New to brewing and want to keg

[MrWibble]

I just put my first brew in to ferment last night. its a red with peat smoked barley in with the grains(partial mash). I have .5 and oz of the styrian goldings left from the finishing. Would it be good to put it in cheese cloth and put it in the keg when its kegging time or would that be over powering? Also my LHBS guy said not to force carb it. he sid to prime it and give it 1 - 2 months! This is my first, not sure if i can wait that long! Is there really much difference i taste between the two?

Thanks

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

There is some debate to force carbonation vs bottle conditioning and flavor, but kegging is much simpler than bottling plain and simple, however the initial investment is much greater.

I say keg it if you want to, either way though you won't have well-carbed beer for about 3 weeks, and aging for a month or two will definitley improve the flavor, whther it is kegged or conditioned.

Cheers!

 

[smagee]

I strongly doubt that .5oz of goldings dryhopped will become overpowering at all, so if you want to drop them in, I'd say go for it. I wouldn't expect a whole lot of impact on the final beer, but I like a little hop to my reds, so I don't think it'd hurt.

I'm inclined to agree with your shopkeeper in regards to force carbing; I prefer the natural route unless I'm in a huge rush. That said, 1-2 months seems like a bit long, especially if you chill the keg after the initial conditioning is done. I tend to condition with the priming sugar for a week or so (although you could likely get away with less--also, don't forget to adjust your sugar level for a keg instead of bottles!) and then chill it for a week to get the CO2 into solution. Of course, longer periods for natural carb will be beneficial, but if you're in a hurry, I'd say you could easily get by with ~2-3weeks instead of 1-2 months.

 

[MrWibble]

That sounds more managable. like i said, its my first brew and i'm anxious to taste. maybe once i have a couple of kegs on tap i'll be more inclined to let it carb up all natural. And i think i'll throw the hops in. I'm with you on a hoppie red. How do i figure the correct amout of priming sugar for kegging?

 

[smagee]

Generally it's recommended to take about half as much priming sugar as you'd use for bottling. Keep in mind that it's best to undershoot; the nice thing about kegging is that you can always rebalance the carb level after the fact .