so specific, but this is my first time and i wanna get it right. Yooper- all i should do is hook it up to the co2, turn it on at 8psi and set in my kegerator for 10 days?

mike1978 said:

Sorry to be so specific, but this is my first time and i wanna get it right. Yooper- all i should do is hook it up to the co2, turn it on at 8psi and set in my kegerator for 10 days?

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Probably! I'd recommend consulting an online carbonation chart to make sure you get the volumes of co2 that you'd like. Most of my beers are pale ales and IPAs, so I like about 2.4 volumes of co2 in most of my beers. That works out to 11 psi at 39 degrees, for my system. So, I just lowered it for the stout but kept the others the same. If you want 1.9 volumes, for example, you'll want the psi at around 6. If you want 2.2 volumes, you'd set it for 8 at 39 degrees. It's temperature dependent, too, so you need to consider your kegerator temperature when balancing the system.

10 days it may be carbed, and taste good, 2 weeks you will be sure it is at the intended level.

yooper- even though the keg will be carbing in the kegerator for nearly 2 weeks, do you still recommend chilling the keg to 39 degrees overnight before hooking up the c02, or is it ok to hook it up straight out of the closet?

You can hook it up right away, but you may need to add anoth day to the timeline. Most people set it and forget it for two weeks as a general rule of thumb. Of course, i start taking tasters after a few days.