Is priming necessary?

[PaulStat]

Thanks i'll try that. It also still tasted very young, but I bottled it on the 12/10 so not sure about that, the beer in the barrel was much nicer. Guess I need to leave it longer.

[mysterio]

It's got nothing to do with the temperature, other than cold bottles will prime slower than warm ones. Half a teaspoon should give you a nice mild level of carbonation, but enough to form a head when it pours. Perhaps you bottled slightly too soon?

I personally prime my kegs and add isinglass at the same time when it comes to British bitters etc. I don't like adding much extraneous CO2 if I can help it (and no i'm not a CAMRA member). I just feel the beer stays more aromatic for longer without pumping CO2 in. Lagers, wheat beers, everything else gets the force carbonation treatment.

[Flaming Barrel]

What chris x1 says is correct, the beer is cooled in the fv. I think its racked a couple (2) gravity points before fg & this gives enough sugars left for conditioning in the cask. Finings are added just before delivery so they are all mixed up during transit, then they settle down making the beer ready to drink 4ish hours after the cask has been at rest( more time is better).
As for homebrew i'm with ade1865 on the no priming in 5's(plastic barrels), as the lids split. I tend to let it condition with a valveless lid on( just an escape valve). Then when natural CO2 runs out I'll swap lids to one with a valve, purge the air & gas it up!
I think that brewery beer ferments & conditions faster because of the large volumes involved.
(I could be wrong i'm a learner).

[bramswell]

i found an interedting article on carbonation and priming in brewers contact dec 2006

http://www.craft brewing.org.uk/bc/bcpdf/BC2006-Dec.pdf

still unsure if i will prime or not

[arturobandini]

The colder the beer the more CO2 will dissolve in it.

This is true.

However if you're serving a beer which already has plenty of Co2 in it then serving it at room temperature will only make it worse for you. Warming the beer will result in heavy fobbing whereas keeping it cooler will be less volcanic.