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Syrup conditioning in a keg vs. bottle

Kegging
#1

Hi all,

I see that there’s been a couple threads on keg conditioning in general, but I thought I’d get a little specific to my situation. Typcically, when you bottle condition with priming sugar, you bottle it up and leave it for a couple weeks for some tasty, carbonated beer. I thought this time I would try my saison which I conditioned with apple syrup that my sister made, in a keg. The syrup is basically maple syrup, it just doesn’t taste like maple. Anyway, I added it to the beer a couple weeks ago and stored the keg at room temp. I check the pressure valve every once in a while, so it’s quite obviously conditioning, but after the 2 weeks, it’s still quite sweet and the carbonation seemed pretty good. So, I put the keg in the kegerator just to try tasting a cold beer; it turned out to be still very under-carbonated (pretty flat actually) with little to no head.

Does conditioning in kegs take longer than bottles (due to head increased overall volume, head space in the keg, etc.)? Anyone try flavour conditioning in a keg? I’m going to bottle a couple bottles in a couple days for the fridge, and a couple to leave at room temp, and then just take the keg out back to room temp and leave it for another 2-3 weeks. Any other suggestions? Should I pitch more yeast?

Thanks!

#2

Do you have any idea of what the sugar content is? What type of sugars, and what % (or better yet how many grams/oz.) Without that info. It’s hard to tell if you underprimed. Shouldn’t need to add more yeast unless it was stored for more than a couple months prior to packaging. But, on the other hand, adding a 1/4 packet of US-05 or almost any other cheap ale yeast wouldn’t hurt.
Caveat- I don’t keg, so the above is just general info. based on 4.5 years of bottling (and obsessive forum reading)

#3

Aha, I was wondering about that when I got the syrup (the sugar content, that is). How would I measure the sugar content on something that was made at home? And yes, I have a couple packets of US-05 on hand just for such a thing, but I’m not at that stage yet.

I guess the key would be to find out how much sugar is actually in the syrup. It’s a roughly 4 oz jar of syrup, and if it’s anything like maple syrup, that might be a tad under-primed, according to what I’ve read. I do have more syrup to condition if necessary, but then I run the risk of making it way too sweet.

#4

If you end up over priming can’t you just release some pressure in the keg? I don’t keg so forgive me if I’m wrong. If you can why not prime with a small amount of corn sugar now?

edit:I was checking the new posts section and chimed in without reading the category, that’s why I even posted on this topic

#5

Why not just set to pressure and carb the rest of the way with co2?

#6

Ha, no worries about checking the topic… I’m not worried about over-priming, and yes you’re right, you can just release the pressure if that were the case. What I’m concerned about is that it’s been conditioning for 2 weeks, however when I cold-crashed the keg in order to pour a cold pint, the beer in fact isn’t carbonated at all and quite sweet, so I’m curious as to what’s been going on the past couple weeks, and now I’m wondering about my sugar content (too little?), which I need to check somehow.

So I’m thinking that the yeast is eating the sugar, but for some reason it’s not being forced back into the beer itself (maybe to much headspace?). However, it could be a number of things. Force carbing with CO2 would solve the carbonation issue, but then I’d have an overly sweet beer from the remaining syrup in the beer, which I guess would eventually get eaten up, but would definitely take awhile.

#7

I just saw your message, but see above. That will be my last option, but I don’t want to end up with overly sweet beer from the remaining syrup.

#8

the pressure relief valve does just that, too much pressure and it will vent its self. I would lay the keg on its side and roll it as often as you can. I would think the sugar in yer syrup is quite a lot…. When you git done rolling yer keg, leave it so the the vent is as high as it can get…. This was a shoot from the hip idea? I usually keg condition on its side as I want as much yeast exposure as I can get. standing up won’t give you as much as laying down, and easier to roll/agitate to git back into the wort to eat at the sugar. Sneezles61

#9

Drop your hydrometer in your juice and get a gravity reading and then use a krausening an online calculator. What temp is your keg at.? If it’s sweet it’s not fermenting. Warm it up a bit maybe sprinkled a little of the 05 into the keg. The beer shouldn’t be sweet unless you kill all your yeast. The yeast will eat all the sugar and convert if to alcohol.

#10

Definitely a shoot from the hip idea… Good call on the laying the keg down. I laid it down this morning, rolled it around and left it.

#11

Temp is between 20-25 degrees C (68-77 F), which should be good for the saison yeast. I’ll take a gravity when I get back home today.

#12

That’s good. I went to your original post and see that it was carbonating. Because of the lesser head space you need at least a month. Iv used my maple syrup and it will work . won’t get much flavor though. I would use half the amount of maple syrup recommended for bottles. The sugar content of the apple sugar will be the same as maple syrup if she boiled it to the same consistency ad maple syrup. I would think she had to boil quite s bit of apple tree sap. She didn’t by chance add corn syrup to thicken it. Just curious what her boil ratio was?

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