Less priming sugar in a keg?

[jldc]

I have heard that it takes less sugar to carbonate beer in a keg than in bottles. How can that be? Please explain the reasoning behind this. The priming calculator that I use asks for volumes of CO2, volume and temp of the beer, but not how you are going to store it (ie, kegs, 12 oz bottles, 20 oz bottles).

 

[wtwerner]

I've never kegged my homebrew, but how I understand it is that you force carbonate from a CO2 tank when it's kegged instead of using priming sugar. I'm not sure if some people use priming sugar in kegs as well.

 

[Austin_]

I'm not too sure about the reasoning, but I know about 1.3 oz of priming sugar (give or take) per 5 gallon keg does the trick for me.

 

[Hokie]

The owner of my LHBS advocates priming kegs to save on CO2. He says to use 1/3 as much priming sugar as you would for bottles because of the beer to head space ratio. That is to say, the 1-1.5 inches of head space in a bottle of beer above the 12oz is more by comparison than the few inches above the 5 gallons of beer in a corny keg. Just add enough CO2 to seal the keg and wait the 3 weeks you would with a bottle

I tried this, but after 3 weeks at room temp, the carbonation wasn't to my expectations, so I had to force carb a little bit more of the way. To each his own, YMMV.

 

[jldc]

He says to use 1/3 as much priming sugar as you would for bottles because of the beer to head space ratio.

That makes sense, I guess. Maybe I should try half as much sugar. I can always force carb a bit more if I need to.

I am new to kegging and I've only force carbed, but I think I'm likely to end up with a new keg or two before I'm ready to retire the old ones. I would think that the first pint or two would have a lot of yeast sediment, right?