Kegging

Welcome to the BA sitesite, Buffalophinsfan. Your question is best asked in the Home Bar forum, or even in the Homebrewing forum. I am not a kegger so I don't know how to answer the question. I'll report this thread to the mods and ask that it be moved.

 

Hook the gas back up, tap it, pour it, and see what ya got.

 

Priming sugar and Co2 seems a bit much to me. Most people say not to use priming sugar in the keg as it adds extra gunk that you have to pour off before you get a good glass of beer.

But yes. Hook up your gas and see what you got. You might need to pour a few pints before you get a good glass of something. Otherwise, just use Co2 in the future and good luck kegging. I only keg because I turned a old mini fridge into a keggerator. I personally still prefer bottling.

 

I havent started keggin yet but i have all the supplies including a fridge. I've heard/read that it take a few days to properly carbonate a beer with a keg, and it depends on pressure and temp. I guess you checked the 30psi one one of those pressure/temp charts or something?

Anyway, a week sounds like enough for the carbonation. As for the priming sugar, that will definitely add time as the yeast will need to complete their work. And how long that will take depends a lot on the status/quantity of the yeast. And it would add to the total carbonation of the beer.

It begs the question, what was your decision process to add priming sugar?

 

At the correct pressure for a given temperature, selected to hit a target volumes of CO2 (i.e. the "set and forget" method), I don't pour anything before 2 weeks. I know a lot of people say their beer is fully carbonated in a week, but that's not generally my experience. It certainly has quite a bit of carbonation at that point, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's done.

I suspect he was naturally carbonating with sugar, and that the 30 PSI mentioned was just a shot at the beginning to seal the lid gasket.

I don't know why he chose to do this, but it's not unheard of. I've done Dupont-like saisons this way, because it's the way the brewery does it (except in bottles). There's so much sugar involved in carbonating Saison Dupont that there may just be something important about the "secondary fermentation." It's actually integral to hitting the recipe's numbers, i.e. the priming sugar adds more ABV than with a typical bottle primed beer.

 

That makes sense.
Also, I don't know where I read a few days, but after looking at my resources I do see that a longer saturation time is preferred.

 

Carbonating with priming sugar can be calculated with known values. Namely the amount of sugar, residual CO2, liquid volume and temperature.

Carbonating with CO2 pressure can be calculated with known values. Namely the liquid volume, temperature and time.

Neither method is really fool proof so you do need some experience and most of us want to under shoot the target and then get there slowly.
Since you don't have any of the variables, and you are mixing both methods, you are on your own.

In the future consider 1 day at 30 psi at 38F. Then lower to serving pressure for one week.
Then pour.
A week or two of cold lagering, regardless of style, will greatly benefit your green beer,

Cheers.

 

Kegging is more of an art, at a homebrew level. Burst carbing has worked for me. No added priming sugar, just Co2. I don’t cold crash but it does help settle more out before you keg and carbs up a little faster. But patience helps. Just hit it high at 30psi for a day or two then drop it down to serving pressure. It really depends on your set up. Probably gonna take a few go’s till you figure it out. Good luck! Be sure to check for leaks in your system.

 

How many volumes CO2 do you target for this beer?

 

3.9 on my last batch.

 

I'm a set and forget guy. But I also only have the single regulator hooked and generally carb every beer around 2.6ish, despite the style.

Totally agree with at least 2 weeks for full saturation. If I have a hankering, I will indeed pull after the first week and it's obviously still undercarbed. To me it's satisfactory so I don't mind pulling some pints, but another week and it is perfect.

In this case, he could just let the keg ferment out and carb over a couple weeks or more at room temp without hooking it back up. Then tap it at serving pressure. I don't ever prime kegs, are you genereally waiting the same amount of time as you might for bottles?

 

I haven't compiled any stats on it, but in my experience, yes. Roughly.