"Bottle Carbing" in the keg?

I was a little disappointed in the OG of my last batch of Speckled Heifer. And after I racked it into a Corny I discovered my CO2 bottle was empty. Too busy to exchange it I decided to see what might happen if I just add 5 Oz. of corn sugar, seal up the keg, give it a shake and let it sit for a while in my basement. After 1 day the keg had gas in it. It's been a week now, and I'm thinking of dropping the keg into my keezer to crash it, and maybe tap it tonite, after replenishing my gas bottle.

I figure the first few glasses will be kinda' yucky w/ trub, but after that? What do you guys think?

Yeah, its basically just a big bottle made of stainless steel. if its fully carbed then go ahead and tap it.

I think a lot of people do that actually. I assume that since all the dregs and trub settles to the bottom that the first few pours should probably be discarded, but after that I don't see why it wouldn't work just fine. But I think you should also be absolutely sure that the 5 oz of corn sugar has been consumed by the yeast so you don't have any off sugar tastes. Sometimes my bottles take more than a week to properly carb up especially if it's been a little cooler in their storage area.

It's fine to naturally carb the keg, although with a full keg you may find it a bit overcarbed with the 5 oz. You generally need less priming sugar than when bottling, I think due to the relatively smaller total headsace. I use between 2.5-3 oz, as mentioned be sure to give it time to finish.

I've done exactly that and it worked great. You should still purge oxygen though after you put the lid on (without gas you couldn't though, obviously). Long as it doesn't oxidize you should be fine. I'd sample before crashing though.

normonster said:

I've done exactly that and it worked great. You should still purge oxygen though after you put the lid on (without gas you couldn't though, obviously). Long as it doesn't oxidize you should be fine. I'd sample before crashing though.

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Wouldn't the sample be insanely foamy because it's at room temperature?

I use table sugar and generally use about 2.8 ounces. 5oz might be overcarbed. You can just burp out the c02 to correct it if it is of course.

soonerpike1748 said:

Wouldn't the sample be insanely foamy because it's at room temperature?

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You know, that might be true, not sure. When I did it I didn't sample and it didn't matter because it was going on gas anyway - same case as OP I guess. Perhaps my earlier post was premature.

I did use all the bottling sugar that came with the kit though and it wasn't over carbed, as a side note. 4oz maybe?