Priming - the cleanest, easiest way?

[MikeFallopian]

I'm going to be racking my beer from the primary to a primed pressure barrel (http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/invt/0022554) this week (with no CO2 injection), though I want to take off a few bottles as well.

What is the easiest and cleanest way to do this? Would it be to:

a) mix the priming solution into the beer when it is still in the primary, then siphon to barrel and bottle separately direct from the primary;

b) mix the priming solution into the beer when it is still in the primary, then siphon to barrel and use the barrel's tap to fill bottles;

c) put the priming solution into barrel, rack the beer from the primary into the barrel and onto this, and then use the barrel's tap to fill the bottles;

d) put the priming solution into barrel, rack the beer from the primary onto this, and then siphon from the barrel into bottles;

e) siphon from the primary to barrel and bottles separately, and prime separately?

 

[binkman]

f) Put priming solution into bottling bucket and fill everything up from that.

 

[broadbill]

The other issue here is that you are assuming that the amount of priming sugar should be the same between the barrel and the bottles.

IIRC, you need to cut back the amount of priming sugar if you are doing natural carbing in a keg. Otherwise, you will have way over-carbed beer. I would imagine the same goes for this barrel thing (which is basically a keg).

Maybe somebody with experience using this barrel could weigh in on this...

so I'd recommend:

g)....use the correct amount of priming sugar for the volume of beer you are going to put into the keg, and use carb drops for the bottles.

 

[Navy_Chief]

g)....use the correct amount of priming sugar for the volume of beer you are going to put into the keg, and use carb drops for the bottles.

Second vote for this..

 

[SailorTodd]

The other issue here is that you are assuming that the amount of priming sugar should be the same between the barrel and the bottles.

IIRC, you need to cut back the amount of priming sugar if you are doing natural carbing in a keg. Otherwise, you will have way over-carbed beer. I would imagine the same goes for this barrel thing (which is basically a keg).

Maybe somebody with experience using this barrel could weigh in on this...

so I'd recommend:

g)....use the correct amount of priming sugar for the volume of beer you are going to put into the keg, and use carb drops for the bottles.

Add another vote for this. You will have undercarbed beer in your bottles if you use recommended amount of sugar for the barrel (1/3 cup corn sugar I think) and you will have way overcarbed beer in the barrel if you use the recommended amount for bottles (3/4 cup give or take depending on the style). Bottle priming will be the only accurate way to get the right carb on both, and carb drops are the only "clean" way to do that. I bottle carbed for a while way back when I first started brewing with Mr Beer using loose corn sugar, and it was a PITA to get it all in the bottle without spilling a bit around the lip.

 

[Revvy]

For what you're looking at doing, I'd go with Broadbill's suggestion as well.

 

[MikeFallopian]

The other issue here is that you are assuming that the amount of priming sugar should be the same between the barrel and the bottles.

IIRC, you need to cut back the amount of priming sugar if you are doing natural carbing in a keg. Otherwise, you will have way over-carbed beer. I would imagine the same goes for this barrel thing (which is basically a keg).

Maybe somebody with experience using this barrel could weigh in on this...

so I'd recommend:

g)....use the correct amount of priming sugar for the volume of beer you are going to put into the keg, and use carb drops for the bottles.

Sorry if I'm being slightly dense here, but if this is the case then don't you just get incorrect carb levels when bulk-priming and using a bottling bucket?

Could someone explain why exactly if I primed the keg and took off around 10-20 bottles from that there would be incorrect carb levels in the bottles?

I'm just looking for some clarity before I decide what to do!

 

[944play]

IIRC, you need to cut back the amount of priming sugar if you are doing natural carbing in a keg.

I do not believe this premise to be true. In my experience, priming calculators arrive at the correct amount of sugar to add whether the beer is going into a keg or bottles. Headspace, however, may be a variable that could change that slightly, but I think my kegs and bottles have had pretty similar ratios of beer to headspace.

If you primed the keg with a "normal" dose of sugar, then immediately bottled from that keg, unless you refilled the headspace with CO2 to your approximate target pressure for temp, I'd assume that the keg would be undercarbonated after the conditioning period.

 

[MikeFallopian]

If you primed the keg with a "normal" dose of sugar, then immediately bottled from that keg, unless you refilled the headspace with CO2 to your approximate target pressure for temp, I'd assume that the keg would be undercarbonated after the conditioning period.

Would it be different then if I primed the batch in the primary fermenter, then siphoned from the primary to the keg and to the bottles?

 

[broadbill]

I do not believe this premise to be true. In my experience, priming calculators arrive at the correct amount of sugar to add whether the beer is going into a keg or bottles. Headspace, however, may be a variable that could change that slightly, but I think my kegs and bottles have had pretty similar ratios of beer to headspace..

To be honest, I don't have experience with natural carbing in the keg, so I'm just parroting what's been stated previously on this board. I do think it is a matter of headspace to priming sugar so it might well vary system-to-system.

If you primed the keg with a "normal" dose of sugar, then immediately bottled from that keg, unless you refilled the headspace with CO2 to your approximate target pressure for temp, I'd assume that the keg would be undercarbonated after the conditioning period.

bingo....because the OP isn't using a system where he can push more CO2 in, this is why he can't bottle and keg at the same time.

 

[broadbill]

Sorry if I'm being slightly dense here, but if this is the case then don't you just get incorrect carb levels when bulk-priming and using a bottling bucket?

You would, in your situation of going both into bottles and a keg.

Could someone explain why exactly if I primed the keg and took off around 10-20 bottles from that there would be incorrect carb levels in the bottles?

Because its been found that you need roughly half the amount of priming sugar to carbonate a keg than you do bottles. OTOH, that apparently doesn't hold true for everyone (as 944play has found). OTOOH, you are planning to keg less volume than you usually do (because you are going to bottle some), that that means your headspace changes so you might have to add more priming sugar to the keg to account for this.

It gets messy quick; which is why I recommended the carb tabs/drops for the bottles....its the proper dose for a single bottle. From there it becomes more straightforward to prime the keg based on the volume of beer you are putting in it.

Hope this helps.