Keg priming

[labrewski]

What's the the best way to carb beer in cornys
Do u add sugar or is it just co2
I've spotted something about carbonation stones??
I have 2 cornys just need to figure them out now

 

[Leon103]

Co2 and you will drinking your first pint in a couple of hours

 

[obscure]

I have tried both force carbing as well as priming my kegs and I’m going to be honest I have not really seen any difference, at worst you get a fine layer of sediment at the bottom of the keg if you prime. For reasons I won’t bore you with I do not have a large CO2 cylinder and use a soda stream cylinder for my corny kegs, so using 10% of a cylinder to carbonate a 9.5L corny costs me about £1.30 and for that reason I tend to prime my kegs with sugar, and as with a few exceptions I find beer is better conditioned for a few weeks it isn’t really a huge issue that I cannot drink straight away.

If you decide to go down the priming route (and frankly unless your like me and using a fairly pricy soda stream cylinder I wouldn‘t recommend it) I quite literally do as follows. Add the sugar to the keg then add the beer. Put the lid on and pressurise and then vent a couple of times, I then pressurise to 10PSI and disconnect the gas. This serves to a) vent the keg, and b) double checks that you don’t have any leaks and the keg is properly sealed. I then leave in a warm place for a couple of weeks before moving to the garage for a couple more to condition.

 

[chillipickle]

I just use the set and forget method.My reg is set to 13/14 psi and temp is 7c, in a week the beer is ready to serve.Mostly ipa and pales.

 

[labrewski]

I just use the set and forget method.My reg is set to 13/14 psi and temp is 7c, in a week the beer is ready to serve.Mostly ipa and pales.

What is set and forget method please

 

[chillipickle]

Connect the keg to the co2 bottle and leave connected.

Edit:- i use a 6.35kg co2 bottle.

 

[thegrantickle]

Personally, I much prefer priming kegs with dextrose monohydrate to force carbonating with CO2. I find the carbonation to be softer and more consistent throughout the keg. You'll get a bit of cloudy beer when you first start to pull through but other than that if you do things right, you can clear the beer just as well as force carbonating.

I'm sure if you use the 'set and forget' method then you can get a consistent and solid carbonation. But that takes a couple of weeks too, so why wouldn't you just prime it?

I absolutely detest the shaking (impatience) method. You'll get super inconsistent beer for the first 1/3 of the keg and spend the last 2/3 of it fiddling with the gas pressure trying to fix it.

Plus, giving your beer time to condition with sugar will do it good - you shouldn't really want to drink it as soon as it comes out of the fermenter anyway... MMMMMMM hop burn, yum...

My 2 cents

 

[labrewski]

Personally, I much prefer priming kegs with dextrose monohydrate to force carbonating with CO2. I find the carbonation to be softer and more consistent throughout the keg. You'll get a bit of cloudy beer when you first start to pull through but other than that if you do things right, you can clear the beer just as well as force carbonating.

I'm sure if you use the 'set and forget' method then you can get a consistent and solid carbonation. But that takes a couple of weeks too, so why wouldn't you just prime it?

I absolutely detest the shaking (impatience) method. You'll get super inconsistent beer for the first 1/3 of the keg and spend the last 2/3 of it fiddling with the gas pressure trying to fix it.

Plus, giving your beer time to condition with sugar will do it good - you shouldn't really want to drink it as soon as it comes out of the fermenter anyway... MMMMMMM hop burn, yum...

My 2 cents

So add sugar and leave in a warm spot for 2 weeks I have no problem with
Then is it just plug in gas and pour or does that take more time also

 

[thegrantickle]

Have a read of this article:

https://byo.com/resource/carbonation-priming-chart/
Know the CO2 vols you are shooting for as per your style. Check the chart to get an idea of how much residual CO2 in the beer after fermenting. Subtract one from the other then look further down to figure out how much sugar to add to achieve your overall carbonation level.

Then once it's done in 2-3 weeks, plug your gas into the gas line, and you'll want it between 10-14PSI depending on the style/carbonation level and temperature of your beer. For me, 12PSI at 4C is great for an ale, 14PSI at 0C is great for a lager. Once it's carbonated with priming sugar you can pour right away using CO2 gas.

Hope this helps,
Feel free to PM if you want specific advice on a recipe/style/setup :)

 

[Rento]

Am I correct in thinking that the carbonation level left after fermenting is only relevant if you are fermenting under pressure? Surely if you are fermenting in a bucket then there is no residual co2 in the beer?

 

[thegrantickle]

No that's not correct. Co2 is soluble in beer/water up to a saturation point. The colder the liquid is, the more co2 is soluble. When co2 is expelled through an airlock, it is only the excess co2 above this level that is sent out. A pressure barrel only means that that excess co2 is forced (under pressure) into the beer.

When calculating, always use the highest temperature the beer was at during the fermentation stage, not the final temp or conditioning temp (i.e. cold crash).

 

[Rento]

Thanks, I think I’ll try this with my next keg as an experiment. I use beer gas so I’m interested to see what happens from start of keg to the end.

 

[thegrantickle]

Thanks, I think I’ll try this with my next keg as an experiment. I use beer gas so I’m interested to see what happens from start of keg to the end.

By beer gas do you mean either 60/40 or 70/30 mix? What pressures are you using to carbonate beer with this?

 

[Rento]

Suremix 60, 60/40. I’m a tight ar£& and a scared of loosing gas so I pressurise to 30 psi, disconnect and leave for a couple of weeks, maybe top up once in between. I then serve at around 12-15 psi, topping up every 5 or 6 pints. It’s worked great for me, done maybe 10 kegs this way.

Note I use inline flow controllers as well

 

[Rento]

Some example pours! I like a creamy head! Thats using my stout spout, but with a normal tap its more bubbly! The suremix is what my brother used in his restaurant to server Menabrea lager and I find very versatile.

 

[thegrantickle]

Aha! So be aware that 60/40 needs much higher pressure to carb beers, as it has a lower concentration of CO2, therefore a smaller % of the pressure will be CO2 carbonating the beer (if that makes sense?). Suremix is great, but most breweries/bars will use it for pushing beer along rather than carbonating it (especially over long distances/up a significant height). The reason you'll be having to top up the gas every few pints is because the pressure isn't right.

Another benefit of priming sugar is that it's super cheap, so if you carb this way then dispense only with your 60/40 you'll use much less gas! And you wont need to mess about with pressure as much. Just get your serving PSI right and let it do it's thing.

 

[thegrantickle]

Some example pours! I like a creamy head! Thats using my stout spout, but with a normal tap its more bubbly! The suremix is what my brother used in his restaurant to server Menabrea lager and I find very versatile.
View attachment 43236View attachment 43237

You can definitely see the effects of the creamer tap! For reference, I'd expect to see around 35-38PSI on a 60/40 line in a 12-13C temperature controlled bar cellar, purely for dispense. So since you're only getting partial pressure from the CO2, for force carbonation I'd expect this to be much higher.

 

[Hanglow]

Look into spunding valves like the blowtie too, that means you can transfer the beer with extract remaining and carbonate with no need to even add primings if you wish, plus it means you are transferring the beer while it is still actively fermenting so you reduce any O2 damage.

 

[thegrantickle]

Made this priming sugar calculator based on that article.

 

[thegrantickle]

Aww. FFS I just realised there's already a calculator on brewers friend for this. Beer Priming Calculator | Brewer's Friend