Force Carbing?

Hello all,
First I'd like to say thanks to everyone, I've recently started home brewing and this site has helped me quite a bit. So thanks.

I'm thinking of getting into kegging because of the vast upsides as opposed to bottling. I had one question that I thought I'd ask.

I hear a lot about force carbing and how easy it is. But if it takes just as long to condition the beer why not just prime the beer and let carbonation occur naturally. I'm trying to figure out which way is best for great tasting beer. I've heard a lot of stories about over carbing and excessive foam and pressure imbalances. So there has to be a downside to priming or no one would carb naturally... right??

TIA,
Steve

It's still much easier to connect the gas in to the regulator and let it sit, than mixing up priming sugar. If you do a secondary for two weeks after the primary fermentation is finished, you'll be much closer to being conditioned. If you carbonate with priming sugar you'll need to have the keg out of the fridge until it's carbonated. With force carbing, you throw it in there and that's it.

There is simply nothing easier than hooking your corney up to your gas and letting it sit at serving pressure. It's as easy as it gets

I Primary for one week. I secondary for 10 days. Then I hook it up to the gas, crank it to 30 pounds and shake it up to force carb. I love kegging because I can be drinking my brew within 3 weeks of brewing. Is it a little green when I tap? Sure. But it's good. And gets better with each day.

I can only get two kegs on cold-tap right now. But I have to brew every weekend. So my inventory will catch up with me soon. At that point, I'll prime and let the kegs condition naturally. I'll have the time to wait and I'll save some gas at the same time.

doesn't priming cause more sediment? one upside to kegging is less sediment...why ruin it?

Also when you force carb you have exact control over the pressure carbed at and therefore the volumes of CO2 that are in solution. Much more control over the end product if you are intersted in that sort of stuff.

If you overcarb accidentally be it by force carbing or by actually adding sugars and having a secondary fermentation you can just connect the gas up and it will equalize in a few hours or days depending on the delta.

Holy run on sentence Batman!

roryspa said:

doesn't priming cause more sediment? one upside to kegging is less sediment...why ruin it?

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There is some sediment when you prime a keg. But that problem disappears when you draw your first beer as the dip tube sucks the sediment right off the bottom and it's "clear" sailing after that.

BierMuncher said:

I Primary for one week. I secondary for 10 days. Then I hook it up to the gas, crank it to 30 pounds and shake it up to force carb. I love kegging because I can be drinking my brew within 3 weeks of brewing. Is it a little green when I tap? Sure. But it's good. And gets better with each day.

I can only get two kegs on cold-tap right now. But I have to brew every weekend. So my inventory will catch up with me soon. At that point, I'll prime and let the kegs condition naturally. I'll have the time to wait and I'll save some gas at the same time.

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Some questions with respect to this method:

Do you pressurize and shake the beer cold or at fermenting temp?

Once you put 30 psi in the container and have shaken, do you bleed it back down immediately or do you wait for awhile?

How long after shaking should you wait to drink?

If you shake when warm, when can you begin to chill?

I know I am full of questions today, but I am getting ready to go through all of this for the first time this weekend! I can't wait.

WyoBuckeye said:

Some questions with respect to this method:

Do you pressurize and shake the beer cold or at fermenting temp?

Once you put 30 psi in the container and have shaken, do you bleed it back down immediately or do you wait for awhile?

How long after shaking should you wait to drink?

If you shake when warm, when can you begin to chill?

I know I am full of questions today, but I am getting ready to go through all of this for the first time this weekend! I can't wait.

Click to expand...

Keg needs to be cold so chill overnight.

Set pressure to 30 and begin your "shake down".
My ritual is usually shake back and forth for about 15-20 seconds and listen. You'll here bubbling as gas is being absorbed. When the bubbling stops, repeat.

Do this over about a 5-6 minute period.

Set the keg back in the fridge (do not bleed pressure). Set pressure back to serving if you have another keg on, otherwise you can leave it at 30. Wait a couple of hours and draw a glass for taste. Most likely will have good, but not great carbonation. Repeat entire process.

My routine is to start this process at night. Wake up and repeat the process before I go to work so that evening I can come home and enjoy.

Don't forget to set serving pressure back to 10-12 lbs.

Good luck.