Carbonating a keg naturally

I’m all out of room in my keezer so I wanted to try to natural carbonation with corn sugar. I see an old post where a forum member says to use 1/2 the priming sugar for a 5 gallon keg. BeerSmith says to use 1.87 Oz A guys I know who is a long time brewer says to use 4.5 oz. The beer is the JP Elevenses Ale and I plan to let it set for 30 days before tapping (before the superbowl) Also I’m thinking to set my fermentor at 65° Any suggestions?

No experience with this, but have read a number of times to use 1/2 the amount of priming sugar that would be used for bottling. These posts weren’t disputed so it may be true. This doesn’t help very much though. Wish I could have a positive answer one way or another.

I would carbonate and condition the same as for bottles, 70° to 74°F.

I was thinking 1/2 the sugar sounded the most logical. I can set my fermentation chamber to 70° but BeerSmith calls for 30 days at 65°

I’ve done it . half the sugar at 70 for two weeks. The first time I tried about 3/4 and it was over carbonated not a big deal though. Just release the pressure until it equalizes

Thanks Cat…the JP Elevenses recipe says 2 weeks in the primary and 2 weeks bottle aging. I just don’t think 2 weeks is enough…the last time I made that I did about 4 weeks in the primary and tapped and started drinking right away…big mistake…that beer after 3-4 weeks on tap was like nectar of the gods and I had maybe 5-6 awesome beers before I heard that dreaded sucking sound :frowning:

A suggestion, unrelated to the amount of priming sugar, be sure to pressurize the keg to make sure the lid seats on the seal. I primed a keg once without doing this. The CO2 vented so the keg never pressurized.

Yes do that. What I do most of the time if I have more kegs than I have room for is just hit it everyday with 15 psi or whatever untill it’s carbed. You don’t have to leave the line on just have to replenish the co2 as its absorbed.

I started doing this recently due to not having enough fridge space to force carb more than one keg. +1 to giving the keg a shot of CO2 to make sure the lid is sealed.

I think you are better off to use less sugar. If it is under carbed it is easy to just chill then set and forget the keg at about 12lbs (or whatever your target volume) than having it over carbed.

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I always pressurize my kegs. I got 2 brand new corny kegs for $75 each. Some of the used ones have been pretty beat up lately. I’m thinking they will last a lifetime.

I will watch my fermenting beer, and when at 1.018- 1.020, I will rack quietly into a keg. I will use co2 to set the lid for a good seal. I will lay it on its side and when I walk by it I will roll it around to get yeast back into solution and help to finish the ferment schedule… After about 2 weeks I will give it a taste, yes it will be cloudy but the softness is quite nice…… I believe this is how beer used to be tended to… You can leave it in that state for quite a while as it ages…… cool, not cold… cellared? Sneezles61

I’m getting ready to transfer my Irish Red Ale to my secondary after I see the air lock stop bubbling. Any advice on how long to leave it in the secondary to get best results? Do I add anything in the way of additional sugars or yeast or just let it go on its own for several weeks? Thanks in advance… I’m new to brewing and trying to catch on as fast as I can.

I let my beers clear in the primary, but if you are racking to the secondary check the SG to make sure the fermentation is complete. Racking before FG can stall the fermentation. The secondary vessel should be filled to the neck to minimize the surface area of the beer exposed to air.

Yet, if you want to ferment naturally in the keg, you need to rack BEFORE yer ferment is done and let it finish in the keg. Lay it on its side and gently roll it a couple of times a day, at room temp. Again, its how it was done years ago, cellared until the green beer mature and self carbonated. I do enjoy this with only a few types of brews I do, and a APA is a good subject… Sneezles61

Do you serve it cask style? And if so do you add more sugar as the beer looses carbonation? How about racking fresh beer to the old to get more carbonation. I’ve thought of doing this. What I have done previously is add the sugar when I kegged and put it on the gas to serve.

morning i did find out carbonating with co2 three days at 20 psi out side the kegulator so after that put it in at one day at 15 psi than lower to 10 psi. it did give time to finish a keg so got space again to put the fresh keg in the kegulator
leaving it the first three days out side the kegulator gives me a perfect carbonation

I’ve not added sugar as it will add CO2 as it finishes ferment. I’ve had to add CO2 to get the last 1/2 gallon out of it sometimes. I do enjoy cask conditioned brews a lot, but don’t do as often as the brew is cloudy and some of the peeps around me don’t much care fer that. Some of the brew pubs up here offer cask conditioned ales! Maybe a beer engine would be something to try this summer! I equate to drinking liquid velvet. Sneezles61

I don’t think one would be hard to make, I think Basicaly you just need a hand pump

OK so this is my thread I guess I can hijack it :slight_smile: Anyway had the Buffalo Sweat fermenting since the day after Christmas and I was debating on weather to carbonate naturally or just stick in the keezer on 10PSI for a month?

Which way would taste better?

Also how much priming sugar should I put in a 1 liter bottle? I may have too much to fit in the keg and was thinking about bottling some. 20 quarts 5 oz priming sugar would be .25 oz (7 grams) per quart. right?

Crazy, I last did that when it was 3/4 sugar fer a 5 gallon batch, so I won’t be much fer the metric system but if you use .32 OZ to a quart, which each tsp is .18 of an OZ, so betwixt us is yer solution! Sneezles61