Why cant you get natural carbonation on a keg?

[Link45]

Apologies if its somewhere, i did a quick search but didnt find anything, also, apologies for it being a noob question also.

I used to use the beer machine with their brews but then moved to a brew bucket and now use other brews, and noticed that with the beer machine i had to keep CO2 cartridges up to it. My question is, why cant you get and keep good natural carbonation from a keg without the use of CO2?

thanks for the schooling, much appreciated.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

You can, it's called cask conditioning.

 

[BrewSRQ]

Many people do naturally carb in kegs, think of it as one giant bottle and add the appropriate amount if priming sugar. Takes time for the yeast to do their thing and leaves sediment at the bottom.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

You will have to drink the resultant beer fairly quickly due to oxygen getting into the keg as you drink from it (as in British pubs).

 

[cyanmonkey]

You will have to drink the resultant beer fairly quickly due to oxygen getting into the keg as you drink from it (as in British pubs).

If you're using cornet kegs it shouldn't matter, although I imagine those last couple pours have to be pretty flat.

 

[Britinusa]

If you are planning on serving it like real ale (that is served in some pubs in Britain) then you need to remove the gas in post and put something that will let air in but keep bugs out and you will need a "Beer engine" to manually pull the beer.
As already mentioned it will not last long before it goes bad, in my pub days we could get about 10 says out of a cask before it went bad.
Most pubs no longer serve real ale because of the short shelf life.

 

[cyanmonkey]

If you are planning on serving it like real ale (that is served in some pubs in Britain) then you need to remove the gas in post and put something that will let air in but keep bugs out and you will need a "Beer engine" to manually pull the beer.

As already mentioned it will not last long before it goes bad, in my pub days we could get about 10 says out of a cask before it went bad.

Most pubs no longer serve real ale because of the short shelf life.

This makes sense.

 

[Jaybird]

As others have said, you can. Its like just one big bottle. It takes quite a bit of time and you end up with yeasty mess on the bottom of the keg. I tried this once years ago. I was like Uhhhhh NAH!
I just carb really slow these days.

Cheers
Jay

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

If you're using cornet kegs it shouldn't matter, although I imagine those last couple pours have to be pretty flat.

What's a cornet keg?

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

If you are planning on serving it like real ale (that is served in some pubs in Britain) then you need to remove the gas in post and put something that will let air in but keep bugs out and you will need a "Beer engine" to manually pull the beer.
As already mentioned it will not last long before it goes bad, in my pub days we could get about 10 says out of a cask before it went bad.
Most pubs no longer serve real ale because of the short shelf life.

http://whatpub.com/

 

[Britinusa]

All i was illustrating is that there are 166000 licensed establishments and 36000 serve real ale.
Im not attempting to made big statement about it, just trying to help the OP

 

[Link45]

ok folks, thanks for your input, im just trying to get my head around the science of it all and take it in.

I may end up kegging in future as a result of bottle bombs ive had (not too bad and atm just as a result of a hot day getting the area where they were sitting hot). I do like a bottle though, but its more work as well.

It makes sense that as the keg empties the air gets in and it starts going flat and hence needs a CO2 boost. I'm wondering though if people use their kegs as a place to let the brew mature in a secondary fermentation, or you move it to a secondary by racking it, and then the final is into a keg and straight into the fridge?

thanks for your input, this is a fantastic site with a great database resource of info, learning heaps.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

I'm wondering though if people use their kegs as a place to let the brew mature in a secondary fermentation, or you move it to a secondary by racking it, and then the final is into a keg and straight into the fridge?



thanks for your input, this is a fantastic site with a great database resource of info, learning heaps.

I usually just use a primary leave it sit and clear in there, then rack to my keg and chill/carbonate/cold condition

 

[Britinusa]

I don't do a secondary, after fermentation is done, I keg it, purge it with Co2 to get rid of the oxygen, then I chill it for a week, then force carb, first pint has some yeast and sediment, all others after are good.

 

[BeerFst]

I don't do secondary either, but you can use kegs to let the beer age a few months or longer without actually carbing it. Just purge the O2 with a little shot of CO2 and then get maybe 5 psi of pressure to help the lid seat and you're all set to let it hangout for as long as needed at whatever temp you desire. The PSI wont hold as some of the C02 will go into solution, but the lid should say just fine.

 

[SeeMont]

For what it is worth, With beers that I will let age of a couple of months, I always add about 1/4 cup priming sugar dissolved in boiled water then chilled, in to my 5 gallon keg. I then purge with CO2 and seal as usual. The kegs are left to sit. When I am close to tap, I will cold crash in my refrigerator, attach low pressure CO2 and enjoy. The first pull is tossed, the rest is good to drink. Been doing this for years I guess I don't know better. With my lighter hoppy beers, I force carb. Good Luck

 

[PeteNMA]

You certainly can carb in the keg by adding priming sugar.

Also, if you want to go for low carbonation levels and serve the beer cask style, you can use a propane regulator to provide 11"WC of CO2 to replace the beer in the headspace of the keg as you drink it. You don't have to let air in.

This means that you can naturally carb and dry hop the beer cask-style, but still have it keep well.

 

[redwolf5514]

Here's a really good link that shows how a guy set up a cask conditioned beer engine in his home using co2


https://youtu.be/Cfe7-2LVmrc