Another Kegging question: Natural or artificial priming ? ?

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Azorean Brewer
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Another Kegging question: Natural or artificial priming ? ?

Post by Azorean Brewer »

Hey ho keggers,

What is YOUR preferred method of priming your kegs? I have read on both methods, one says to add 1/2 cup of boiled corn sugar to the keg, purge the air out with c02, and then charge to 10-15 PSI and disconnect the gas line, set it aside for a week then add the c02 back to it. The other method is the method that we have been discussing below, purge the tank of air, pressurize it, rock it, and then charge it up for a week.

I am interested to know what you all do...

Thanks for all of this valuable kegging info ... beats the heck out of bottling doesn
joemez
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nebee to kegging also

Post by joemez »

I am new to the kegging thing also but I will tell you what I have found to work well so far. I purge the oxygen then chill the keg for a day or so. bring pressure up to 20# and rock it for 5 or 10 minutes until I hear no flow. It has worked perfect for me so far(only 4 kegs). It simplifies the whole process even further. Kegging is by far THE BEST over bottling. I will never go back. I am in the process of making a counter pressure bottle filler so I can bottle some out of the kegs.
Fraoch
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puritans and CO2

Post by Fraoch »

Azorean,

Im afraid i havent really been following the thread but i take it we are talking "cornelius" kegs.
As these draw the beer from the bottom up via the spike you really want to minimise the amount of sediment in the bottom. Natural priming is all very nice but cornelius kegs are designed to avoid this and "quicken up" the process,After all, CO2 is CO2 whether it be naturally formed through a 3rd fermentation or forced through via a CO2 bottle.
Skip the corn sugar unless you want to drink the first half of your keg cloudy and just use the compressed gas.You can clear your beer to 'bright" before hand and get perfectly carbonated clear beer, pint after pint. Remember though, that CO2 is best dissolved into COLD beer and if you want to cheat a bit you can clear the beer by putting the fermenter or maturing vessel into the fridge and crash cooling, all the yeast will drop from suspension and the beer will already be cooled for kegging. I normally force my CO2 through the outlet spike as it pushes it up from the bottom.I normally just charge her up quite high, shake and leave for a few days to "saturate".
Too easy,


Cheers!!!!!!

Fraoch
Freon12
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amen

Post by Freon12 »

Froach is now the designated c02/corni guru.

S.
fitz
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I mostly agree

Post by fitz »

I agree with most of what Fraoch is saying, but:
If you want to naturally condition your beer, and to just use the CO2 as a means of pushing your beer out, you can do it a few ways to minimize the yeast sludge, and cloudy beer. If this is a keg you will be taking to a party forget it, because it will be stirred up before you get there, and it will not work. But, if you want to keg condition you need to cut an inch off of the spike, so it isn't sitting in the yeast dregs. Also make sure this is a beer that has had a secondary fermentor to minimize yeast. I do not think CO2 is CO2, but the CO2 bottle makes things much easier.
The other way would be to leave the spike as is, and pour a pitcher of beer a day or so before regular use, and drink it cloudy, or use it as a marinade. If you are doing a dark beer, such as a stout, who care if it has a little suspended yeast in it. clarity isn't as important. The yeast will minimize shelf life though, on most beers.
canman
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I do both

Post by canman »

I both natural carb and force carb. There is a huge difference in taste. Sme beers just taste better when naturaly carbed (my opinion) like Brit pales. The east in the bottom cmes out the tube after the first pnt, every time. After keg is empty you can look into it and see the yeast sediment on the bottom exept for a silver dollar sized circle around the dip tube. You just have to be careful not to disturb your naturally carbed keg.
I mostly force carb for ease. If you have the time. Use a carb calculator (all over the net and let it sit at the proper pressure for 7-1 days and it will slowly carb. don't like the mouth feel of shake and carb untll it has settled out. For me the slow carb is far superor.
here is a calclator http://www.brewmaxer.com/tools/fc0.html
Enjoy
Azorean Brewer
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At what rate ?

Post by Azorean Brewer »

Canman,

Cool web site you posted ... I like it ...

If you are naturally carbonating what rate of boiled corn sugar do you use for 5 gallons ? 1/3 ... 1/2 ... 3/4 cups ? ? ?

Thanks,

Paul.
canman
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3/4 too much

Post by canman »

I use the same web page for natural carb too. You can change the carb method on the calculator. I do find that even with a Weissen 3/4 cup is a bit much though for a corny.
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