primary straight to keg?

[choffon]

can u keg straight from primary or does racking to priming bucket a must... also i dont wanna force carb so do i prime just like i would when i bottle

 

[Zen_Brew]

You can go straight from primary to keg. You can also prime and let the yeast carbonate (use same volume of sugar you would in the bottling bucket), although that will leave a bunch of yeast in the keg. You'll pour off a couple yeasty pints, then eventually there will be a clean area around the dip tube and you will get clear beer. Some people also bend their dip tube so it sits a bit off the bottom of the keg and does not draw in the yeast. Of course you will leave a bit of beer in the keg using that method.

 

[Kaz]

Just put your priming solution in the sanitized keg and rack onto it. Hit it with CO2 and purge a few times to get out the oxygen and seal the lid good and then let it naturally carbonate.

 

[ChandlerBang]

You can rack directly to the keg and then naturally carb in the keg no problem. Use ~half as much priming sugar as you would for the same batch in bottles, then treat just like a giant bottle -leave it at 70 degrees for a couple weeks then chill. The first pint or two will be full of sediment, but that should clear up pretty fast.

EDIT: Damn you guys are fast.

 

[bigbeergeek]

You can go straight from primary to keg. You can also prime and let the yeast carbonate (use same volume of sugar you would in the bottling bucket), although that will leave a bunch of yeast in the keg. You'll pour off a couple yeasty pints, then eventually there will be a clean area around the dip tube and you will get clear beer. Some people also bend their dip tube so it sits a bit off the bottom of the keg and does not draw in the yeast. Of course you will leave a bit of beer in the keg using that method.

I've got my first ever (2) sugar-primed kegs a few days away from transferring into the kegerator. On Both I used slightly more than half the usual measure of bottling priming sugar, as such advice is all over this web site. The theory is there is different head space in a bottle vs a keg and the sugar added must be reduced to prevent overcarbonation. I guess I'll find out this Saturday -- have you ever primed a keg before?

EDIT: ChandlerBang is already backing me up here. Zen Brew, you're not shooting from the hip with your advice now, are you????

 

[Zen_Brew]

If you are reading other posts where half the sugar or just a touch more is working, then go for it. I have never yeast primed a keg, and just assumed you would use the same amount of sugar you would in a bottling bucket.
One of the benefits to me of switching to kegging is the greater control of force carbonation.

Cheers

 

[choffon]

im force carbing a keg right now and never did either before this one im force carbing so i like to do both methods and see which i would like to use before

 

[Golddiggie]

I'm currently kegging 2.5-3 gallons of each batch, bottling the balance. So, I'm using both CO2 and sugar to carbonate brews. I would advise using gas to carbonate kegs, since it will result in far less sediment/trub in the keg. I would advise reading the sticky by Bobby_M in this section for carbonating in keg. I had to trace down leaks in my gas lines last night, eliminating them all, so I decided to try his method. I should know by Saturday/Sunday if it works as advertised.

I will say that everything I've read about carbonating kegs with sugar indicates that you use less than if you were to use bottles. I would advise using one of the better online calculators to get the actual amount to use per volume, temperature and desired CO2 volumes. OR just bite the bullet and get the hardware to carbonate with CO2.

I'm planning on kegging all of the batch currently in primary (an English IPA that will get dry hopped for a week first). I look forward to the shortend bottling session that will result from kegging. Since I have more than one gas source, and regulator, I'm even thinking about carbonating one keg inside the fridge, and the other (at least partially) outside of it. I'm also thinking about getting another regulator (for the normal tanks, since the other one is for paintball bottles) to help make this easier. I do believe you'll get more consistent results if you use CO2 with a keg than sugar to carbonate.

I am planning on comparing (along with a fellow home brewer) at least one batch that I bottled and kegged. This way I can see what the difference is (if there is any at all)... I'm hoping that they are so close you cannot tell a difference between the two. Or that the carbonation is better in the kegged part.