Carbonation advice for big keg-aged beers

radagast · November 5, 2016, 9:50pm

So I have a Woot Stout (OG 1.105, FG into keg 1.020 4/10 ) that I brewed in March and a Northy 12 (OG 1.090 FG into keg 1.012 8/14) that I brewed in July. My goal with both of these was to have them bottled in time for Christmas so they’ve been aging in the keg. I was originally planning to force carb and bottle them both off the keg. My question is would it be worth attempting to naturally carbonate either of these in the keg? I am a bit nervous about attempting to bottle carb based on how long they’ve been sitting in kegs.

Rad

brew_cat · November 5, 2016, 9:53pm

You can add a little yeast. Shouldn’t hurt anything

uncdeo · November 5, 2016, 11:03pm

Bingo…I have bottled with Cbc and notty with solid results.

radagast · November 5, 2016, 11:48pm

I am more asking advice on if there would be a difference on a bigger beer between force carbonating (which I can control) and naturally carbonating (which I have generally found to be a crap shoot) flavorwise?

Rad

brew_cat · November 6, 2016, 1:26am

What German brewers do with weissbier is bottle condition with a lager yeast so as to not alter the flavor but with a stout a clean ale yeast would probably be fine.

loopie_beer · November 6, 2016, 2:26am

There is a difference. Big beers can take for ever to bottle condition where as they take 2 weeks to force carb and it’s much more consistent.

sneezles61 · November 6, 2016, 2:08pm

So Rad, have you put a tap on either of the kegs yet? I would venture to think that they have been crabing already. Try it and tell us what you find. I would even lay them on their sides and roll them when you walk by them. A big brew like those will be fine and very tasty! Sneezles61

radagast · November 6, 2016, 10:01pm

They’ve just been sitting in kegs in my basement which holds fairly close to 65 almost year round. I actually just put on Megalodon and Denny’s BVIP so I will not be able to force carb until early-mid December at this point. I actually reached out again to Wil Wheaton for advice on the Woot Stout and he recommended natural carbing rather than force carbing because it’s such a big beer. He said it may be too hot with force carbonation and the extra time to naturally carb would do it good. I plan to start soaking the oak cubes in Maker’s Mark (gotta love winning a free handle from a charity golf outing , yes I have been very specifically saving it for BVIP and Wootstout) in the next week or so to add to the keg before attempting to carb.

My main concern is that I’ve never had good consistent success with bottle carbing (part of why I started kegging, that and one vessel to clean is much easier than 48 ) and for a beer I’ve been waiting this long for, I am worried about trying to bottle carb and ending up with flat beers. Are there any additional cleaning concerns I need to be aware of if I try to naturally carb in the keg?

Rad

sneezles61 · November 7, 2016, 2:15am

I’m axing you, have you put the tapper on and try git a pint from the keg? No gas, or anything. You’d be surprised as to how the brew will naturally carb in the keg…. no nothing, just roll around from time to time to git the yeast back into the brew to keep a very small modest fermentation going, KRAUSENING if you will. Try it and tell us what you git. Sneezles61

gdtechvw · November 7, 2016, 4:38am

I don’t see how natural carbing is going to make it less hot. Is there something that I’m missing? If it were me I would just keg it and force carb. I have never naturally carbed in a keg but if a remember correctly it takes less priming sugar. Good luck.

radagast · November 7, 2016, 1:52pm

I’ll check when I add the oak cubes here in another week or so and let you know.

Rad