Keggers: do you force or natural carbonate?

[foxbat]

Having sourced a 6kg bottle of CO2 it now seems certain I'll be kegging my first batch of bitter this weekend into a cornie keg. It seems that I have the following options for carbonation:

• Yeast carbonation at room temperature using priming sugar for a few weeks.
• Fast force carbonation at a high pressure.
• Slow force carbonation at 'normal' pressure for a few weeks.

I'm interested to hear what you do and why. I don't have a fridge for my keg so whichever method I use will be done at ambient temperature. I have seen this Brulosophy article where people (as usual) couldn't tell the difference between natural and force carbonation.

 

[Duxuk]

I put 100g of sugar into my keg, for a 23l brew. I then top up with my small CO2 cylinder to keep the life in it. For lagers I’d maybe go higher with the sugar. The CO2 will just vent through the safety valves if I went too high with the sugar, so no worries.

 

[foxbat]

I put 100g of sugar into my keg, for a 23l brew. I then top up with my small CO2 cylinder to keep the life in it. For lagers I’d maybe go higher with the sugar. The CO2 will just vent through the safety valves if I went too high with the sugar, so no worries.

I'm guessing that's a King Keg or similar. I should have been more clear that I'm moving from bottling to Cornie kegs for the first time.

 

[Spoon]

Cornie kegs (usually) have safety valves too. The only problem is you'd end up with beer carbonated to 60psi or so, so better to be accurate with the priming sugar.

Force carb it, it's what kegs are for.

 

[Drunkula]

I do both. If I force carb I always start with the high pressure shake through the spear so I can hear the bubbles, and actually watch it if I'm using a petainer. I'll use sugar if I'll be away for a while or want to stop myself from drinking it straight away, but it's just adding to the conditioning needed so I'd recommend force carbing over it. Especially if you've cold crashed, only to have to warm it again to carbonate.

 

[Bigcol49]

'Ow do!
I've tried both "burst" carbonation at high pressure and "set and forget" carbonation over two weeks. Both methods yield no differences, apart from the fact that the two-week carbonation allows some maturation of the beer.

 

[IainM]

Use the force. Don't think it matters though.

 

[chesters-mild]

I also can only use my corny kegs at room temp. I use about 35grm. of white sugar per keg, pressure up to seal the keg, purge the keg of air then let it sit at 5 to 8lbs of pressure - after a week it's good to drink.
Cheers

 

[Graz]

I don't have Cornies though I'm planning on moving over to them soon.

I thought that priming them / secondary fermentation had issues as the dip tube goes to the bottom of the keg and that's where all the yeast sediment will drop out to after secondary has finished. As I understood it at best you'll end up with the first few pints drawn being somewhat cloudy but if you're unlucky then the sediment could block the dip tube? Therefore most people prefer to force carbonate?

I'd be interested to know as I'd prefer to secondary ferment as it's more in keeping with "real ale" practices though I know all the craft brews are served from kegs and nobody really cares (funny how these things come full circle).

If it's ok to do a secondary then I'll probably try both methods.

 

[Bigcol49]

'Ow do, @Graz
I have read of some people trimming about 1 cm or so from the end of the dip tube to reduce the amount of beer that is cloudy - obviously, you will serve less beer.
I have not read of anyone suffering from a blocked dip tube following natural carbonation in a Corny keg.

 

[Sadfield]

Any sediment that may be an issue is usually removed in the first poor. In the unlikely event of a blockage, blast some co2 down the dip tube and let things settle again.

Spare dip tube are only around £7-8 if you end up regretting getting the hacksaw out.

I often don't bother monitoring for stable gravity at end of primary, and just transfer to corny and carb using the set and forget method at room temperature. Any further fermentation adds to the carbonation, whilst still giving good control over the end result.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

 

[Graz]

Thanks for the info. As and when I'll probably try both methods and see what I prefer.

 

[sdt7618]

Not the same question but related, how long have you all got your beer lines?

 

[foxbat]

A lot of good replies here. I think I'll force carbonate this first batch using the 2 week method. The beer will be kegged from a cold-crash so it'll start off at 6C or so and rise naturally over a few days to the garage ambient temperature. If I keep an eye on it I can keep adjusting the pressure, which should rise a little as it gets warmer (???), to keep it at the correct PSI.

 

[chewie]

Keg the beer as bright as possible, that should avoid any issues with a bunged up dip tube, if you do let the beer carb naturally you are going to introduce sediment which will cloud the first few pints that you pull thru.

 

[bigbud78]

I cool my beer to 2 degrees then keg, I'll force carb at 35-40 PSI for max of 24 hours then drop back down to 12 PSI. Its then drinkable but its perfect in a week after its all settled down and had sometime to condition. You can get a bit of carbonic bite but its disappears after a week.

 

[bigbud78]

I cool my beer to 2 degrees then keg, I'll force carb at 35-40 PSI for max of 24 hours then drop back down to 12 PSI. Its then drinkable but its perfect in a week after its all settled down and had sometime to condition. You can get a bit of carbonic bite but its disappears after a week.

Also to note I keg via a sealed transferred method, beer goes into a keg that has been purged with co2 by pushing out a full keg or starsan. I use a bouncer filter and go through the product out post.

 

[MikeC]

Stupid question I know whats a Corny ?

 

[Graz]

Stupid question I know whats a Corny ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelius_keg

 

[MikeC]

Thank you much wiser now