Bottling Vs Kegging & Residual Sweetness

[stylus1274]

I will be kegging for the first time next weekend.

I have a 'house' recipe for a wit/hef styled beer. I carb it around 2.9. So it gets a decent amount of sugar in it when I bottle.

Maybe this is a dumb question but I'm wondering about residual sweetness and how different this recipe may taste when I keg it as opposed to the normal bottling?

I of course will bottle a few for a taste comparison but still curious about this.

 

[Yooper]

I will be kegging for the first time next weekend.

I have a 'house' recipe for a wit/hef styled beer. I carb it around 2.9. So it gets a decent amount of sugar in it when I bottle.

Maybe this is a dumb question but I'm wondering about residual sweetness and how different this recipe may taste when I keg it as opposed to the normal bottling?

I of course will bottle a few for a taste comparison but still curious about this.

When you bottle, the priming sugar you add doesn't stay in the beer- it gets fermented so that the beer will carbonate to your desired carb level. So when you add the sugar, it doesn't actually sweeten the beer.

When kegging, you set your regulator to the desired carb level (about 18 psi at 40 degrees), and it will carb up without adding sugar. One tip- make sure you have at least 18 feet of 3/16" beer line to serve a highly carbonated beer or you will have a headache with foaming!

The beer will taste the same, because you aren't sweetening it when you bottle.

 

[stylus1274]

I understand the sugar gets fermented but was under the impression it could/would leave a little sweetness behind. Good to know it doesn't.

18 feet? Wow was unaware of that. And this would be my tap line right? I currently only have 6 so I guess I need to get to work lol

 

[Yooper]

I understand the sugar gets fermented but was under the impression it could/would leave a little sweetness behind. Good to know it doesn't.

18 feet? Wow was unaware of that. And this would be my tap line right? I currently only have 6 so I guess I need to get to work lol

Yes. Generally, you want 1 foot of 3/16" beer line to serve per psi on the regulator. For a lower carbed beer, you could get by with 10' or so, but once you start getting more than about 2.4 volumes of c02, you want more restriction to avoid having a glass of foam with a shot of beer.

My lines are 10' now, but as I replace them I'm going longer. I never have a beer more highly carbed than 2.6 volumes, though. If you're going to do weizens and other beers that are more highly carbed, longer lines will help avoid major headaches.

 

[max384]

It's a good idea to start longer than you think you'll need. You can always cut a bit of line off until you get to a good flow rate. I have 10' lines, this is for 2.6 volumes of CO2 (12 psi @ 38 F). I think this is just about perfect. Not overly foamy, and it takes about 10 seconds to fill a pint. Personally, I think this is a good balance. I would like to have a bit faster flow rate, but I'm not willing to put up with foam for it. I also wouldn't want my flow rate any slower, even if it means less foam (not that my foam at the moment is a problem). YMMV though.

 

[stylus1274]

Yes. Generally, you want 1 foot of 3/16" beer line to serve per psi on the regulator. For a lower carbed beer, you could get by with 10' or so, but once you start getting more than about 2.4 volumes of c02, you want more restriction to avoid having a glass of foam with a shot of beer.

My lines are 10' now, but as I replace them I'm going longer. I never have a beer more highly carbed than 2.6 volumes, though. If you're going to do weizens and other beers that are more highly carbed, longer lines will help avoid major headaches.

Interesting because the batch I want to keg first is around 2.9-3.0 volumes.

I could either do the other one behind it which is a stout or just get a really long tube for my hef......decisions decisions lol