Mini Keg Disaster!

[Mosschops]

Hi. I'm fairly new to home brewing and at the weekend I have a bit of a nightmare kegging my 1st pale ale!

I was recently given a few 5 litre mini kegs, so I thought I'd give them a go rather than bottling. However I was told to add 150g if sugar to each keg for priming, but the damn things went into fizz overload before I could finish pouring the sugar in!

Is there an easier way to prime? I did use carbonation drops on my bottles, but didn't fancy using a whole bag on the kegs!

Cheers.

 

[didinho]

2 grams per liter. it means 10 g for the minikeg.
you built a bomb with 150 grams...

 

[microbusbrewery]

I'm assuming you poured in dry sugar, so you added a bunch of little nucleation sites for the CO2 to come out of suspension. If you want to naturally condition (versus force carb) either dissolve the sugar in boiling water then dose each mini keg with some of the syrup, or put the dissolved sugar in a bottling bucket then rack beer on top, then fill your kegs from the bottling bucket.

 

[McKnuckle]

Well, you can't leave that one unattended now. Next time, go here: http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

Here's what you did: Let's say your FG was 1.012. You added enough sugar to raise the gravity about 10 points to 1.022. Now it's all going to ferment again, creating far more CO2 pressure than the container can handle, and more than would be appropriate for any style of beer.

I think if I wanted to save this batch, I'd wait a day or so til fermentation began. Then I'd rack the beer back to a fermenter and pretend I hadn't left primary yet. When complete, you'll have a more potent pale ale - about 10 extra gravity points of alcohol - but you'll be able to properly carb and drink it.

 

[HollywoodTK]

Do not seal these vessels!

You added enough sugar to pressurize to 9 volumes. 150 grams is enough for roughly 5 GALLONS of beer, not 5 Liters.

Maybe leave the keg open to allow the yeast to ferment this newly added sugar completely before you add the proper amount to re-prime...

 

[Mosschops]

I did think it was a lot of sugar to go in!

I will get it back into a fermenting bucket asap and see if I can save it.

Luckily I bottled half of the batch and used carbonation drops.

Cheers.

 

[Mosschops]

Well, I emptied the 3 kegs back into the fermentor - just in time I think! It was like using a pressure washer!!!

I'm going to see if I can save this batch, but if not then it's a lesson learned - read the instructions properly!!

Cheers!