C02 or Sugar?

[PeteOz77]

My first brews are still fermenting, but I have gone a bit overboard and done the whole Kegerator thing already.

I have ended up with 50 litre kegs, and my brews are of course, only 20 litres.

LHBS tells me that it is OK to keg only a half batch like this and has given me two options....

#1. Add 150 grams of sugar to the keg, seal it and wait 10 days, it will carbonate itself.

Or

#2. Pump the gas up to 60PSI into a cold keg, roll it back and forth on it's side on the floor, Gas it again roll it again and final gas it at 15PSI

Also, as the kegs were used and had stale beer in them, I rinsed them well, bleached them with a 1/2 cup of bleach, sealed and shook them, left them for 15 minutes, then flushed them with heaps of water until I couldn't smell any more bleach. The I followed the LHBS advice and filled them with clear water and gassed them, running the entire contents out, leaving the kegs pressurised with C02.

His advice on filling them was to take out the valve, fill it using a hose with as much brew as I have, letting the beer displace the carbon dioxide as it fills, and then seal it and gas it.

So my two questions are....

1. Would you use sugar to naturally carbonate it, or use gas? Using sugar will up the alcohol content.. which is favourable, but will take another 2 weeks I guess...

2. Are the kegs clean enough, or should I use sanitising solution on them before I fill them?

 

[srm775]

So my two questions are....

1. Would you use sugar to naturally carbonate it, or use gas? Using sugar will up the alcohol content.. which is favourable, but will take another 2 weeks I guess...

2. Are the kegs clean enough, or should I use sanitising solution on them before I fill them?

1. It really depends on you. Would you prefer to drink them sooner or later? Sooner, you use up your CO2, later you don't. Sooner, you'll end up with a clearer beer, later you'll get more yeast/trub in your beer.

2. Yes ... it can't hurt and will only take a few mintues.

 

[david_42]

1. I do kegs both ways. There is no time difference. You still have to wait for it to condition.
2. Always sanitize. Clean is not sanitary.

 

[PeteOz77]

I am tempted to go the forced C02 method, but I am lured by the .4% higher alcohol content of the sugar method.

I guess I will try one each way and see what works best...

Thanks for the input

 

[budbo]

#2. Pump the gas up to 60PSI into a cold keg, roll it back and forth on it's side on the floor, Gas it again roll it again and final gas it at 15PSI

Hmm, I did that once I think.. I generally chill the keg about a week before it is ready then hook it up to the CO2 at 10-15lbs (depending on style) and rock it in the keggerator for a few seconds about once a day for a week.

The only reason I can see (Lazy by nature) to shake it up and go through the extra work is if you want to drink it right away, in which case forcing is better, if you are patient it is about do you want the extra trub and barely perceptible ABV increase or do you want clearer beer. again neither is really better it's about personal preference.