Carbing with sugar in the keg...

I am getting ready to rack to the keg, and since i am going to let it still condition for a few more weeks...instead of carbing with Co2 this time i was thinking of just putting the sugar in the keg and let it carb while it's conditioning.

Or should I let it condition w/o the sugar...

I've been kegging for years but never primed the keg...wondering how this will be? Any input would be helpful.

Thanks..and rock on! :rockin:

Koogz

 

done it twice. Other then it taking a solid week-9 days, the carbonation is great. Once its carbed at room temp it will need another2-4 days in your kegerator to come down to a temp the the carbonation can dissolve into.

Not bad results on the few times that I did it, I just dont really see the point.

 

Ya know...just trying something different. Like I said, since it's going to be conditioning for a few more weeks, why not? See if it will have a different...style...then just with Co2?

 

So after you naturally carb in the keg, do you pull the pressure relief valve before adding the co2 at your serving pressure, or do you just wait a few weeks to carb up, throw on the gas QD chill and serve?

 

I was thinking about doing the same thing as I only have room for two in my kegerator. Prime the new keg with sugar.....let it sit until one of the kegs in the kegerator kick it, toss it in and wait a day or so for it to chill then drink up. Less time to wait for carbing on gas.

Sound like a plan? Ultimate goal is to get a chest freezer for conditioning/carbing before going to the kegerator.

Sorry for the hijack!

 

That's what I do when I won't have space for a while. That way you have a carbonated keg right after you put it in the fridge with no shaking.

To answer another question: When I prime my kegs I don't purge CO2 before putting it into the kegerator, I just hook it up and wait a few days for it to chill and then drink.

 

I've never done it myself but from what I hear you will need to use less sugar than you would with bottling. I'm sure someone else would chime in. I plan on upping my production schedule soon to get a nice pipeline going. I hope to try this on a few kegs. I think the only drawback would be yeast settling on the bottom. I also wonder what effect cold crashing and using gelatine in the carboy would have on the yeast.

 

Thanks Yoop! I knew you'd chime in here

 

Yoop...will the use of gelatine hinder this process?

 

no worries...my thoughts exactly...+1 on the chest frezzer!

good question...I usually transfer between 2 vessels then cold crash in the keg so mine come out pretty clear...if too much yeast drops out will that effect the carbing?

Once the beer chills, the original carb pressure soaks into the beer more...leaving it a bit less carbed...right? Do you think when you put the 11psi on the keg, this compensates for that...or does it take an extra day to get back to the orig. carb amount?

 

I was thinking of doing this for my 1.103 OG stout, but I've had bad luck bottle conditioning big brews in the past (that was actually what pushed me over the edge into kegging). The stout will be sitting on bourbon soaked oak cube for a month or two so I figure it'll have plenty of time to carb, but I'm still nervous from bad past experiences! Maybe I'll keg just before it hits the FG to ensure there is still active yeast?

 

If I were you, I would let it ferment out to FG then prime. If it doesn't carb, you will just get a stout that's a little bit sweeter and then you can always force carb.

 

yes, i agree with BoxoRain to wait till fermentation is done and if you are worried about the yeast...I was doing some reading in Palmer's book and he mentioned something about the yeast....if I may...

"Ninety five percent of the time there is no difference between priming for lager beer and priming ale. But once in a while you will need to add fresh yeast for priming and carbonation purposes. This is most common when the beer is given a long cold lagering for more than two months. If the beer is very clear at bottling time, then the majority of the yeast may have settled out and there may not be enough left to carbonate the beer in the bottle. Prepare some fresh yeast of the same strain and mix it with the priming solution when you rack the beer to the bottling bucket. You will not need as much as you originally pitched to the wort, only about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of slurry for 5 gallons.

Since the yeast is being added for carbonation during the storage phase of the beer, there are a couple of differences in procedure from that used to ferment the original wort. Grow the yeast at the temperature you will be carbonating and storing the beer at (usually room temperature) instead of the original pitching temperature. This will produce more esters than the yeast normally would, but the percentage of sugar that is being fermented for carbonation at this stage is so small that the added difference in taste is unnoticeable. The reason for doing it this way is to avoid thermally shocking the yeast and to speed up the carbonation time. It is not necessary to store the beer cold after lagering. The beer can be stored at room temperature without affecting the taste of the beer."

I know some of this does not pertain to us but figured I would quote this fully...I did my chocolate stout this way 2 years ago and came out great...didn't do it this year and not as great, so next time I will.

 

Roger that...it just soaks into the beer easier when it's chilled...as far as I know.

Another question Yooper...why only half the amount of sugar? I will already be done racking probably by the time your able to answer this, but I'm going with what you said...just curious why? Cause it's not getting distributed into many bottles?

Cheers!

 

I can't do the math for you, but it has to do with having less headspace in 1 keg versus 50 bottles. When the CO2 is produced it fills up the headspace first and then dissolvees back into the beer. Since there is less space to fill in the keg, you don't need as much sugar in the first place.

 

BeerSmith also recommends exactly half the amount you would otherwise use for bottles. I just keg-primed a stout a couple weeks ago for the same reasons that other mentioned (can only fit two in the beer fridge and wanted to try something different). For my stout, BeerSmith recommended 96 gms of sugar for bottles, but 48 gms for the keg. I'll find out how it is in a few days.