Force carb or natural

[jrgtr42]

So I've been kegging a little while, and just now getting a tank and gear.
I've been naturally carbing in the keg - boil a bit less sugar than usual for bottling, and priming in the keg.
I haven't had any issues with oxidation yet, so I'm tempted to keep doing it that way.
I'm not set up for no-oxygen transfers, or spunding and so on, so is there any disadvantage to carbing this way, then using the CO2 tank for
serving versus force carbing?
My theory is that, with the small amount of air left in the keg when I finish transferring, any oxy is used by the yeast in carbing the beer. Am I way off base with this?

 

[day_trippr]

It's always a good idea to do a few head space purge cycles after filling if you're not doing closed transfers, but otherwise there should be an advantage to "naturally" carbonating in the same keg wrt total O2 content vs force carbing...

Cheers!

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

So I've been kegging a little while, and just now getting a tank and gear.
I've been naturally carbing in the keg - boil a bit less sugar than usual for bottling, and priming in the keg.
I haven't had any issues with oxidation yet, so I'm tempted to keep doing it that way.
I'm not set up for no-oxygen transfers, or spunding and so on, so is there any disadvantage to carbing this way, then using the CO2 tank for
serving versus force carbing?
My theory is that, with the small amount of air left in the keg when I finish transferring, any oxy is used by the yeast in carbing the beer. Am I way off base with this?

I've been kegging since 1995 and have never had an O2 issue. Doesn't matter if I naturally carbonate in the keg or prime with CO2.

If concerned about O2 in the keg, pull the pressure release valve from time-to-time (to bleed the O2).

 

[govner1]

I find the carb from keg conditioning to be smoother and I try to do it when I’m not desperate for beer!

 

[day_trippr]

I've proven to my own satisfaction that there is no difference between a keg that was "set 'n' forget" force carbed for a few weeks vs a "naturally carbonated" keg given the same time before tapping. The key is "time". By contrast, rapid "burst carbing" and then putting the keg immediately on tap leads to very coarse bubbles that don't hang around long and just aren't aesthetically pleasing...

Cheers!