I brew in bursts. One month I will brew five batches, then I will brew nothing for the next month or two. And my gf and I don’t drink enough to finish the kegs in time for the beer. So I frequently prime my kegs in order to save CO2 (well, in order to save a trip to LHBS to refill my tank). I have been shocked at how long a small amount of CO2 lasts when I have pre-carbonated kegs. I have wondered if I over-carbonate, and reduce the pressure, will the CO2 move from my keg into my gas tank? Mostly I am just curious how many of you prime your kegs, and if there is any good reason not to.
I don’t for 2 reasons. First all the extra sediment that is created which isn’t normally a big deal, but I have a commercial kegerater that holds 3 kegs and without fail, I will jostle all of them trying to get one of them out, stirring up the sediment. The second reason is that some of my kegs don’t seal with no pressure on them. I don’t think that priming would produce enough CO2 quickly enough to properly seal my keg.
I’m all for it if it owrks for you, I just don’t do it personally.
the answer to this is a definite no. at 21c [69f] the pressure in your co2 tank will be about 838psi. standard corny kegs are rated to only 130psi, so you’d have keg all over your face long before you got co2 back in the tank.
I don’t think he meant without the regulator… anyway, the answer is still no. Every regulator I’m aware of has a check valve in it, so that gas can only flow out.
Just like in the bottom of a bottle, the yeast will reproduce while fermenting the priming sugar, and then go dormant and drift to the bottom of the keg. The result being a layer of sediment.
Someone should also mention that buying CO2 is cheaper than having yeast make it from table sugar, at least at the prices I pay.
Are you talking about from CO2 tank to regulator or regulator to keg? The micromatic regulator I bought was intended for commercial kegs which have the check ball at the sankey coupler, so the ball valve it came with was sans check ball.
Did it once, early on when I started. Figured I was gonna save a couple pennies by priming the keg before putting it on the gas. I shot in bit so it would seal, and then let it sit for a month. No spunding valve, nothing. So, it’s time to hook it up - I hoist it into the fridge, pop the connector on to the wrong post I guess and pblthhhhhhhhhhh beer shooting out my regulator. That was the one and only time I primed the keg.
Nope. The savings in CO2 is pretty negligible (I brewed/carbonated ~20 batches last year and had to refill my CO2 bottle maybe twice - for a total cost of $24). So that’s what… $1.20 per batch? The necessary amount of DME would certainly be close.
Well, DME would be an obscenely expensive way to carbonate, but CO2 may be cheaper than sugar anyway. One mole (342 g) of sucrose ferments into four moles (176 g) of CO2. So basically two pounds of sugar yields one pound of CO2. For me, CO2 costs right around $1/lb, so it’s cheaper than using table sugar.
I occasionally keg conditioning a batch that I’m too lazy to bottle at the time. However, a recent attempt left me with overly sweet beer that didn’t carbonate leaving me to reevaluate the practice.
For me, table sugar is $0.48 / lb and CO2 is $2.37/lb, assuming that they fill the tank exactly to 10 lbs. I still prefer to carbonate with CO2 because it can be faster and you can do it while cold conditioning. Even at my prices we’re still only talking ~$0.50 / keg to carbonate with CO2.
I have taken on this habit. More of a convenience issue. No shaking of kegs or repeated pressure-ups to bring to to proper volumes. Use 3 oz sugar per keg and it’s perfectly and easily carbonated. And a blast of CO2 seals the lid of the corny right off the bat.
I do it because the kegs will sit for another 3 weeks or so before they find their way into the kegerator and quite simple to do. Haven’t really noticed any clarity or sediment issues at all.
