I have always force carbonated my kegs. Tomorrow I’m brewing a zoiglbier. I am planning on lagering it in the keg for 3-4 weeks. If I add priming sugar to the keg when I rack it, will the keg carbonate while it lagers in my fridge or will it be too cold for the yeast to do it’s thing?
Will this work out fine to have a fully carbonated keg at the end of my lagering period or do I need to let the keg sit at a warmer temp (I could do either cellar temp or room temp) for about a week before moving the keg to the kegerator for cold conditioning? I plan on using 2 packets of dry 34/70 for primary fermentation. Thanks for the help!
My ales continue to carbonate in my keg fridge (set to 47f). If you have concerns then allow the keg to carbonate for a week at basement temps then lager
You can also check out spunding. When the beer has a small amount of gravity left (I forget the range) you can get the beer into the keg and/or seal up the keg (no airlock or other venting) and the rest of the fermentation will produce enough natural CO2 to carb the batch. I did try it but I couldn’t consistently get the carb I wanted .. I was either low or high. But I WILL say that the carbonation was very pleasant (I rarely use the word ‘pleasant’) and the foam was the fluffiest foam I have ever seen and it stuck around until the glass was empty.
I’ve heard that spunding produces “better" foam. A brewer near me says he spunds primarily for the improved foam quality. I’m trying it for the first time, myself, based on the recommendation from this brewer and another fellow in my club.