Secondary fermentation question

[Chris1982]

Just a quick question regarding the secondary fermentation;

I think i may not have put enough sugar in at this stage. I tested a small amount after 4 days and found it not particularly fizzy. The Previous time i tried making beer i put too much sugar in and the beer was extremely fizzy after a couple of days so i may have erred on the side of caution this time. I have a pressure valve on my barrel so i can add CO2 from a catridge.

Will the quality of my beer suffer from this or should i just bung in some extra CO2 via the valve to make up for not adding enough sugar at the start of the secondary? Should i add the extra CO2 when i come to drink the beer or is there any reason to add it now? Thanks in advance.

 

[bigred]

I thought the CO2 was absorbed in the liquid over time and that adding it to the barrel when you where ready to serve would just pressurise the barrel but still serve flat beer. If you can add CO2 in the barrel why bother with secondary fermentation?

 

[Chris1982]

If you can add CO2 in the barrel why bother with secondary fermentation?

My understanding (strictly limited) is that you add sugar at the start of the secondary fermentation partly for the fizz and partly for the effects on clarity and taste that fermenting a second time has on the beer, as well as the benefits of syphoning the beer from the primary fermentation vessel where all the yeast crud has collected. When the beer starts to lose pressure in the keg you add more pressure via the CO2 catridges because it's impractical to add more sugar (and perhaps yeast) every time you want to add more fizz to the beer.

I could be quite wrong on all that though, hence i'm asking the question.