Situational: force carb or prime? Need advice

[digphish]

Right now I have a kegerator with 1/2 full (not 1/2 empty) 5G Hefe and a full 5 Gallons of Fat tire. The Hefe is carbed and obviously has been consumed. The Fat tire is being carbed with the set and forget method of force carbing.

So here is my issue. I have another 5 Gallons of beer ready for kegging and I need it ready to drink in 2 weeks. So one thought is if I prime the keg, it should be ready for my weekend party in two weeks, and all I will have to do is get it cold. Option 2 is to take out the Hefe and put the new beer in the kegerator on the set and forget method and again it should be ready for the party weekend. If I do this, what will happen to the Hefe when it gets warm out of the fridge? Is it okay for a beer to get warm once its been cold for over a month? Will the beer lose its carbonation? I am assuming the CO2 will come out of solution, but once I get it back in the fridge it will re-dissolve back to the original carb level. Is this a correct assumption?

So, what do you guys think makes the most sense?

 

[Lefe21]

I was in the same situation a few weeks back. I ended up priming with 1/3 cup of dextrose. Put the corny it in the kegerator 24 hours before it was to be served and it was great. Your first couple pints will be yeasty/cloudy, but after that its smooth sailing.

 

[Walker]

I recently hit the same situation and I opted to carb the new keg with sugar.

If you pull the half full (not half empty) keg out and decide to force carb the fresh keg, you can always let other keg warm up and pressurize it to a high PSI to maintain the proper level of carb at the warmer temp.

Then when it comes time to get that keg cold again, vent the excess pressure.

 

[digphish]

That was what i was leaning toward doing, priming the keg. However, do you think the IPA would benefit from conditioning at room temp in the keg for 2 weeks or on the set and forget in the fridge for 2 weeks?

Walker, thanks for the idea of adding pressure to maintain the carb level at room temp. I wouldn't have thought to do that, but it makes sense now.

Also, if I do prime, I only have DME at home. I've never used this to prime...still 1/3 cup?

 

[Lefe21]

You will need more with DME. Use 5/8 of a cup for a 5 gallon batch (just referred to Papazian's Homebrew Companion).

 

[digphish]

Thanks! I forget about using that book when I have this site to use!

 

[Walker]

that reference from charlie might have been referring to priming for bottles. You need less when priming for kegs.

The batch I primed in the keg used 3oz of corn sugar, it it was over carbed.

 

[digphish]

I might just go get some corn sugar and use...1/3 cup

 

[Lefe21]

that reference from charlie might have been referring to priming for bottles. You need less when priming for kegs.

The batch I primed in the keg used 3oz of corn sugar, it it was over carbed.

No it specifically said for kegs. I know you need less for kegs, but you need more DME than dextrose because its less fermentable.

 

[digphish]

So I made the 1/3 cup of corn sugar to 1 cup water solution on put it in the keg. Then I racked on top as usual, but ended up with about 4 gallons of beer instead of 5. (my calibration marks washed off the carboy and I think my calibration is off on my new keggle)

I am now afraid that my beer will be over-carbed. So should I bleed the keg for the first few days? I am wondering if reducing the head pressure a little will compensate for the extra sugar?

 

[malkore]

Option 3: remove the fully carb'd fat tire keg, finish drinking the hefe, carb the new keg, and by 2 weeks you'll have the fat tire and new keg back on tap.