Purchased a mini keg kit, question about fermentation, co2 and a few others...

[will4009]

Hello,

After some good advice, I have purchased this kit 5L MiniKeg Party Kit from BKT.

I do however, have a few question about how to best use it.

1. Force carb or naturally carbonate? Is one method 'better' than the other? I take it you will get more sediment with secondary fermentation occurring in the keg. Not sure which way to go.

2. Usually, I bottle straight from the primary. Should I carry on with this method, kegging from the primary, or will using a secondary improve the final product?

3. Can someone actually talk me through the process of force carbing? I understand there are two options, a fast and slow carb, but I am unsure about what pressure is necessary for both processes and how long it takes. Also, after force carbonation, how quickly is the beer drinkable? Without secondary fermentation, I was unsure if the process would be quicker then naturally fermenting with sugar.

4. What sanitizer would you recommend? I have very hard water, I have used no rinse chem san, but it goes cloudy and I was told this could bake it ineffective. I want to make sure I don't use anything that could damage the keg.

Would be grateful for any help

Thanks

 

[Kveik Freak]

I'd be interested to learn more about this too.

 

[Xeno]

I have 10 litre kegs and just have cracked open my first keg of stout.
After advice from here and other places I opted for priming with 40g sugar and left it for a couple of weeks.
Turned out pretty perfect for me.
You need a lot of gas for force carbing and those 16g caplets don’t go far. Great if you have a big gas bottle.
I used to force carb cornie kegs back in the day from a large gas bottle and it worked Well but is very gas heavy.

As for your cleaning problem. Go to your local aquatic centre and get a container of RO water.
Dirt cheap and perfect for no rinse acids.

 

[Kveik Freak]

I have 10 litre kegs and just have cracked open my first keg of stout.
After advice from here and other places I opted for priming with 40g sugar and left it for a couple of weeks.
Turned out pretty perfect for me.
You need a lot of gas for force carbing and those 16g caplets don’t go far. Great if you have a big gas bottle.
I used to force carb cornie kegs back in the day from a large gas bottle and it worked Well but is very gas heavy.

As for your cleaning problem. Go to your local aquatic centre and get a container of RO water.
Dirt cheap and perfect for no rinse acids.

Sounds like good advice. Why spend on CO2 when the yeast will do it for next to nothing?

 

[will4009]

I have used it for the first time.

I had 8 litres of beer sat in the primary for 3 weeks, not something particularly special, just a quick batch I had knocked up using left over grain and hops from other brews. So, perfect to have an experiment.

Using the 'fast' force carbing method, I chilled the beer in the primary, syphoned 5l-ish into the keg and raised the PSI to 20. I then rocked the keg back and forth for 4 mins, then left it for an hour. I then dropped it to 4 PSI to serve.

Great pour and head retention, just the right amount of carbonation. Next time I will rack in a secondary, then try the longer 'leave and wait' method, basically leave it at 10 PSI for a week. Will see if I notice any difference.

Don't think I am interested in secondary fermenting in the keg. I presume the secondary ferment would leave lots of sediment in the keg, might take a couple of pints to clear it out, as its only a small keg, a couple of pints is quite a lot. Plus, this size if great to carry to barbecues, party's etc. Wouldn't fancy shaking all that sediment around transporting it.

 

[kelper]

I brew 40 pints at a time and put it in the PB for two weeks conditioning and another two weeks clearing. Then I transfer to my mini kegs as required. Gas is only used as the beer is drunk, so consumption is quite low.