kegging carbonation advice

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lagerlad

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hi all managed to get a few crusader kegs so am about to go down the road of kegging,have looked on www and there are quite a few different opinions on the kegging carbonation thing,should i add sugar to keg like when i am bottling or do you just need to force carbonate or is it a case of a bit of both...any advice from keggers out there welcome cheers lagerlad
 
hi all managed to get a few crusader kegs so am about to go down the road of kegging,have looked on www and there are quite a few different opinions on the kegging carbonation thing,should i add sugar to keg like when i am bottling or do you just need to force carbonate or is it a case of a bit of both...any advice from keggers out there welcome cheers lagerlad
Kegs with Sankey connectors or casks with tap and spike?

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hi all managed to get a few crusader kegs so am about to go down the road of kegging,have looked on www and there are quite a few different opinions on the kegging carbonation thing,should i add sugar to keg like when i am bottling or do you just need to force carbonate or is it a case of a bit of both...any advice from keggers out there welcome cheers lagerlad
Kegs with Sankey connectors or casks with tap and spile?

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they are sankey connectors you can see them at www.brewuk.co.uk/crusader-keg-20l.html



Force carbonate all day long. I don't mean the high pressure and roll method. I mean just gas up to 1.5 bar and leave connects with gas on at 3 degrees for 7 days and your good to go!

I carbonate in keg for all of my beers in Cornelius kegs. And the difference in quality from Co2 carbonated beers in a keg to sugar carbonated beers is quite considerable.


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So hoddy do you not add any sugar to keg at all ,once fermentation is over can you explain your process I presume you put it directly into keg can you let me know where you go from there,don't mean to be a pain m8 but see so many different folks methods online starting to get confused cheers lagerlad
 
So, here is my method and explanation. And yes, I should do a video for this really shouldn't i.

a) force carbonation - enforcing a very high pressure on a keg and rolling the keg back/forth for 10 minutes to "force" the Co2 into the beer. Usually after this practise and a few hours to rest afterwards you can drink it with a level of carbonation in your kegged beer. However you won't get small bubbled/fine compact headed beer at this stage as the co2 is not fully dissolved in the beer. Due to this "quick" method of serving beer.

My method of normal carb procedure:
a) clean and sterilise keg (Cornie etc)
b) fully fermented (min 2 weeks dependant on beer/style) beer transferred into keg and keg purged of air with co2
c) chill kegged beer to 3 degrees (24hrs)
d) apply co2 pressure of 1.5bar
e) put back and maintain at 3 degrees
f) top back up to 1.5bar every day/twice a day over 4-6 days while maintaining 3 degrees temp
g) after 6 days test beer. It should be perfectly carbed with a nice tight and dense head.
h) although ready from a carb point of view I find that at least another 2 weeks is needed for the beer to condition out properly.

As there is still yeast in the beer after the transfer and in the keg it takes that few extra weeks for the beer to fully develop and all of the hop/malt/yeast character to properly develop. All beer has to condition/develop no matter if it's home brew or from a commercial brewery.

I've done trials with bottle conditioned (beer in a bottle with a carb drop or 1/2 tsp of sugar) vs keg carbed/conditioned beer.
And the difference is massive in the tests I've done and is why I always keg first and bottle later with left overs.

I believe there is something in larger volumes of beer conditioning together in a more stable environment (keg) that produces better beer. And also not reactivating the yeast with sugar to carb. But to allow them to complete their cleaning up/finishing phase.

That make sense?


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Thanks for the great reply m8 all sounds good apart from I would need a bank of fridges I have fermentation fridge which always has something in it looking for a fridge for a kegerator conversion at the moment and then I would need another set at 3 degrees is that what you have or am I missing something,hope so lagerlad
 
I always have my kegerator fridge at 3oC for serving. It has 3 taps on it and then I have just enough space for a further 4th (on its side) which I can chill and carb up ready for when one runs out. Then I just have other full kegs just sat conditioning ready to be carbed [emoji1303]

I find having at least 3 full kegs in addition to the 3 in the kegerator the only way to make sure I give my beer enough time to condition.


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So you just serve all beers at 3 degrees then sounds fine to me and you can stick a spare in presume the co2 is outside is your regulator inside or outside fridge,hope to have kegerator up and running by end of next week as I will have a brew ready to keg
 
So you just serve all beers at 3 degrees then sounds fine to me and you can stick a spare in presume the co2 is outside is your regulator inside or outside fridge,hope to have kegerator up and running by end of next week as I will have a brew ready to keg



Your right I keep my gas bottle and Reg outside the kegerator. I have a gland that seals the gas line entry into the kegerator and the 4 way gas manifold.

I only make and drink American/craft style beers and no "real ales". Nothing wrong with them it's just my preference.


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Thanks for the advice hoddy will try and have a look at your you tube tomorrow at work is there any kegerator stuff on it cheers
 
Thanks for the advice hoddy will try and have a look at your you tube tomorrow at work is there any kegerator stuff on it cheers



No there isn't any yet. I've been a bit remiss in adding more videos the last few months.

But I have a plan on adding a lot more very soon. I would have done some this week if I hadn't contracted man flu [emoji40]


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with a keg fridge its simple check a kegging chart for optimum serving temp n pressure set both and leave for a week -10 days,

also bare in mind the keg charts were compiled by american brewers for the main part and imho they tend to like a bit more fizz than we do ?? https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&ved=0CFoQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kegerators.com%2Farticles%2Fcarbonation-table-pressure-chart.php&ei=Tn_MUv_qC5CqhAfL5YHQAw&usg=AFQjCNFBmyJM8-kSKjo26ur1iyUdS-nxpA&sig2=xbA22cKg6g1riDhoRe225w&bvm=bv.58187178,d.ZG4

while you can carb quicker with extra pressure its a much less exact science and over/undershooting condition target is easy

Also the beer will need some time to mature as well as condition even if its a brew thats best green it will need a week or so just to settle down..
 
thanks everyone for helping me out with this so to get this clear now i forget everything i already do using the 2 weeks ferment 2 weeks warm 2 weeks in garage for bottled beer and just go ferment,keg then carb up immediatly am i right lagerlad
 
Am I drinking too much I am sure I posted this in general beer brewing discussion section as its not about the equipment its about how to brew using the equipment,has this been moved cheers lagerlad
 
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