so i take it that by force carbonating beer it can be drank once fermentation is done since theres no need to bottle and prime with sugar and wait for carbonation to happen, is this correct?
if this is the case can anybody tell me options when it comes to force carbontation, i know of the corny kegs but there pretty expensive and seems like u need a fridge. is there any other cheaper options? the reason im asking is because im sick of waiting for my beers to carbonate in the bottles. but if u force carbonate and drink straight away the beer is not aged? how bad of a thing is this?
It really depends on the beer. Big beers need time no matter what you do with them. A 4% low hopped beer would be the easiest although a fresh hoppy beer would probably be good too. Conditioning time is important regardless.
Force carbonation implies injecting pressurised CO2 to your beer/cider.
In order to resist the pressure you need a keg. It can be either a Corny or a bigger SS 50l keg.
You apply CO2 under pressure and the CO2 will disolve. If you can chill the liquid to abot 2 to 6 degrees C then the more soluble the CO2 is.
You can also bulk prime a keg with sugar and let it carb up like you do inthe bottles.
so either way aginig is important? i guess i just have to become a little more patient, although i like the idea of kegs. anyone experience with them lil 5L kegs?
No, you can force carb a keg in 30 mins if you want to!
If its really just a patience thing - then you need to brew more often !!
You can have one batch conditioning while your working your way through your previous batch!!!
Just need a schedule !!!!
And Yeah if u had the corny set up you can force carb in about half an hour
Not sure about lil kegs though
I am picking up a couple of 5L easy kegs. They are the kind that you can dispense without a CO2 tap (ie not mini kegs or other brands).
You prime them as usual. Hope to see how they work out for beers like session ales at barbeques.
Some caveats: the bungs in them do wear out, and I was advised to get spares. You probably want to be careful about your priming. I probably would stick to session pale ales, bitters and stouts, in terms of carbing, rather than wheat beers.