Priming in Keg?

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xrobevansx

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Extract recipe/Amber Ale:
I did a primary ferment in a carboy for a week. There was basically no bubbling at all in the airlock. I then racked straight into a 5 gallon soda keg with the sugar to prime for a few weeks (this was yesterday).

Is this OK? I thought a steel keg that can handle 160psi would be ok with the pressure. Someone freaked me out saying it could explode. Should I relieve the pressure? Should I not worry about it?

HELP!!! I'm freaking out!
:confused: :)
 
Did you check the sg after the fermentation? That would tell you whether or not the fermentation was finished. I would wait two weeks before kegging, but more than likely you're fine.
 
I only took a initial gravity before the primary! I FORGOT TO DO IT...

I am (maybe unduly) going nuts. All I can think about is shrapnel in my basement.
 
Well, you're not going to have shrapnel. I mean, your PSI wouldn't get that high. But, why did you keg it when you did? Because there was no bubbling in the airlock? Well, that's probably fine. However, you can't really rely on airlock activity to gauge fermentation, so I still would have checked the sg.

If it was me, I'd go down to the basement, release the pressure, pull an sg measurement, and then put a few pounds of co2 on it to reseal. That's how I'd make sure the beer is actually done. Then I'd stop worrying!
 
OK, but here's my REAL stupidity:

I don't have CO2 here. It's at a friend's house.
 
Long before you'd develop enough pressure to damage a keg, your yeast would "konk out" from the pressure.

Extract kits are renown for their fast fermentation so I'd imagin you'd reached terminal gravity.

Don't worry about it. If you primaried for a week and used 1/2 cup of priming sugar...that's well within normal protocol.

Like Yoop said, if your concerned...this isn't like bottles. You can easily go bleed the pressure for a moment or two if your concerned...though I would not if it were my batch.
 
Well, if you don't want to check the sg, I would think that you could guess that's it's fine. I would never transfer a beer to keg or carboy without check the sg, but since it's done, it's done. If you're really paranoid, you could go pull the pressure relief valve. If there's very little pressure, that you'll be fine. If there's a ton of pressure, you'll probably still be fine. Since you only primed yesterday, it's not like you'd lose your potential for carbonation.

Edit- Biermuncher is faster. What he said.
 
You guys are great. I am really glad I joined!

I think I will pull the pressure relief for a split second. I primed with 5oz (i believe) of sugar.
 
Hi Guys!

So....it's been 2 weeks in the keg priming. I let a quick release on the 20th as suggested.

Do you all think it's ready to go? If not naturally, I could always force carbonate, right?

Anyway, thanks for any insight.:ban:
 
xrobevansx said:
Hi Guys!

So....it's been 2 weeks in the keg priming. I let a quick release on the 20th as suggested.

Do you all think it's ready to go? If not naturally, I could always force carbonate, right?

Anyway, thanks for any insight.:ban:
I usually like 3 weeks at 70+ degrees. If you have a liquid hose/picnic tap handy, there's certainly enough pressure to draw off a sample. The gas pressure in the head space won't necessarily indicate a good CO2 leve in the liquid.
 
BierMuncher said:
I usually like 3 weeks at 70+ degrees. If you have a liquid hose/picnic tap handy, there's certainly enough pressure to draw off a sample. The gas pressure in the head space won't necessarily indicate a good CO2 leve in the liquid.

Thanks Bier.... I am going to hook it up to my buddy's kegerator and check it out. Not enough bubbles? WE USE THE FORCE!!!

:D
 
There is no danger of the keg blowing up from pressure. Like others mentioned, the yeast will die before that happens. Cornies are rated at like 130psi... the only real danger would be your regulator failing and dumping the contents of your CO2 tank into the keg. THAT would make a bomb.
 
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