Help conditioning my Hefeweissbier

Yes, you can condition in the keg just think of it like a big bottle, and yes you can bottle from the keg as well. However the most controllable way to carbonate in the keg is with co2. That would be the best approach imo.

 

Have you calculated the amount of fermentable sugars in that wort? I'd recommend using a carbonation calculator to figure out how much "DME" you need, then back into how much wort of your gravity you'd need to get that much DME equivalent. And don't forget that you're also increasing the volume, so this will be iterative. Also, ask yourself if you have room in the keg for you batch volume plus the added wort volume.

 

it sounds to me that krausening (carbonated with wort) is the solution to a problem you do not have. and it creates headaches you do not really need either.

if you are putting the beer in a keg, why not just force carbonate with bottle gas? because krausening is traditional and makes us feel good but if you aren't certain of this recipe is it really helping?

if you do krausen in the keg have you made the beer better?

you can always bottle from keg, and the better the vols the better your bottles.

Cheers.

 

I am interested in how it works for you, if you try it. I have been thinking it might be economical if I returned to priming sugars or started spunding or krausening. Then my CO2 use should be primarily for moving beer and not carbonating. On top of the costs, I have to put some miles on my car to get CO2 refills.

 

This thread reminded me of comments about using spiese to carbonate. Hat-tip to @HerbMeowing for mentioning it here and here.

I wonder, though, do these two statements from the calculator seem to be in conflict?:
"Allows for a different wort (OG/FG) to be used as the gyle or krausen."
"Gyle is expected to be unfermented and have the same OG/FG as the beer being packaged."

 

If you don't want the ABV of the finished beer to be changed, you'd have to add wort that's the same OG and same sugar/dextrin profile as the original wort.