Highly Carbonated Beer and Keg Priming Sugar

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Brewlicious

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Ok, I think I have decided to prime my kegs and let them age. My question is this, if I want to have a heavily carbonated wheat beer, how much priming sugar should I use for a 5 gallon batch.

Also, would there be any benefit to cold conditioning the beer in the secondary for a week before racking into the keg and priming.

Thanks in advance
 
If it's a wheat beer, you won't get any benefit from cold conditioning because the style calls for cloudiness. If you think it's too cloudy, you can cold condition.

I'm not sure what the maximum limit is for sugar, but if you are using dextrose (corn sugar) I used 1 1/4 cups in the bottling bucket (mixed fairly well) without any bottle bombs. normally you'd use 3/4 of a cup or 1 cup.

think of it this way - the carb tabs you can get from one company requires either 3, 4, or 5 tablets. that's roughly equivalent to the 3/4, 4/4/, or 5/4 of a cup of sugar in a 5 gallon batch.
 
Not to rob the thread, but if you decide to force carbonate can you use priming sugar to get more alcohol content?
 
I found this thread and it helped clarified things for me. IT agrees with your saying egerrish. Doing the math if I want I want 3.5-4.5 Vol of Co2 I need about 1 1/4 cup of corn sugar in the keg.

Thanks for the replay though. I wish I would have tried more in the bottles. I have always used 3/4 cup.
 
priming sugar adds about .2% alcohol by volume, assuming an average CO2 volume/priming sugar amount.

so, no, you can't 'boost alcohol' with priming sugar. you increase alcohol through more fermentables in primary...i.e. more malt extract or grain.

I'd very much avoid using sugar as an alcohol booster. It will be detected in the finished product...not necessarily in a positive way.
 
not sure where i read it, but i think your supposed to use way less in the keg than you do in the bottles. i think i read that you only wanted to put about 1/3 cup when you keg. i could be way the hell wrong though.
 
I have are regulator and tank but there seems to be preference to priming since some say to makes for a better beer. So, since I wanted to do a wheat, and to be honest, at this particular point it fits my situation a bit better, I thought I would prime. Therefore, I’m trying to get the most carbonation possible via this method. I’m very open to suggestions though.
 
I know you're bumping your threads hoping for more replies, but we've pretty much answered your questions. How many more responses do you need?

You can force carb, or you can prime. Either works. One is not "better" than the other- carbonated is carbonated.
 
Brewlicious said:
Ok, I think I have decided to prime my kegs and let them age. My question is this, if I want to have a heavily carbonated wheat beer, how much priming sugar should I use for a 5 gallon batch.

Also, would there be any benefit to cold conditioning the beer in the secondary for a week before racking into the keg and priming.

Thanks in advance

I was hoping someone would eventually answer the actual question above which is an inquiry into how much priming sugar is needed to have a heavily carbonated wheat beer, that is, how much priming sugar should I use for a 5 gallon batch if I want 3.5 volumes of Co2 per gallon. I’ve read through the thread and this has not been answered hence my bumping it. However, maybe no one knows? Please accept my apologies for bumping, I did not realize it was frowned upon.
 
Brewlicious said:
I found this thread and it helped clarified things for me. IT agrees with your saying egerrish. Doing the math if I want I want 3.5-4.5 Vol of Co2 I need about 1 1/4 cup of corn sugar in the keg.

Thanks for the replay though. I wish I would have tried more in the bottles. I have always used 3/4 cup.

I think you're right- since so many of us force carb, or use less priming sugar if we don't, that we really can't give you a more definite answer than what you've already stated here. That would be a very highly carbed beer, and I don't serve any at that pressure.

Bumping is NOT "frowned upon"- once or so is fine. Over and over is a little irritating for those of us who click the "new posts" button and see the same thing with no new input. Especially when the questions been answered to the best of anyone's ability.
 
Old thread I know, but I found it as I was wondering the same question.

From what I have figured out I am going to say go with less, after a week or so when it should be finished I would burp the keg until it stops then put my tank on at the level I hope it is. I would assum this method would bring the carbonation to the correct level at that point.

The only reason I am planning on naturally carbing is because I am making an Ommegang clone which is bottle conditioned. I have had it both in the bottle and from their keg (which I assume they force carb) and there is a little difference in taste. So I am trying to get the same tast of the bottle must be something with residual yeast flavoring or something.

Anyway does it sound like I am on the right track?
 
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