Naturally Carbing a Corny Keg

[monkeymullins]

Hi all after some advice on naturally carving a keg.

I have an IPA I'm going to be kegging today and I'd like to naturally carb it with priming sugar my question(s) is

1)how much should I use for a IPA

2)assuming I just dump the priming sugar in the keg first and rack on top?

3)what initial PSI should I put on top?

4)what temp will it need to sit at to naturally carb in the keg?

Sorry for all the questions and thank you all for your advice in advance


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[Jim]

Obviously the amount of sugar to use depends on the size of the keg, but I would just follow normal guidelines of 60g - 80g per five gallons.

For an IPA I would suggest the high side of those amounts, and I would mix it with a small quantity of the beer before adding to the bulk in the keg - really it's no different from priming in any other container.

Probably not necessary to apply top pressure at all (save your gas) though it might be worth purging the keg with CO2 before racking the beer in.

Temperature-wise 16 - 18C for 4 or 5 days then to normal cellar temperature (12 - 14C) for as long as you can leave it alone.

[McMullan]

What Jim typed, but you'll need to hit the keg with some pressure initially to set a seal. And lube the keg's o-rings! Some say use less priming sugar because of the smaller head space in a keg, but you can always purge any excess If you plan to do this going forward, and there is no reason why you wouldn't want to, because it works very well, get a small pressure gauge set up for a keg so you can monitor things with confidence.

[Wonkydonkey]

I've done this before (pressure gauge hooked up to the gas post) and watch with confidence, if you know the temp of the beer you can find a calculater to tell you the vols of co2. And then purge any excess gas off so you don't get over carb'ed beer.
But this maybe better for another time

[Fil]

A blast of serving pressure co2 can be used to ensure the id seal, the pressurised co2 in the keg top void wont have a significant impact on pressure there is only something like 300ml of volume above a full keg. And older corny's can take a lil pressure to make the initial lid seal.

the way to seal an older keg quickly is to not close the lid trap but to use the lid cage to suspend the keg a few inches off the ground and apply co2 via the gas in post until the lid seals and then to close the lid cage. that way you suspend the keg mass by its lid pulling down the keg lip onto the o-ring to give the seal a head start.

and if using a kegging chart to give you an idea of the co2vol levels to aim for it may be worth considering most are compiled by US brewers who may prefer a bit more fizz??

fwiw i started naturally conditioning in corny kegs, but soon switched to conditioning via pressure its way easier in the long run and there is significantly less sediment to pour off from the first runnings.

enjoy

[Jim]

Yes, points about pressure to make the seals seat are well made. I should have known really, as you have to do the same with a cornie.

[orlando]

fwiw i started naturally conditioning in corny kegs, but soon switched to conditioning via pressure its way easier in the long run and there is significantly less sediment to pour off from the first runnings.

I do the same but it is worth mentioning the benefits of "cask conditioning". Transfer to keg can pick up oxygen quite easily and carbing with CO2 doesn't eliminate all of this. Transferring some yeast with priming sugar means the yeast will continue to scavenge the oxygen, leading to a more stable and longer shelf life for your beer. Fil and I probably drink it so quickly it rarely bothers us. On another note, priming with sugars that are not 100% fermentable gives you another option for changing the taste of the final beer.

[BackO'Th'Shed]

I've just attempted cask carbing with wort. I set aside about 6% of my wort (based on around a 5% abv beer) and keep in the freezer until fermentation is complete and I'm ready to move to the cask. Add this to the cask with the fermented beer and it should provide a suitable low carbonation for serving through my beer engine. Haven't tapped my cask yet, but I'm hoping this should be about right based on this giving me about 2 points above final gravity overall.

When naturally carbing a corny keg, I found the cask widge conversion (link below) was a good option for avoiding pick up of the yeast in the first few pints. This is also a good option when dry hopping in the keg.

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