Keg conditioning

BrewNerd

Looking for some advice. Recently keg conditioned an IPA in a corny keg at 7g priming sugar / litre. Kept at approx 21c for two weeks. On first try had plenty of foam but body was a little on the flat side. Also by half way through the keg it got really flat. Still some foam but even less Co2 in the beer. Am I priming enough and should I be keeping the keg under pressure even when not drinking from it. Any advice welcomed.

WierdFish

Sounds like you are priming enough as you have a good pressure to start with. The problem is as you release that pressure there is nothing to replace it, the brew isn't fermenting to create more co2 so it will go flat. You need to be adding co2 as you use the beer up, I'm not familiar with Corny's to be able to help but I'm sure someone will come along and answer.

HBO_Staff

Often with a Cornelius keg people force carbonate the beer, when using a pressurised cylinder such as a Cornelius or AEB keg then there is no need to add priming sugar, often at the end of fermentation people use finings to clear the brew, then transfer over into the keg. The gas injected in under higher pressure then force carbonates the beer, the keg can be rolled to help the CO2 gas injected to absorb and mix in with the beer and then it is left to stand and settle. This has the advantage of being able to dispense your cleared brew more quickly as you don't have to wait for it to carbonate and clear later

BrewNerd

Thanks. I thought I'd try the keg conditioning method first as force carbing tends to use a lot of gas. Do you know if its possible to keep gas in the beer if keg conditioned? Or is this just a down side you have to accept.

HBO_Staff

Once the beer in a keg is carbonated it may still absorb a little CO2, but the keg should stay under pressure when stored until dispensed, and may need some gas injecting as the contents go down to keep the pressure up.

Sometimes people force carbonate because you can use a fining to clear the beer before putting into the keg, this means it is clear and you wont get much in the way of sediment in your finished beer. If you most of the suspended yeast from a beer by using a fining before transferring to the keg and then prime it, there wont be much yeast left to work on the priming sugar and produce the carbonation, and if you keep all the suspended yeast in when transferring into the keg it may be more cloudy when dispensing