Carbing a keg

[dhelegda]

I brewed a Kolsch back on January 3rd. It was in the primary for two weeks and was transferred to a secondary for cold crashing. It is crystal clear, there is a nice yeast cake at the bottom of the carboy. I want to transfer it to a keg pour in some priming sugar and let it condition and lager. Is there going to be enough yeast to carbonate the beer?

 

[aviator01]

Force carb with CO2. This has all the info you need: http://www.morebeer.com/themes/morewinepro/kegging.pdf

 

[dhelegda]

I usually for carb with CO2. But there is not enough room in the Kegerator nor is there enough CO2 lines to force carb. I want this one to be ready when the next keg kicks it!

 

[aviator01]

Having multiple CO2 bottles and regulators is the way to go. I have 2 10# tanks, a 5# tank and paintball tank setup. Makes transportation easy and force carbing is not an issue.

Try sparing one of your co2 lines and force carb when your not using/drinking the other. Before I had multiple regulators, I'd pull a co2 line to carb with and still drink from the unpressurized keg. There is usually plenty of co2 pressure in a keg to pour several beers before you need co2 again.

 

[Flyboy84]

I do this all the time, it helps carb up a keg quicker and makes your CO2 last longer. Google search for a spreadsheet that shows how much sugar to add to equal how many volumes of CO2 you want in the beer for bottle carbing and just add it all at once in the keg. Works great, but it will make a little trub in the keg so your first few pints will be cloudy.

 

[trentm]

There should still be enough yeast to do the job. However, I have found adding a little fresh yeast really improves the consistency and quality of the foam.

I always bottle because I brew Belgians but I have often considered keg conditioning. In my research I have came across some indications that the process requires less sugar compared to bottle conditioning. Although I don't understand why, I think it may be correct. It seems even at the bottle level I get a little more carbonation in my 750ml bottles compared to the 12 ounce.

I used to have a good source for this information but can't find it. A quick google search turned mixed results. One thing to consider is that if you overcarbonate I guess you bleed some off. Or if you under carbonate you could add more from your CO2 bottle later.

 

[dhelegda]

So I'm pretty sure I may have messed up the process. I added the sugar to a cold crashed beer then put the keg in the garage fridge. I'm sure it should have been left to prime at warmer temperatures?