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Hey all,

I tried my hand at priming a keg instead of force carbonating it. It is taking forever to get up to carbonation, is this normal? My notes are at home, so I don't know how much (table) sugar I added but I would really like to hear peoples experiences with priming kegs. I skipped bottle priming and jumped strait into forced carb kegs when I got into the hobby, so I have next to no experience with this. I know I added what beersmith told me, and I checked Charlie Papazian's book to be sure the numbers made sense. My keg was probably around 8 degrees C and I primed it close to three weeks ago. It is still a little sweet and only has the carbonation of a cask ale. Maybe I put too little sugar in, but now I am worried to put it on CO2 in case the priming is just taking its time at such a low temp. How much sugar do you guys use? How long do you let it prime and at what temp? How long do you let it stay in primary/secondary before you put it into a keg to prime?

Cheers,

I'd say your temperature was too cold and the majority of the yeast likely wouldn't have woken up to consume the additional sugar. I think you'll get much better results with the beer at room temperature (~60-70ºF). I'm guessing you'd probably see it carbonated after a week or 2 (at most) at that temperature.

I think I use 3-4 ounces of sugar, and keep the keg up around 17c minimum. Never had a failure. But I always seat the lid with a blast of CO2 at around 15 psi. If you don't do that, you could get leaking there.

I'm the same, use approx 4 ounces of priming sugar and let it sit at room temp for 2 weeks and that works like a charm. Looks like your temp is the reason your not there yet.

Ditto on the temp. maybe 1.5 - 2 weeks.

Sandy

mr x wrote:I think I use 3-4 ounces of sugar, and keep the keg up around 17c minimum. Never had a failure. But I always seat the lid with a blast of CO2 at around 15 psi. If you don't do that, you could get leaking there.

I set the lid that way as well.

I'll move it into the apartment for a week and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks guys. I really messed up the hop schedule with this one so its a shitty beer anyways (my iphone/timer died). So I figured it was a good one to experiment on.

X do you use corn sugar as well, or do you use table sugar?

is there a major benefit to keg priming vs crash carbing vs slow keg carbing?

bluenose wrote:is there a major benefit to keg priming vs crash carbing vs slow keg carbing?

It uses less C02 and doesn't occupy a spot in your kegerator/keezer while carbing. Means that you can have a supply of carbed kegs ready to go whenever one kicks in your kegerator/keezer. Plus naturally carbonating tends to give a creamier head/silkier mouthfeel.

mgc wrote: you use corn sugar as well, or do you use table sugar?

i've read that corn vs table sugars dont make a difference for the sort of quantity used for priming. i've used both and never tasted a difference

CorneliusAlphonse wrote:

mgc wrote: you use corn sugar as well, or do you use table sugar?

i've read that corn vs table sugars dont make a difference for the sort of quantity used for priming. i've used both and never tasted a difference

+1

jeffsmith wrote:

bluenose wrote:is there a major benefit to keg priming vs crash carbing vs slow keg carbing?

It uses less C02 and doesn't occupy a spot in your kegerator/keezer while carbing. Means that you can have a supply of carbed kegs ready to go whenever one kicks in your kegerator/keezer. Plus naturally carbonating tends to give a creamier head/silkier mouthfeel.

All that, + I find I hit my target carb better with sugar. With the exception of 3711, lol.

mr x wrote:With the exception of 3711, lol.

That yeast is so damn unpredictable that the direction of the wind could encourage it to start consuming more sugar I think.

jeffsmith wrote:

mr x wrote:With the exception of 3711, lol.

That yeast is so damn unpredictable that the direction of the wind could encourage it to start consuming more sugar I think.

I think it has trouble with Venus being so close these days.

Do you guys boil the sugar in some H2O then put it into the keg and do you just use software/internet to calculate how much sugar to use? Is it about the same as bottles or less?

I do boil but I think it's over kill. I use what C. Papazian says. 4oz I think.

Sandy

I always boil with water, just for 5 or 10 minutes to make sure any nasties are taken care of. This is a pretty handy calculator for priming.

That would make a good sticky. I boil my sugar as well is the smallest amount of water I can get away with.

Thanks guys. Figured as much just thought I would ask before I risk a keg of beer I actually am looking forward too.

so I tried priming my first keg with dextrose, and after two weeks at 70*F and one night in the fridge at 40*F it has no carbonation... my first thought is a leak, but I seated it with 30 PSI and when I hit it with gas tonight it took very little time for the gas to stop (telling me there was little headroom?)

I could just force carb it at this point, but I'm afraid of having sugary beer

any ideas gents?

Does the beer taste sweet?

Sent from my Nexus S

I know for the last primed keg I had, I had to bleed off some pressure before adding to the fridge as it was at a higher pressure than my 10-12PSI setup. First time I didn't bleed off and you could hear the transfer from the new keg to old keg. Possibly a leak?

Priming in the keg sounds like a plan, but how long does it take to really clear the sediment? If its only 1 or 2 beer, ok, but that was one of my reasons for going the keg route...tired of telling folks no, dont drink it from the bottle, and no, dont pour the whole thing. Lol

Clears quickly.

Sent from my Nexus S

mr x wrote:Does the beer taste sweet?

Sent from my Nexus S

Actually yes, does this mean the yeast got lazy?

Never tried it this way. Will you be able to dispense the beer this way or do you eventually have to add co2.