Priming sugar to carbonate keg beer

Can I just use priming sugar to keg my beer instead of using co2 to carbonate it and just use the co2 to serve the beer?

thanks roesso

Yes (10 chars)

No (10 chars)

Don't know, but I am used to drinking beer without much fizz and doing it by priming with dme is the only way I've ever done it, bottles or kegs.
I still get good head and history though.

why not use bottled CO2? Its just easy...

Priming in the keg should result in a little more sediment. Force carbing is just easy. You're not going to get away with not buying a CO2 tank. Get a 10lb or more and you'll thank us later.

You will have to hit it with at least enough gas for a proper seal. After that, you can let it carb from the priming sugar. You will need the gas to dispense.

sirsloop said:

why not use bottled CO2? Its just easy...

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If you want easy, why not go buy some beer? That's easy.

I like Real Ale and I like to brew it myself.
That's why.

I'd imagine you could get the same result with low pressure CO2. I mean, if you want to go really historic you can stick with mixing paddle infused yeast strains ;-)

Well if that truly was the case then I wonder why the majority of craft/micro breweries and many of the larger breweries supply casked naturally conditioned Real Ale and any pub worth it's salt and wanting to serve quality ale serve it and don't force carbonate. (UK anyway)
Yes forcing is probably easier and more reliable but like I say if that's what you want then the easiest way is to just buy the stuff. I'm not saying anyone should do it or that it's better than force carbing but those that brew it and drink it will know that there are reasons for it.
I like to do it that way, I only drink Real Ale and will not touch the tapped stuff. If there is no Hand Pumps in a pub then my first choice is to walk out of the pub. My second choice is to buy a Bottle Conditioned Ale. My Third choice is a Newcastle brown or other bottle brown or pale ale. Forth choice it to sit without a beer.
(I deviate from this when I travel)

Did you know I'm an EAC?

I wish our choices in the US were as good as yours. I would say about 90% of pubs around me don't even know what a hand pump is, much less have one around with a real ale attached to it. I've never naturally carbed in a keg because the entire reason I went to kegs was to avoid having to prime. I had an occurrence when I bottled where I primed and the priming never reached completion....so I ended up with sweet beer. It tasted great after secondary (albeit flat and warm), but once I added the priming sugar it never recovered. It just seemed a pity to hope that the yeast was still viable enough to consume the priming sugar.

That said, I have thought about giving natural priming in the keg a shot...but I'm impatient. And I completely disagree that I should buy stuff because force carbing is easier. I still make beers that taste and drink the way I want, which is not easy. I just chose to take the easy route with regards to carbonation.

I wonder if they filter the beer, then use a secondary yeast strain to finish and carbonate. That would definitely result in a different flavor beer. Other than that, cask conditioned beer just gets an extra dose of sugar that will make the beer either more malty/sweet, or just slightly higher in alcohol content. It also will sit on a larger yeast cake which may change the flavor some.

I wonder if these so called brew pubs use a hand pump just cause thats what society says they should be using? Ya know, what brew pub worth anything doesn't draw their stout from a hand pump? Maybe they use hand pumps cause its cheaper to pay your barkeep their normal wage to pump than it is to keep refilling CO2 bottles? :cross:

IDk about you, but I judge a brew pub by its beer and bleu cheese bacon cheeseburger with fries - not by the means the beer got out of the keg.

...one note... I do enjoy watching a hot chick pull on the ol hand pump... something sexy about it

Most breweries actually use wort as a priming agent rather than sugar.
Cask Condition Ale needs to be looked after and settled before serving. Any monkey can serve kegged beer. With Priming in a keg a failure is not a problem you can fall back on forcing if needed.

My point about buying commercial if you want to keep it easy is not intended to be a dig. I'm just illustrating the point that we don't brew beer to save time we do it for the love of good beer as we like it and because we enjoy it.

Like I said, it's just what I do and am not saying it's what everyone should do.

You gotta love the beer.

sirsloop said:

...one note... I do enjoy watching a hot chick pull on the ol hand pump... something sexy about it

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Well my local is run by two fat blokes. They ONLY have young attractive chicks serving on the 6 hand pulls. They say it's an health an safety issue. No room for fat chicks behind the bar and the big tits act asd a counter balance for the pull on the pump.

I love my local.

orfy, could you explain your keg priming method in detail . thank you

LIONS_FAN2539 said:

orfy, could you explain your keg priming method in detail . thank you

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Forget about that what about the address of that pub .

No seriously i would be interested in the above too. I've just got myself some cornies and im wondering how best to prime if i choose to go this way (something that seems to be more prevalent in the u.k.)
Do you prime as usual ie 1 week room temp, then stick it in the fridge/shed for several weeks. How long does it take to clear down? is the extra sediment a pain with the cornie dispensing system (am i right in thinking you would get rid of it in the first pint or two??).

Dead simple..

Treat it like one big bottle. Prime for the style of the beer and your preference. Or go really flash and save some of your original wort before pitching the yeast and add this at the time of kegging for priming.

Store the keg at room temp for a few week minimum. Forget the I can carb in 1 day force thing. You need to leave the beer to age/condition any way. Once happy move to the serving position.

You will have some sediment so you want to leave it to settle for a couple of days. The first pint may be a little cloudy but that's the test pint. I've never had more than a thin layer of sediment, probably due to the fact that the beer's been in primary/secondary for at least 3 to 4 weeks.

Has for serving, the most authentic way is to use a hand pull and just replace the volume of beer drawn with the same volume of CO2. A good pub will empty a cask in a day or so so will generally just use a vent to the atmosphere but because us home drinkers will take a good couple of weeks to empty a keg it's best to use the CO2. An inline cask breather is ideal but failing that a standard CO2 set up or small jobby will do set at a low PSI or just give a top up after drawing a few pints and you can get away without using a regulator. Just put enough pressure on to allow it to be served from a regular tap.

I realy can't see a reason not to do it this way. Plus I think it'll extend the time between CO2 refills.
If it doesn't turn out how you want it to you can always fall back on forcing.