I am planning to keg a Best Bitter in another week, and I would like to use sugar to prime it, to get a little closer to the “cask” experience. I am also thinking I will purge the keg and do a closed transfer from the fermenter’s spigot. This is the first time I will be doing a closed transfer, but after reading the AHA’s tutorial on kegging and perusing the more reputable websites, I think I got this.
What I don’t “got” is how the priming sugar gets into the keg. Do I just boil it with a little water and add it to the fermenter? Natural conditioning in a purged keg seems possible – see the Forum post from 2015, among other sources – but I can’t identify where in the process the sugar gets in the keg, or by what means.
It also sounds as if I should condition the keg at bottle conditioning temperatures. Easy enough to do in my fermentation fridge, but just wanted to confirm.
As they say on the Netflix show The Bear, “Heard!” Priming with sugar is just one aspect, and I appreciate the tips.
Regarding closed transfers, if I get frustrated during any part of the process, I can always throttle back and do what I have done since I started kegging six or so years ago: drain from the fermenter spigot into the keg. But the two steps (purging the keg, draining through closed lines) look comparatively easy as far as kegging process improvements go. Kegging itself is a big leap up in complexity. You and I don’t see that any more because we’ve kegged so much that what was (for me at least) an initially complex process fraught with frustrating learning curves (like the rite of passage of the overlooked leak that empties your freshly-exchanged CO2 cylinder) has become routine and simple. Adding a QD to the drain line for the fermenter and adding another line to push out the sanitizer seems doesn’t seem like a high bar and won’t cost me anything and I can always do a dry run with a fermenter filled with sanitizer.
Thanks again for the ESB tips! I plan to do “research” this weekend by having a pint of Fullers at the local pub. So fortunate to have them close by. I suppose I could put my Thermapen in my coat pocket and test the serving temp while no one is looking…
Do the closed transfer, there’s no reason not to. When I carb with sugar, I add the sugar to boiled water, let it cool, then put it straight into the fermenter. I wait an hour or so until I see fermentation kick up again and then I close transfer into the keg. Now, the purged keg hasn’t been messed with and you have actively fermenting beer going into to consume any last O2 that is in there.
If you don’t mind your beer staling faster, then an open transfer will be fine. If this beer will be consumed in days, like a cask ale, then the open transfer is OK. But for ANY other beer, using a closed transfer to reduce any oxygen contact with your finished beer is critical for its longevity. Every commercial packaging brewery pays close attention to reducing oxygen contact and oxygen pickup in their final packaging. You should too.
As stated above, keep all air / oxygen to as minimal as possible during transfers.
To add sugar solution or small amounts of fining liquid here is my technique.
To filled closed keg attach CO2 line and run at 4 psi.
Pop open the pressure valve on the keg lid and then remove lid.
Quickly add the solution as the CO2 escapes.
Replace the lid and continue to outgas through pressure valve for several seconds then close.
This can be done relatively quickly.
I think this minimizes air ingress.
Your sugar solution with residual yeast will scavenge remaining O2.
I’ve added things to a sealed keg by injecting them through one of the posts. If the keg is already filled with beer, I use the gas-in port. If the keg is purged, you could inject via the beer-out port, because the beer that you fill it with will push any residual priming “syrup” out of the long dip tube.
To do this, I use a large syringe and inject into a very short length of hose attached to my ball lock quick connector. I’ve seen items that can be purchased that do the same thing with a little more sophistication.
If I’m adding liquid to a keg, I’ll typically put it in a small soda bottle with a carb cap attached. I squeeze out as much air as I can before I put the cap on, then do a few fill/vent cycles with CO2. At that point I use a jumper connecting the carb cap to the gas post. Connect the jumper to the bottle, flip it upside down, then connect to the gas post. Assuming you pressurized the bottle higher than the keg, the liquid flows right in.
But of you’re going to naturally condition for a more cask-like experience, then I’d just skip all that and open transfer onto the priming solution in the serving keg.
Hmm. I stopped adding priming sugar to kegs years ago. I keg within a week or 2 of no apparent activity in the fermenter, run the finished beer from a sanitized hose on the fermenter that feeds down into the Corney hatch. Then I drop in my metal mesh dry hop cylinder, if dry hopping. Seal it up, clear out extra air with a few cycles of a blast of CO2 followed by purge valve. Then another blast of CO2 to make sure the lid seals in the hatch.
It conditions on its own in a few weeks, with more than enough carbonation. I guess there is enough O2 and fermentable sugar left in solution for the remaining yeast to metabolize and to build up the CO2 levels. My beer is in the keg from 8 weeks to 14 months before it gets tapped.
I seem to recall a time or 2 when the lid didn’t seal, or the purge valve was leaky or some such problem, and I had to fix that and force carbonate. That’s over about 18 years of 5-9 batches per year, so that problem was infrequent.
I dissolved the sugar in a small amount of boiling water, brought it to boiling again, and poured it into the fermenter through the airlock hole. The closed transfer was easier than I expected, and it was fun to watch the beer moving into the keg and the CO2 bubbling out into the small bucket of StarSan I had left over from cleaning. I was concerned that the floating dip tube would clog, and had a backup plan if that happened, but it didn’t. We’re having 50-degree temp swings this week, from 50f to over 100f, so I put the keg into the fermentation fridge and set it to 65f yesterday and will set it to 70f this morning. I don’t see a downside to closed transfers, but wide daily temp swings are the norm in these parts, and tying up the fridge for natural carbonation could steer me away from that unless it really benefits a style.
The one time I tried carbonating in a keg with priming sugar, I got flat beer because of a inadequate seal on the keg lid. If I did it again, I’d add some CO2 pressure to ensure the lid has a good seal. Good luck!
I naturally carb all (almost) of my kegs.
You should hit the keg with gas to seal the lid before storing. There’s no way to guarantee the yeast will produce CO2 fast enough to force a seal. The only other issue is a glass or two of cloudy beer when you initially tap the keg.
After seeing @chinaski’s post, I racked my brain. I think I hit the keg with gas, just out of caution. I’ll find out when I tap the keg this Sunday, and go from there. In any event, this recommendation is helpful.
All I do is naturally carbonate and been doing so for years and I never do this. I pull up on the release valve then clamp down to ensure a tight fit. Never had a flat keg.
To test to see if you are holding pressure pull on the release valve after a day of conditioning and you will hear the off gas of CO2.
I agree that would on most of my kegs but I have few that don’t to seal right away. I’m generally a “belt and suspenders” kind of guy and it only take a minute or so while I’m cleaning they fermenter so it isn’t a burden.
I glad your process works for you and appreciate your experience.
I just pulled the release valve on this keg and it gave a very anemic and brief “pffft.” I’m not sure it was the lid - I checked the keg posts and I was able to crank them down a little more with a wrench, which tells me they may not have been as snug as they need to be. I hit it with CO2 while I puttered for a few minutes. I’ll check again tomorrow and take it from there. Checking the PRV the day after kegging is a good idea. I may also buy a ratcheting wrench - my arms are 15 years older than when I started homebrewing, and upper body strength is not my strong suit. Eventually, this keg will turn into carbonated beer…
I’m not sure it was the lid - I checked the keg posts and I was able to crank them down a little more with a wrench, which tells me they may not have been as snug as they need to be. I hit it with CO2 while I puttered for a few minutes. I’ll check again tomorrow and take it from there. Checking the PRV the day after kegging is a good idea. I may also buy a ratcheting wrench - my arms are 15 years older than when I started homebrewing, and upper body strength is not my strong suit. Eventually, this keg will turn into carbonated beer…