Kegging question... where's the alcohol?

[Bikeworks]

I'm a "experienced" novice at brewing. Probably about a half dozen extract batches and maybe four all-grain batches. All bottled, all very tasty. Thinking of going to a keg on a future batch. I prime the beer before bottling which I assumed finished off the alcohol production and provided the carbonation. I understand the concept of forcing the carbonation for quick consumption of kegged beer. Where does the alcohol content end up if I don't prime into a keg? Is the fermentation process complete enough that not priming before kegging makes little difference? I will rarely be in a rush to consume a batch after fermentation, so, should I just prime prior to kegging?

I totally expect to get a multitude of answers here :cross: . Kinda like when I search youtube for "How to force carbonate homebrew"

 

[ChemEng]

Fermentation should be complete (all ferment-able sugars in the wort should be consumed) prior to bottling or kegging.

You add priming sugar before bottling to give the yeast something to eat so they can make CO2 in the bottle. You can vary the amount of carbonation by changing the amount of priming sugar you add. Priming sugar does not "finish off" fermentation.

The additional alcohol from the priming sugar is negligible.

If you bottle prior to the end of fermentation, you don't know how much residual sugar is left and you risk over-carbonating (bottle bombs).

 

[kev211]

Whether you prime or force carb is a preference thing. I force carb because I think thats a benefit of kegging (a big one for me is being able to control the carbonation a little more closely; and, like you said, I get to drink the beer sooner). Also, I can remove O2 when force carbing by purging the headspace. As far as the priming "finishing off the fermentation". Your fermentation should be finished before kegging/bottling so the priming sugar is just restarting a small fermentation enough to carb the beer, and adds negligible amounts of alcohol.

 

[brewprint]

The deal with using priming sugar in either a keg or a bottle is that it gives the yeast something to munch on after it has already consumed all of the sugars in the beer. As in when the fermentation of the beer is already complete.

There is a little more alcohol produced when priming...not much. When priming a keg 1/2 the priming sugar is used as oppose to bottling.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

The beer is done fermenting before you keg it, so calculat your gravity readings and that is your ABV it wont go any further. I typically brew beer that ranges around 4.5%.

No need to prime the beer with any sugar before racking into the keg. Also some people do force carb but if you are not in a hurry you don't have to do it that way...you can put it on gas and wait the week or two if that's what you prefer. The only thing to note is the gas gauge will change depending on if the tank or beer is cold/warm. So if you don't cold crash the beer once you put it on the line and set it to your desired PSI, it will be different in the morning once the beer gets cold. Same thing depending if you keep your CO2 tank in the fridge or outside.

 

[grundlepunch]

When creating/following a recipe you build it out, for example, with beersmith so you hit your targeted ABV with grain or extract. Let your fermentation finish out (test with hydrometer) and then just transfer to the keg. I personally wouldn't add sugar, seems redundant.

 

[poptarts]

when you prime to say 2.4 volumes you are adding 1.0024 gravity points, its unnoticable.

 

[Bikeworks]

The deal with using priming sugar in either a keg or a bottle is that it gives the yeast something to munch on after it has already consumed all of the sugars in the beer. As in when the fermentation of the beer is already complete.

There is a little more alcohol produced when priming...not much. When priming a keg 1/2 the priming sugar is used as oppose to bottling.

That's good information brewprint... Thanks everyone for the answers. That was quick.

 

[Bikeworks]

The beer is done fermenting before you keg it, so calculat your gravity readings and that is your ABV it wont go any further. I typically brew beer that ranges around 4.5%.

No need to prime the beer with any sugar before racking into the keg. Also some people do force carb but if you are not in a hurry you don't have to do it that way...you can put it on gas and wait the week or two if that's what you prefer. The only thing to note is the gas gauge will change depending on if the tank or beer is cold/warm. So if you don't cold crash the beer once you put it on the line and set it to your desired PSI, it will be different in the morning once the beer gets cold. Same thing depending if you keep your CO2 tank in the fridge or outside.

Texas... I get that there is no need to prime, but, is priming before kegging an option to carbonate? I'm just confused why you wouldn't prime prior to kegging if the keg will not be tapped for a few weeks.

 

[kev211]

Texas... I get that there is no need to prime, but, is priming before kegging an option to carbonate? I'm just confused why you wouldn't prime prior to kegging if the keg will not be tapped for a few weeks.

You definitely can prime before racking. I think Tex is just saying that you dont need to if you're gonna force carb. If you force carb, dont prime with sugar

 

[Bikeworks]

You definitely can prime before racking. I think Tex is just saying that you dont need to if you're gonna force carb. If you force carb, dont prime with sugar

Kev... thanks, I assumed that was the case... don't prime and force carbonate.

 

[TexasDroughtBrewery]

Texas... I get that there is no need to prime, but, is priming before kegging an option to carbonate? I'm just confused why you wouldn't prime prior to kegging if the keg will not be tapped for a few weeks.

Kev pretty much already explained what I meant.

If you have 3 or 4 kegs and they are just going to sit around...sure go ahead and prime them that way when you are ready to put that beer on the lines it is ready to go. But if you are going straight to the lines then there is no reason to prime them.

Also I heard it takes about 3 weeks to prime them in the keg. Remember you can you use the blow off valve to help adjust your carbonation levels as your temps change, and yes that is good advice that you only need half the amount of sugar.

 

[brewprint]

That's good information brewprint... Thanks everyone for the answers. That was quick.

That's what I've read...I haven't actually done it.

Most of the time I'm just racking into the keg and putting it at 30psi for 36 hours and drinking it as fast as I can.