How to carb without dedicated CO2

[crypt0]

Somebody must have asked about this already however I've not found any useful threads via search. I made the foolish mistake of buying a small mini fridge w/1 tap and 1 CO2 regulator, although I have a couple corny kegs.

I have a batch in the secondary thats ready to be transferred to an empty keg. Is it possible to carb by storing it in cold storage and blasting it with CO2 occasionally?

I know I could add priming sugar/dme to carb, but I prefer not to have any sediment in the bottom of my keg if possible.

Any tips on how often I should hit it with CO2 and at what pressure?

Thanks

 

[Shooter]

Boy, I don't know, not to try to talk you out of anything, but priming with sugar in a keg really isn't a big deal. Most of the yeast comes out in the first pint. It seems like it would be a lot easier than having to hit it with pressure over and over again.

 

[ezerhoden]

I agree with Shooter, just use about 1/2 the normal amount of priming sugar and let it go for a few weeks if you have a keg already tapped. There are yeast in the beer and they are going to settle out anyway.

 

[Bobby_M]

You can carb the non-serving, warm keg, by putting 60-70 psi on it for about 24 hours. It won't get you all the way there, but when you get around the chilling it down, it will be most of the way there. I'm sure you know this already, but make sure you have hose clamps on your lines at that pressure.

 

[annasdadhockey]

To answer the question, yes you could do that, however, I agree with the 2 prior posters about priming(btw, if you do prime with sugar, DME, etc, don't store the keg in the fridge). Couldn't you just make(or buy) a manifold that could split your CO2 to 2 (or 3 or 6) kegs? You're going to want to do this in the future anyway(trust me on this)

 

[david_42]

Priming with sugar will not increase the amount of yeast settling out. Since there isn't any oxygen in the finished beer, the yeast cells do not multiple.

If you have a spare keg, make a gas-to-gas jumper and charge an empty keg to 50-70 psi. Connect to the beer keg and let it sit.

 

[samc]

I considered all the options mentioned by others above and then looked on CL and bought a used CO2 tank for $40 with a regulator. This also provides you with a back up for those times when you run out or get an unexpected leak. Cheap insurance and a carbing station.

 

[remilard]

I considered all the options mentioned by others above and then looked on CL and bought a used CO2 tank for $40 with a regulator. This also provides you with a back up for those times when you run out or get an unexpected leak. Cheap insurance and a carbing station.

Good call. I also like a little 5 lb tank to use for "chores" like transferring, force carbing something ad-hoc, using the carbonator cap etc. Keeps me from having to either bring the 20 lb tank where I am working or work at the kegerator.