Im kegging 5 gallons american wheat tomorrow.
The problem I have is my frigerator wont arrive for a week and a half.
Should I just add priming sugar to the keg and let it sit in the basement at 65 degrees or can I force carbonate it still at that temp?
What a perfect opportunity to try natural carbonation with priming sugar! I don’t recall the exact amounts needed offhand, but it’s far less than you might imagine… I want to say 1/3 cup corn or cane sugar for 5 gallons? Somewhere in that ballpark. After 1.5 weeks you should have enough natural carbonation to push out a pint or three without adding CO2 at all.
Thanks alot, Ill pick up the sugar tomorrow at NB.
Just use sugar from your kitchen cabinet, works just as well or better than corn sugar.
This calculator from NB is great http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/ It works out to .59 cups of sucrose (table sugar) for American wheat but I assume that is for bottling. They used to say to use 1/3 of what you would bottle with. It has been so long since I primed a keg I can’t remember if that is true.
After priming the keg give it a shot of CO2 to be sure the lid is sealed tight.
Yes you can force carbonate at 65 but the CO2 takes longer to be absorbed at higher temps.
I’m not an advocate of priming kegs with sugar. Sure it’s cheap and effective, I always find that with sugar primed kegs, the beer almost never clears. I’ve probably done it close to a dozen times, and every keg has turned out over carbed and cloudy. I don’t really force carb either though. I set my kegs up to serving pressure psi (10-12) and set it and forget it. Usually takes 2 weeks.
The OP brewed an American wheat, which is allowed to be hazy, so again, this is the perfect chance to give it a try.
I agree. I have an American wheat churning away under the house as I type. I’m strongly considering priming it in the keg with a light to moderate amount of sugar, then finishing it up with C02 in a couple of weeks. Should give it enough time to clean up nicely…
