Priming vs Force Carbing

[mattyb85]

Hey everyone,

Im starting a keezer project and im going to start kegging my beer instead of bottling. Im very excited about this and ive read a lot about the differences and my main questions come where im sure a lot of homebrewers do, carbonation. Ive read the thread on force carbonation and it seems certainly a lot quicker than priming but what are the pros and cons to doing this? I only have a 5lbs co2 tank and i planning on having 4 kegs in my keezer. How quickly will i run out of co2? Also does anyone have any recommendations as for what psi to force carb for initially and for how long? Then do i turn it down to the normal PSI? i will be carbing 5 gal batches. Thanks!

 

[cram]

If you choose to force carb, my vote goes to setting it at 12 psi and leaving it alone. It might take two weeks to carbonate but during that time the beer will also condition a bit and have a chance to settle out to brighten up. You can obviously do it faster with higher pressure and/or shaking and/or diffusion stones. But patience pays off in a better final product, imo.

Check your cornys really well for leaks, though. There's nothing worse than discovering your tank is drained due to a small CO2 leak, and now you've got kegs of beer that can't be served until you get a refill. After filling a keg, I blast mine with 25-30 PSI to set the seals and will spray a little star-san mixture around to check for leaks, just to be sure.

How long your 5 lb tank lasts depends on a lot of factors. I can usually get through four 5-gallon kegs or so before I need a new fill but YMMV.

 

[audger]

it obviously depends much on the pressure used, but on average you can push 40 gallons per pound of CO2, or force carbonate about 12 gallons to 2.5 volumes per pound of CO2.

i agree that the set-and-forget method is easiest and most foolproof, and IMO, the best way to age and carbonate beer. if you are impatient, you can be drinking young beer more quickly with other methods, but its still going to be 'young' no matter what you do. there is no substitute for proper aging. im not going to spend all the time, money and effort to brew and ferment a beer just to ruin the experience by drinking it too early.

 

[GarageDweller]

The first two responses are dead on!
I have a 5lb tank and a 4 keg setup myself. You will love it man. Set your pressure to around 12 and leave everything alone for two weeks. You will not be sorry. The two weeks is not only about carbonation, its also about conditioning. All the flavors need time to settle together. It sounds kind of strange, but you will notice a difference in most beers if you sample say after 5 days, then again at 14 days. 14 days will be much more tasty (most of the time). Make sure you get long enough serving lines (i'm running 10ft) and you will be on your way. HTH

 

[agodfrey11]

I've never done it but the problem I see with priming and kegging comes from the same reason that once you open a growler you need to drink the whole thing. when you use priming sugar to carbonate the beer you end up with a set volume of CO2 which would prefer to be in the gaseous but since there is no room in a full keg or bottle, it dissolves into the beer. as you drink the beer out of the keg, all the CO2 will move to the empty space and you will have end up with flat beer. I also suspect that it would be difficult to completely empty the keg without force carbonating as well. Cask ale which is primed is a bit different and is either pumped out of the cask or pored through a tap on the cask and are also generally consumed within a couple of days of opening to avoid flat and or oxidized beer.

Force carbing is different than pushing with co2.

 

[Smashing]

I've never done it but the problem I see with priming and kegging comes from the same reason that once you open a growler you need to drink the whole thing. when you use priming sugar to carbonate the beer you end up with a set volume of CO2 which would prefer to be in the gaseous but since there is no room in a full keg or bottle, it dissolves into the beer. as you drink the beer out of the keg, all the CO2 will move to the empty space and you will have end up with flat beer. I also suspect that it would be difficult to completely empty the keg without force carbonating as well. Cask ale which is primed is a bit different and is either pumped out of the cask or pored through a tap on the cask and are also generally consumed within a couple of days of opening to avoid flat and or oxidized beer.

The OP sounds like he still wants to serve with Co2 so his beer won't go flat. I prime sometimes and it works great. I use about half of the priming sugar I use for bottling and wait 2 weeks. My first pint cleans the sediment off the bottom so it gets dumped. The rest of the keg is great. I usually do this when I'm not planning on tapping a keg for several weeks. I have limited room to force carb so pruning comes in handy.

 

[Yooper]

I've done it both ways- forced carbed some kegs and primed other kegs. It works out just fine either way.

The nice thing about priming is that if you only have one tank, and you want to keep a beer ready to go online, it's easy to do. Just prime, give it a shot of c02 (just to make sure the lid is seated), and set it next to the kegerator. When the first keg is empty, just stick the second keg right in the kegerator. It'll be carbed up and ready to go once it chills.

 

[KevinM]

I prime when the keg sits out for weeks. My keezer has 4 kegs in it being used, but I have 4 kegs sitting out, just waiting, so I usually rotate and prime those with corn sugar and let it sit, carbonating and aging, until I have a spot for them.

When I want to shortcut and pull in one that finished it's fermentation, then I'll force carbonate. For example, I made an ale last summer, primed it, but shortly before thanksgiving made a pumpkin ale.
I decided to put the pumpkin ale in immediate circulation so I force carbed it. The english ale just bided it's time until recently when I put it in to replace the pumpkin ale.

 

[mcwilcr]

It looks like I misunderstood part of the op's question as well as being lacking in my own personal understanding.

I recently started looking into and aquiring equipment to start kegging so I'm still learning myself.

Yooper makes a good point (which from what I've seen, she usually does) so I gracefully fall in line.

 

[badbrew]

Do you priming people ever just dump the sugar in the keg straight?

 

[Yooper]

Do you priming people ever just dump the sugar in the keg straight?

I never do- I dissolve it in about 1 cup water or so, and then rack the beer into it in the keg. The sugar won't dissolve well if you just dump it in, and then you'd have to stir it or agitate it to mix it up.

 

[mattyb85]

Just wanted to say thanks to all the advice you guys gave I kegged my first two beers this weekend, an IPA & a red ale. I decided to go force carb and combo-ed the fast carb and the set it and forget it. 30 psi yesterday after kegging until about 30m ago when i lowered it to 12, ill leave it there for the rest of the week and try it saturday which will be 1 week from kegging. I'll post to let you know how they turn out.

 

[dinnerstick]

one thing to add, a bit late but oh well, co2 refills are a pain for me to get (think bicycle), sugar is easy, i always prime my beer kegs, save the co2 for dispensing and for carbonating cider, skeeter pee, etc. don't know how much of the tank i save with each primed keg, probably not much, but a 2kg tank lasts a good many kegs

 

[Brewnoob1]

I've read that in an ideal setup where you have zero leaks and everything is perfect, a person uses right around half a pound of co2 per 5 gallon keg. That is for both force carbing and serving. So, with a 5lb tank, you'd probably not see more than 10 kegs carbed and served. Obviously, this is ideal situations. You'll probably see realistic numbers in the 5-7 range with a 5lber.

 

[mattyb85]

So I kegged my first two beers. A red ale & an IPA and they came out great just gotta figure out the best pressure. My next two are another IPA & a maple pale ale. Now the maple I'm supposed to use maple syrup to prime. I think I read somewhere that for kegging you use less sugar to prime is this true? Meaning I would use less maple syrup to prime?

 

[copyright1997]

Yes, use about 1/2 the amount you would use for bottling. Also, since you are kegging, you can always add CO2 (if not carbonated enough) or vent a few times (if over carbonated).

 

[LMGK]

Just refilled my 15 pound tank, last refill was sept 2010. My guess is approx 30 cornys force carbed in that time span and at least 6 to 8 sankeys have been through it. Make a lot of seltzer as well as brew. Also use to clean kegs also.

 

[ValleyBrew]

Yes, use about 1/2 the amount you would use for bottling. Also, since you are kegging, you can always add CO2 (if not carbonated enough) or vent a few times (if over carbonated).

I agree. That is what's so awesome about kegging. There is no way to mess it up...permanently. And ultimately, when you start serving, the volumes of CO2 will end up in line with your pressure/temp combo. Even if you get a perfect priming carb from your sugar, the volumes will change some depending on those factors.