Priming and using charger on Cornie

[turbosteve]

First off I want to jump in and say hi, I'm a returning brewer (never was very experienced before) who stopped brewing about 10 years ago when the kids were born. I've always bottled in the past but in the last month or so I got back in to it and decided to keg this time. I have already made a nice hoppy red ale and it's currently fermenting as we speak but its nearing the end. I've also already ordered and received a 5 gal shorty pin-lock cornie. Here's what I want to try and accomplish...

I want to prime the beer before putting in the cornie and use a mini charger to purge and dispense. I'm looking to do this because I will be moving into a new house in about 2 months and can not work on building the kegerator until then, but I have a 5 gal batch fermenting right now. So I have to do something with it soon.

The other option is to use the charger system (and a large number of cartridges) to force carbonate in the cornie. I've read what I could from the archives and there are some mixed opinions it seems as to the ability to do this (nevermind the cost efficiency) Is it possible or does the charger simply not push enough air (even over repeated cartridge replacements) to carbonate the brew?

Thanks for ALL your help and feedback, I can't wait to brew regularly again!

Steve

 

[hobbsj]

i've never used the chargers for kegging. in fact, i'm kegging my first batch in a week. but as far as the chargers go, the can put out a lot of pressure. i carry an inovations style charger for when i get a flat out on a bike ride. i can get my tires up to 100 to 120 psi. so they can put out the pressure, but i'm not sure how many cartridges it would take for a keg.

 

[JimC]

You can carbonate in the keg like you do in bottles. Add some corn sugar, put the lid on and let it sit for a while. I believe you need to shorten up the dip tube a bit so you don't suck up dregs but I have heard of people doing this.

The other option would be to bottle this batch and save the kegging for once you move.

 

[homebrewer_99]

You prime cornies with half the corn sugar.

 

[Gedvondur]

You prime cornies with half the corn sugar.

My apologies for asking this and possibly thread hijacking, but why half the sugar for a keg? The volume of liquid is the same regardless of the final vessel, be it bottles or kegs, so what is the thought behind half the priming sugar?



Gedvondur

 

[homebrewer_99]

I'm not really sure, might have something to do with bulk conditioning.

 

[CBBaron]

My apologies for asking this and possibly thread hijacking, but why half the sugar for a keg? The volume of liquid is the same regardless of the final vessel, be it bottles or kegs, so what is the thought behind half the priming sugar?
Gedvondur

I understand that using more sugar than that results in foamy beer, but I too am curious as to why.
Is this due to the relative head space differences?
The method of dispensing?
Something else?
I do know that Party Pigs also recommend a smaller amount of sugar though still more than half.
Craig

 

[SAS98M]

Yep,I'm starting to see what the sugar addition is doing to my cornied beer-I've kegged two batches priming with the full recommended sugar amount-I didn't shorten the dip tube-the first couple beers come out nominally carbonated early on with a few floaters(hop pellet residuals I figure)(no ill effects on taste) the beers taste great as the beers are drawn from the keg the headspace increases as does the carbonation(I've seen the pressure actually rise on the Co2 gauge.The beers drawn off from this stage on have a more rich pillowy thick foam head on them(which I find very satisfying)the beer taste still isn't effected nor does the beer seem any more gassy . I guess it's all a matter of preference as to what one enjoys. I do think when this batch of APA gets done in the primary I will try the 1/2 sugar deal just to see what happens.Well.....maybe I'll just cut back to 3/4--baby steps ya know. Good luck. Shane

 

[turbosteve]

Thanks for all the replies, it gave me a bit to think about. I was seriously in doubt as the chargers ability to do the job so I skipped the idea and stopped by the local paintball shop yesterday to buy the adapter for my co2 tank and I'm going to use some good ol co2 for the first time as soon as the pin lock adapters arrive from northern brewer.

I'm getting kind of worried though that I may be running out of time, it has been so long since I've brewed I forgot that after 24-48 hours in the fermentation process that heavy foam and air are released. While at work on monday the airlock blew leaving some nice mento's in the coke style eruptions over the laundry room. Thankfully the dogs were kind enough to clean most of it up But whenI got home and cleaned ad reaffixed the airlock the co2 production was substantially less and by last night it was in the area of >1 minute per bubble in the airlock. Which if I remember correctly means its getting real close to time to bottle/keg. Do y'all think it will hold out till the pin locks arrive on Monday or Tuesday or should I prime and put in the cornie?

Thanks again for all the help!
Steve

 

[jdoiv]

I would just wait for you pinlocks to arrive. It won't hurt the beer to sit in the primary another week. I prime my kegs with 1/4 cup corn sugar, then seat the seals with 20psi pressure. Let it sit for a week or two then put a keg in the fridge for a day under pressure and it comes out fine. Pour the first pint and it's a little cloudy, after that it's nice and clear.

 

[AdIn]

The problem with chargers is that you can't really control the pressure you put in. That's why you would need something like http://www.northernbrewer.com/pics/fullsize/bleeder.jpg. With this thing you also don't need to worry about how much stuff you prime with - you can always let some gas out.

 

[turbosteve]

Thanks everyone, the pin locks arrived today so I'm going to transfer tonight and try my hand at force carbing for the first time!

Stephen