Priming sugar VS Force carb

Guys,

I just finished my first keg, it was a wonderfull thing, but I have a question

When I bottled i put 2 gal in a bottling bucket with priming sugar to bottle and the rest in a keg to force carb, i finished the keg just the other day but not before I had a chance to compare force carbed and bottled, i kind of liked the bottle with prime sugar better for what ever reason

In Charlie Papazian's book he talks about 1/3 cup of priming sugar and just letting is sit for a couple of weeks

DOES ANYONE DO THIS AND WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS

I'm impatient. I raise the PSI to 30 and let it sit in the cooler for a couple of days. Tastes just fine to me.

I'm interested to know why you prefer the bottled. The force carbonation can add a harsh flavour, imho. I am interested to get a filter, which some people use as part of their CO2 setup because CO2 may add flavour.

Did you filter before kegging? If so, then the bottled will have residual yeast/sediment which would add a different flavour.

We always natural carb our kegs. We use 2.5 ounces (half the amount for bottles), seal up the keg with a little CO2 and let it sit. Since we got into kegging several years ago this is the way we've done it and have no reason to force carb.

Nurmey said:

We always natural carb our kegs. We use 2.5 ounces (half the amount for bottles), seal up the keg with a little CO2 and let it sit. Since we got into kegging several years ago this is the way we've done it and have no reason to force carb.

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How long do you let it sit(condition)? also, do you let it condition at room temp or at serving temp?

Thanks

Joe

Nurmey said:

We always natural carb our kegs. We use 2.5 ounces (half the amount for bottles), seal up the keg with a little CO2 and let it sit. Since we got into kegging several years ago this is the way we've done it and have no reason to force carb.

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I think I will try this way next time

When you fill the keg and pressure how lbs do you leave in?

I assume you purge a couple of times?

And like the other question at what temp and about how long? 21 Days?

We usually put them at about 15 lbs pressure. We do purge it a couple times and set it aside at room temperature until we need it.

Make sure to check them once in a while to make sure they are holding pressure. We plan ahead pretty good so the kegs usually sit anywhere from 3 weeks to a couple months.

The first pint has some yeast but after that it's crystal clear, however, we tend to leave it in the carboy until it's really clear before we keg.

I always naturally carbonate my kegs as well. The main reason being that I don't feel like spending a fortune on another tank, regulator and various fittings etc to go the force carbonation route.

But I think the biggest mistake new keggers have when they do force carbing is that they think it obviates the need for aging your beers. Force carbonating will indeed carbonate the beer much quicker, but carbonated green beer is still green beer. Your kegs need to age for exactly the same amount of time as your bottle conditioned beers.

A keg is just a large bottle, so I treat mine the say way. They get primed and then stashed away at room temperature for at least 3 weeks. Then when they finally do hit the kegerator I leave them for 3 days before I pull a pint. This lets the CO2 equalize with the new temperature of the beer.

Thnaks guys, you are right about the green beer thing, in Chalies book and what other have said they say before storing put at least 5 lbs on the keg to seal it

So should I use 5 or 12?

In the force carb chart under keging you use 12 for a couple of weeks, but if it works for you guys than it must work, I will be priming my next keg and see how it goes

I normally naturally carb my kegged beers, but have recently been doing a little experimenting. My question is how does the presence or absence of the yeast affect the aging of then beer. I've got an IPA fermenting that I will dry hop next week, and then keg a week later. Normally I would add sugar for carbonation, but for this beer I'm going to force carb it to test if the lack of yeast helps to preserve the hop aromas. My thinking being that the presence of the yeast might speed up the loss of some of the aroma components. For beers without loads of hop aroma, this might not make a big difference.

JKHomebrew said:

Thnaks guys, you are right about the green beer thing, in Chalies book and what other have said they say before storing put at least 5 lbs on the keg to seal it

So should I use 5 or 12?

In the force carb chart under keging you use 12 for a couple of weeks, but if it works for you guys than it must work, I will be priming my next keg and see how it goes

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In force carbing, you are leaving the CO2 connected to the keg so as gas dissolves into the liquid, more is entering the keg. When you use the method Nurmey describes, you are only pressurizing the headspace so once that dissolves into the beer, the entire keg isn't @ 15psi. All this is doing is ensuring the seals on the keg "seat" so you don't have leaks. The actual carbonating in this case will come from priming

pjj2ba said:

I normally naturally carb my kegged beers, but have recently been doing a little experimenting. My question is how does the presence or absence of the yeast affect the aging of then beer. I've got an IPA fermenting that I will dry hop next week, and then keg a week later. Normally I would add sugar for carbonation, but for this beer I'm going to force carb it to test if the lack of yeast helps to preserve the hop aromas. My thinking being that the presence of the yeast might speed up the loss of some of the aroma components. For beers without loads of hop aroma, this might not make a big difference.

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So what was the verdict tastewise? how did that comparison go?

I can't really say yet. It tasted great when I tapped it, but I haven't had any in a couple of weeks. I've been trying to finish off some of my winter beers to make room for some of my lagers.

Ok, I kicked a kegged and afterwards tried my IPA. It has got loads of aroma right now. This has been in the keg since the beginning of March. I sent this into the NHC and one of the judges said they absolutely loved the aroma.

So, maybe there is something to force carbing a beer loaded with hop aroma instead of going natural as a way to help preserve hop aomas. I'll report in another month or when the keg is kicked - it is a friends' favorite

pjj2ba said:

So, maybe there is something to force carbing a beer loaded with hop aroma instead of going natural as a way to help preserve hop aomas. I'll report in another month or when the keg is kicked - it is a friends' favorite

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.....and? does it make a difference?

Anecdotally, I would say yes, force carbing results in better aroma retention. It needs more thorough investigating though. I'll brew up a 10 gal. batch this spring and force carb 1 keg, and prime the other. It would be great if some others would do likewise. Then we could have more confidence in the results.

I'm generally pretty good with keeping the pipeline pretty full (and patient too) so I could probably let them age for 2 - 3 mo. before tapping

Did you ever brew up the ten gallon batch and compare?

Haven't gotten to it yet. I did do a 10 gal. batch, but 5 of it was for a 50th B-day party, so there was none left to compare the other halt to. It is still on my to do list. Gotta brew some lagers first though.

Did you or anyone ever do this?

Sounds like a great experiment. I'm going to try it out next time I brew an IPA. I'll do a 10-gallon batch and naturally condition one, and force carb the other. But it won't be for another couple months probably.

pjj2ba said:

Haven't gotten to it yet. I did do a 10 gal. batch, but 5 of it was for a 50th B-day party, so there was none left to compare the other halt to. It is still on my to do list. Gotta brew some lagers first though.

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I might get to this in late summer. I have another 50th B-day to make some beer for, this time though all of it will be staying at my house so I can do a time course study side by side.

Turning 50 again eh?

63belair said:

Turning 50 again eh?

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Just the one an only time for me. Two years ago it was for a buddy