Bulk Priming Vs Gas

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sluggerdog

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HEY, Just was wondering 3 things.

1. Can you bulk prime in a keg (NOT Gas the keg)

2. If the above is possible is there any downsides to this?

3. Which is Better?


I know you need gas anyway to get the beer out but I thought that maybe you could bulk prime to fizz the beer.


Just a thought.

Thanx
SD :D
 
Yep you can bulk prime a keg, but why would you want to? The whole idea of kegging is to make things simple and easy, clean and quick. IMHO, I wouldn't even consider it.

Firstly, you would need to work out priming sugar amounts and add the sterilised priming liquid to the keg, then transfer wait 2 weeks or however long it takes to carbonate. You will no doubt end up with yeast replication and the formation of a yeast deposit. If you've just lagererd your beer for 2 months and it is crystal clear, and there is minimal yeast left in suspension-why would you want to add sugar to wake the yeasties up so they can start floating round in your beer making it cloudy again and while you sit back and wait for the thing to clear again. Then pour a couple of glasses of yeasty beer when you tap the keg.

By force carbonation you can hook up the gas, chill your beer and have a proper carbonated tasting the next day if you want. Your beers on tap and ready to go, and secondly it's beautifully clear. If it's a lager thats been lagering for the last 2 months this is even more important than you can imagine. Your beer is clear and ready to drink. Put some gas into it and get drinking.

Forget about conserving your CO2, it lasts forever even with liberal use purging vessels, force carbing and using CO2 to push beer between kegs. Plus, Australia hasn't even signed the Kyoto Greenhouse emissions. Force carb and wave goodbye to bottles.

JD
 
The main reason I ask is because I have run out of funds to get gas however I do have that Co2 Bulb thingy for pouring beer and the taps, just not gas or regulator yet..

I will not have the funds until after xmas and wanted to play with my keg gear asap

Suppose I should just want for more money to come in to get the extras and do it properly.

thanks for the help
 
Well if you want to do it go for it. I was just thinking along the lines of if you wanted to save CO2, IMO it wouldn't be worth the saving. Worst case scenario anyway is you might find yourself running out of CO2 bulbs. But if you don't have the money for a reg yet I wouldn't go wasting money on a bulb CO2 set up (a reg is much more essential to a kegging system). Plus if your really strapped for cash you can get a BOC rental arrangement, pay monthly-I'm not sure if there is a deposit involved. Your not signing into a 12month contract with them, you can bail whenever you want.

Anyway, just a thought if your trying to sort out a fire extinguisher or equivalent down the track and just need something to get you started.

Cheers, justin
 
Slugger,
When I started kegging, I used a 16 litre catalyst pot off a fibreglass chopper gun to which I fitted the head off a soda syphon obtained at the local swapmeet for $7.00. I would bulk prime , fill the keg and bottle the rest. This system needed four soda sparklets to empty the keg, but was good for six months or so until I could afford regs and etc.
The beer was always a bit "yeasty" in flavour compared with CO2 priming but nobody ever refused a second (or fourth) beer. I found it was drinkable within three weeks and continued to improve and of course by the time the keg was empty, it was bloody good.
 
hmm.. yeah I think I might wait, I only got the C02 setup as I got it when I ordered from brewers discount and added it in for the extra $20

Maybe I can hit the g/friend to be my xmas present - the regulator that is..

thanx
 
I naturally carbonated my last keg of pale ale. I didn't plan it this way but it wouldn't clear while the excess that I bottled and primed cleared beautifully so I pulled the keg from the fridge and dumped in some dextrose. It has been sitting in the garage for two weeks now and the yeast has been doing the wild thing in there (judging from the blast I get out of the relief valve).

A few points:

- some kegs don't seal very well until there is some pressure in them, naturally carbonating becomes a problem.

- I never bother to sterilize my sugar I add to bottles, so I didn't with the keg. Thats not to say you shouldn't YMMV.

- After naturally carbonating, there should be no O2 left in the keg so it might keep longer than otherwise.

- Your ABV will go up about 0.5%

Go for it.
 
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