I'm new to brewing and have so far successfully made 3 different brews
from kits purchased at my local brew shop (5gal).

The last 2 batches have been bottled according to the directions
supplied with the kits, but I'd like to control the carbonation better
so I purchased a corny keg and associated extras. My current batch
has been sitting in the secondary for ~3 wks now and is ready to be
bottled/kegged. Do I still use the priming sugar before putting it in
the keg, and wait for a wk or two before drinking, do I skip the
priming sugar, or should I have added the extra sugar during primary?
I imagine that adding the little bit of sugar during the bottling step
increases the alcohol concentration a bit, so I don't really want to
mess up the intended flavor by skipping it.

What do you guys usually do when you're using a kit and know that
you'll be kegging at the end?


Thanks for your help.

"Andy H. " wrote:[color=blue]
>
> I'm new to brewing and have so far successfully made 3 different brews
> from kits purchased at my local brew shop (5gal).
>
> The last 2 batches have been bottled according to the directions
> supplied with the kits, but I'd like to control the carbonation better
> so I purchased a corny keg and associated extras. My current batch
> has been sitting in the secondary for ~3 wks now and is ready to be
> bottled/kegged. Do I still use the priming sugar before putting it in
> the keg, and wait for a wk or two before drinking, do I skip the
> priming sugar, or should I have added the extra sugar during primary?
> I imagine that adding the little bit of sugar during the bottling step
> increases the alcohol concentration a bit, so I don't really want to
> mess up the intended flavor by skipping it.
>
> What do you guys usually do when you're using a kit and know that
> you'll be kegging at the end?[/color]

Skip the sugar and just force carb ot with your CO2 tank. Priming suagr
adds a virtually undetectable amount of alcohol and no taste, so you'll
never miss it. The best advice and instructions about kegging I've seen
is here...

[url]http://www.bodensatz.com/staticpages/index.php?page=Soda-Kegs[/url]

Some will try to tell you that priming the keg produces a better quality
carbonation, but that's not true. CO2 is CO2, no matter what the
source. It's the amount of time you give the CO2 to go into solution in
the beer that makes the difference.

------------>Denny

--
Life begins at 60 - 1.060, that is.

Reply to denny_at_projectoneaudio_dot_com

Thanks Denny.

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 08:40:46 -0800, Denny Conn <me@privacy.net> wrote:
[color=blue]
>"Andy H. " wrote:[color=green]
>>
>> I'm new to brewing and have so far successfully made 3 different brews
>> from kits purchased at my local brew shop (5gal).
>>
>> The last 2 batches have been bottled according to the directions
>> supplied with the kits, but I'd like to control the carbonation better
>> so I purchased a corny keg and associated extras. My current batch
>> has been sitting in the secondary for ~3 wks now and is ready to be
>> bottled/kegged. Do I still use the priming sugar before putting it in
>> the keg, and wait for a wk or two before drinking, do I skip the
>> priming sugar, or should I have added the extra sugar during primary?
>> I imagine that adding the little bit of sugar during the bottling step
>> increases the alcohol concentration a bit, so I don't really want to
>> mess up the intended flavor by skipping it.
>>
>> What do you guys usually do when you're using a kit and know that
>> you'll be kegging at the end?[/color]
>
>Skip the sugar and just force carb ot with your CO2 tank. Priming suagr
>adds a virtually undetectable amount of alcohol and no taste, so you'll
>never miss it. The best advice and instructions about kegging I've seen
>is here...
>
>[url]http://www.bodensatz.com/staticpages/index.php?page=Soda-Kegs[/url]
>
>Some will try to tell you that priming the keg produces a better quality
>carbonation, but that's not true. CO2 is CO2, no matter what the
>source. It's the amount of time you give the CO2 to go into solution in
>the beer that makes the difference.
>
> ------------>Denny[/color]

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 08:40:46 -0800, Denny Conn <me@privacy.net> said
in alt.beer.home-brewing:
[color=blue]
>[url]http://www.bodensatz.com/staticpages/index.php?page=Soda-Kegs[/url][/color]

Try [url]http://www.ceisites.com/kegman/balance.html[/url]

The most important things to learn when kegging are carbonation volume
and balance. And the kegman site makes it easy.
[color=blue]
>Some will try to tell you that priming the keg produces a better quality
>carbonation, but that's not true. CO2 is CO2, no matter what the
>source. It's the amount of time you give the CO2 to go into solution in
>the beer that makes the difference.[/color]

It's also the nucleation sites. There's a difference in the mouth
feel between large bubbles and small bubbles.

But I've never used sugar to carbonate a keg.

Al Klein wrote:
[color=blue]
> It's also the nucleation sites. There's a difference in the mouth
> feel between large bubbles and small bubbles.[/color]

But given the same amount of time for both force carbing and priming,
there will be no difference in bubble size.
[color=blue]
> But I've never used sugar to carbonate a keg.[/color]

Smart man!

---------->Denny

--
Life begins at 60 - 1.060, that is.

Reply to denny_at_projectoneaudio_dot_com

"Denny Conn" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:41F52D77.BD58E6ED@privacy.net...[color=blue]
> Al Klein wrote:
>[color=green]
>> It's also the nucleation sites. There's a difference in the mouth
>> feel between large bubbles and small bubbles.[/color]
>
> But given the same amount of time for both force carbing and priming,
> there will be no difference in bubble size.
>[color=green]
>> But I've never used sugar to carbonate a keg.[/color]
>
> Smart man!
>[/color]

When you run out of CO2 and can't get to the supplier, you do what you gotta
do. So I primed a couple of kegs and wasn't disappointed. The first coulpe
of glasses were a bit cloudy, but after that it was fine.

--
Josh Button
To see how the Penrith Gaels Cricket Club is going...
[url]http://penrithgaelscc.4t.com[/url]

Josh Button wrote:
[color=blue]
> When you run out of CO2 and can't get to the supplier, you do what you gotta
> do. So I primed a couple of kegs and wasn't disappointed. The first coulpe
> of glasses were a bit cloudy, but after that it was fine.[/color]

Sure, but you're not gonna be able to dispense a lot beofre the CO2 from
priming runs out...then you'll be left with flat beer you can't
dispense!

----------->Denny

--
Life begins at 60 - 1.060, that is.

Reply to denny_at_projectoneaudio_dot_com