Force Carbonation or Natural/Priming Sugar?

Emily185

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Over the weekend I was discussing with other home brewers the carbonation methods used (in cornies) and the general consensus was that most people force carbonate. If you have no time constraints and are not in a hurry to get your latest batch flowing would you or do you use natural/priming carbonation?

It also came up that gas bottles last longer when the beer is primed, something that never crossed my mind. Does anyone have any ideas if this is true and what if any are the advantages of priming? Cheers
ringtones free , zedge , country ringtones
 
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Would have to depend on style surely ?
My local commercial brewery primes every keg, bottle and can of ale they produce , with this beer the yeast is a feature of the beer so it encourages a cloudy pour
With a Lager or Pils you'd expect brilliant clarity so would add finings to secondary and avoid yeast in the kegs at all costs , force carb that for sure
 
Yep spot on in my opinion Mark. I feel I would be working against myself if I primed my keg with Dex or whatever as easy as it would be it wouldn't work in my case. Because I'm chasing clarity not yeast. My beer belly is bad enough ha ha I don't want to be making it worse by adding more yeast to my consumption unless I've got this wrong? Yep clarity is my ultimate aim in my packaged product I want a clear clean crisp beverage if attainable in circumstances that allow. A wheat beer I expect cloudiness and I will gladly recieve one of these but as Mark said hand me a mirky Pilsner and I'll take a big whiff first to make sure that waters right:p... Yea I'd still drink it .

We keg for the ease of it and to remove the hassles of bottleing even though I still bottle off a few when I keg :eek::rolleyes:.
 
I do a little bit of both. Sometimes I transfer to my keg when the beer is not completely done and don't put it in the keggerator for a week or two.
 
I have a friend who has a kegerator. He buys commercial kegs. He told me I could expect my 5 lb CO2 tank to last over a year. It lasts about 4 months. The difference, we believe, is force carbing. That's a lot of CO2 I'm infusing into my beer that he already has done for him.

Personally, I'm doubtful about less yeast being present in beer that was force carbed. Yeast will drop out, but not all of it. There's plenty left in suspension. I doubt there's a diffence either way you go, provided the time and temperature variables are the same. I think the only way to remove yeast is to filter it out.
 
Force carbed beers are more susceptible to staling, shorter shelf (keg?) life due to oxidation. Bottle conditioned or naturally conditioned beers in the keg last longer - the yeast scavenge all the oxygen in the beer as it ferments. I don't keg so it's not an option for me but bottle conditioning has some definite advantages and disadvantages, time and effort being the two biggest.
 
Hadn't even considered the shelf life aspect , all my beers are bottle conditioned so all oxygen is scavenged during the bottle ferment period
With kegs youd just burp them to purge headspace
 
Yep that's what i do burp her for a few refills of,gas through the line. You hear the gas going in then stop then I pull the release valve sshhh then repeat a few times that should rid pesky o2
 
Force carb for kegs and priming for bottle conditioning.
I like both ways, but depending on the beer, I prefer force-carbed kegs. Big beers that really needs to age anyway are better off priming in bottles, but anything that's likely to be drunk fairly young is perfect for force-carbing.
I've bottled out of kegs, too (counter-pressure filler tube). Very clean beer that way with no yeast sediment. Lagers work well using that method. Force carbing and short lager period in the keg, then bottling for more convenient long-term lagering makes for some nice clear beer. I hate it when you get a nice clear bottle-primed lager and then pour a little sediment into the glass and it screws it all up. ;)
 
Getting crystal clear ales is why I use Nottingham so often , drops like a stone and stays there !
Shame it has a tendency to strip hop aromas
 
Getting crystal clear ales is why I use Nottingham so often , drops like a stone and stays there !
Shame it has a tendency to strip hop aromas
Try sandiego super yeast it attenuates to 81% plus and floculates pretty good too and a neutral yeast.
 
But I already have notty in the fridge !
No idea how many generations I'm at now , next ale yeast I'm trying is wyeast 1272
Supposed to be the duck's nuts !
 
But I already have notty in the fridge !
No idea how many generations I'm at now , next ale yeast I'm trying is wyeast 1272
Supposed to be the duck's nuts !
Yea I'm on 5th gen with wlp090 this brew I can fully ferment a 1.064 wort in less than a week with this with a slight bump towards end to 20c and have it in the keg ready to drink in less than two weeks. An aggressive fermenting yeast that leaves little esters behind .

I understand you on the Nottingham truth be told I've never used it but definitely itching to give it a try some time will research your wyeast1272 it better be good if I'm going to fright up here from your end of country :p. No local homebrew stores sell liquid yeast round me
 
I haven't used the Notty, but it's slightly less agressive little brother, S-04 has been a winner for me. Sometimes needs a little persuasion as it tends to drop out a little too fast, but with a swirl on the second or third day it'll finish a big ale in 4 to 5 days and be dead clear in ten days or so. I've found extremely good hop aroma and flavor in American Pales and IPAs I've used it on.
 
Just a side note: There's nothing stopping you keggers from naturally conditioning your beers! Just add priming sugar when you rack to the keg and let nature take its course!
 

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