Anyone naturally carbonate in their kegs?

[HollisBT]

I was just kind of curious as to whether or not anyone on here chooses to naturally carbonate with sugar in their kegs instead of force carbonating. I had been giving it some thought lately, and wondered what the pros or cons of it might be, if there are any.

 

[cheezydemon3]

I fully planned to do so, but force carbing is so fastand easy.

 

[snccoulter]

Fast and easy but easy to over carb. Slow and safe if you have a pipeline naturally is better. Oh and lots of people do it the slow and safe way.

 

[jerseyIPA]

I have, you just have to make sure the lid is sealed airtight

 

[BBL_Brewer]

Fast and easy but easy to over carb. Slow and safe if you have a pipeline naturally is better. Oh and lots of people do it the slow and safe way.

So force carbing is unsafe compared to priming? I can see how it may be undesireable to some, but certainly not unsafe. And if by unsafe you mean easier to overcarb, then ok, but I'm pretty sure that's why the pressure on the regulator is adjustable.

 

[allthingsgiant]

I did it once and ended up with a hot mess, cloudy beer, overcarb'd beer etc. The pprimary fermentation wasn't all that complete even though the FG was good. I now carb in the keg via a CO2 tank. Add a lil gelatin and my beers come out sparkly clean.

 

[b-boy]

I generally carb in the keg with sugar. To be honest with you I have very mixed results doing this. Some turn out fine. Others are way undercarbed.. Either way a few weeks hooked up to CO2 in the kegerator fixes the problem.

For my next batch I'm planning on using the set and forget method. I'll skip the sugar and see how it turns out.

I tried force carbing once. It didn't turn out very well. Way overcarbed.

 

[user 103238]

I did two batches that I kegged with sugar and let them carb for a couple of weeks while I built my kegerator. They both turned out great in terms of carbonation, flavor, and clarity. I hit them with CO2 to help ensure a good seal. I plan on following this same process while I work on establishing my pipeline.

 

[Slipgate]

One of the biggest un-controllable parts of the process is carbonation. If you have the ability to force carb why would you even bother with "natural" carbonation? And I use the term loosely since there is no ability to "carbonate" something in nature at all, so ALL methods of carbonation are unnatural.

I'd actually love to find a way to kill off the yeast when the primary is done and never have to bother with uncontrolled fermentation again (which is more what the process is).

 

[944play]

One of the biggest un-controllable parts of the process is carbonation. If you have the ability to force carb why would you even bother with "natural" carbonation? And I use the term loosely since there is no ability to "carbonate" something in nature at all, so ALL methods of carbonation are unnatural.

I'd actually love to find a way to kill off the yeast when the primary is done and never have to bother with uncontrolled fermentation again (which is more what the process is).

Carbonation is very controllable, whether by priming, spunding valve, equilibrium (set it and forget it) or capping the fermenter at the appropriate gravity. With the latter, you obviously would to be in a production context where the FG is, for all practical purposes, known.

Naturally carbonated water is how seltzer got its name.

Active yeast consume excess free oxygen in packaged beer. They also metabolize acetaldehyde and reabsorb diacetyl. I prefer not to kill them.

 

[Wyrmwood]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cask_ale

Any time I visit a brewery, if they have cask conditioned ale (aka fermented in the keg), I usually choose that variety. I prefer Cask > Nitro > CO2. Most breweries still use CO2 to pull the beer though (and keep it pressurized), at least in the US. Although CO2 is the same, whether it's burped up yeast or forced in, I find the cask/bottle conditioned has a nicer mouthfeel, but maybe I'm just imagining it

 

[Special Hops]

I do it all the time. Usually I won't have space in the kegorator ready to go. So it did a few weeks anyways. So I sugar carb.

 

[badbrew]

I'm carbonating with the wort atm while fermenting.

 

[JuanMoore]

Carbonation is very controllable, whether by priming, spunding valve, equilibrium (set it and forget it) or capping the fermenter at the appropriate gravity. With the latter, you obviously would to be in a production context where the FG is, for all practical purposes, known.

Naturally carbonated water is how seltzer got its name.

Active yeast consume excess free oxygen in packaged beer. They also metabolize acetaldehyde and reabsorb diacetyl. I prefer not to kill them.

This ^^

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cask_ale

Any time I visit a brewery, if they have cask conditioned ale (aka fermented in the keg), I usually choose that variety. I prefer Cask > Nitro > CO2. Most breweries still use CO2 to pull the beer though (and keep it pressurized), at least in the US. Although CO2 is the same, whether it's burped up yeast or forced in, I find the cask/bottle conditioned has a nicer mouthfeel, but maybe I'm just imagining it

There are some award winning pro-brewers that go to lengths to carb their beer naturally because they feel it creates smaller bubbles and a smoother/creamier mouthfeel. So if you're imagining it, you're not the only one.

 

[HollisBT]

One of the biggest un-controllable parts of the process is carbonation. If you have the ability to force carb why would you even bother with "natural" carbonation? And I use the term loosely since there is no ability to "carbonate" something in nature at all, so ALL methods of carbonation are unnatural.

I'd actually love to find a way to kill off the yeast when the primary is done and never have to bother with uncontrolled fermentation again (which is more what the process is).

I think that saccharomyces and sugar are both pretty natural... So yes, there is definitely the ability to carbonate something naturally.

 

[carlisle_bob]

Hi

Can you do it - of course you can. The whole planet used to do it that way (with or without kegs ..).

Is it more "safe", easier, better, more natural, easier to control? As long as you know the temperature, force carbonation is very easy and pretty much failure proof. Bottle bombs are a pretty good example of what might go wrong with the "natural' approach.

One is not 100% better than the other. They just are different approaches with advantages to each.

Bob

 

[scottkct]

Yeast farts smell. CO2 is odorless.

Naturally carbonated beer (bottled condition or keg/cask conditioned) has aromas you can't achieve through force carb.

One can argue that the difference is marginal and not worth the convenience factor of kegging but if you're looking to take a batch one step further it seems reasonable to keg condition.

 

[Shooter]

Pros: 1. Since I don't normally have keezer space, just throw in sugar and let it carb while it's waiting. 2. It's easy (so is force carbing). 3. Saves my CO2 for serving.

Cons: 1. More sediment, particularly in the first couple of pints. 2. Takes longer to carbonate.

 

[HollisBT]

Pros: 1. Since I don't normally have keezer space, just throw in sugar and let it carb while it's waiting. 2. It's easy (so is force carbing). 3. Saves my CO2 for serving.

Cons: 1. More sediment, particularly in the first couple of pints. 2. Takes longer to carbonate.

Pro number one is exactly what lead me to ask this. I know that I could just pull one of my kegs out of the fridge and hook up the new keg at high pressure for a few days, but simply priming it and letting it go seems so much easier... I think I am going to give this a try on my next brew

 

[chemman14]

Anyone know how much sugar to use? I went with the suggested amount for naturally carbing a keg in beersmith and my beer ended up under carbonated. I am going to try the amount suggested for bottle conditioning on my next batch

 

[Shooter]

Pro number one is exactly what lead me to ask this. I know that I could just pull one of my kegs out of the fridge and hook up the new keg at high pressure for a few days, but simply priming it and letting it go seems so much easier... I think I am going to give this a try on my next brew

Yeah, since most my kegs often sit a month or more while waiting for a tap to clear up, I figured they might as well be carbonating while they waited.

 

[Shooter]

Anyone know how much sugar to use? I went with the suggested amount for naturally carbing a keg in beersmith and my beer ended up under carbonated. I am going to try the amount suggested for bottle conditioning on my next batch

I use about half the amount as I would for bottling, usually 1-3 ounces, depending on the style.

 

[chemman14]

I use about half the amount as I would for bottling, usually 1-3 ounces, depending on the style.

I just kegged a california common ale with 2.5 oz or so (dont have exact numbers as I am at work) and it ended up with what i would guess 1.5 volumes of co2

 

[JuanMoore]

Anyone know how much sugar to use? I went with the suggested amount for naturally carbing a keg in beersmith and my beer ended up under carbonated. I am going to try the amount suggested for bottle conditioning on my next batch

I've heard a lot of people suggest 1/2 - 2/3 the amount you'd use to bottle, but I think a lot of it depends on how full you fill your kegs. I've had good luck using 75-80% of what I would for bottling, but I'm apparently the exception. I'd rather use slightly too little than too much though. If it's a little undercarbed it will come up to the proper level shortly after going into the kegerator or keezer. An overcarbed keg is a different animal.

 

[mattmcl]

they feel it creates smaller bubbles and a smoother/creamier mouthfeel. So if you're imagining it, you're not the only one.

I completely agree. Also, I prefer DME over sugar when priming, for the same reason. That said, I now use a mix of force carbing and set and forget, depending on the pipeline. It's just too easy and foolproof.

 

[HollisBT]

Wow, I would have figured that the amount would be identical for legging and bottling...

Anyone know why kegs require less sugar than bottles?

 

[chemman14]

Wow, I would have figured that the amount would be identical for legging and bottling...

Anyone know why kegs require less sugar than bottles?

The theory is less headspace, but im really not buying it