Cornies - to prime or not to prime?

[Bazza]

Hi All,

First off, Happy Friday! (I work for an American firm, they seem to like that sort of thing. They should know byt know I'm a miserable b*****d every day of the week).

I've been naturally carbing my cornies for about 90% of the brews I've kegged. I've force-carbed the remainder on occasions when time constraints meant I couldn't wait for the priming process to complete.

Anyway, I was just wondering what anyone else does? I'm guessing most folk force carb their kegs but I like the idea of the olde natural method of carbing the kegs, to give that authentic ale experience. It does, however, tend to cause the sediment to get kicked about in the keg for a lot longer than I'd like for the likes of IPA's, thus stifiling the hop flavour somewhat.

Thought/opinions?

Cheers,

-Barry

[HomeBrewWest]

I've spoken to German micros who swear that natural carbonation is vastly superior. Better head retention etc.

[molc]

When I get my kegs I plan to naturally carb everything bar ipa's and maybe cider. From what I've read it gives a much rounder flavour to the finished product.

[alealex]

It's well worth to prime with glucose and wait for natural carbonation. but it can take ages to clear the beer.
I'm thinking of using 0.5micron ss air stone for carbing, it supouse to break co2 into fine bubles with far better results snd fast carbing overnight.

[sittingbull]

I'm finding my bottle head retention great but just won't work as good with over night carbonation just wondering Alex how much glucose would u need with your Keggs

[Garry]

I've never tried priming the corny, it sounds interesting. Do you need to shorten the dip tube to stop sucking up the trub at the bottom?

[LordEoin]

nah, just leave it. There shouldn't be too much sediment after secondary and most of it will just sit on the bottom

[LordEoin]

Dube said you should cut off your mickey.. that's what i heard anyway

[alealex]

100g of glucose into 100ml of boiling water, make syrup.
then into the keg after filling with beer, vent air out of the keg fart some co2 and wait, wait, wait.. 
and yeah, never ever dip your tube, tip your bud, cut the dude or whatever.. (size matters) it will only suck square inch of the sediment from the bottom of the keg

[mr hoppy]

Tube's probably right to say never shorten your dip tube, but if you do you can "fix" it by putting some plastic tubing on the end after you put it in the keg.

[molc]

So when you naturally carb, what pressure do you set your co2 regulator to make sure you don't change the profile? I'm guessing the same as the level you were aiming for...

[Taf]

Tube's probably right to say never shorten your dip tube, but if you do you can "fix" it by putting some plastic tubing on the end after you put it in the keg.

I'd say you would have to add the plastic tubing before you put it in the keg, as could be tricky to do it afterwards!

[nigel_c]

I've primed kegs a fair few times. Gets a nice carbonation for a stout or porter. You can even serve off the shelf style.

I never did anything with the tube. Just primed and left a few weeks. You loose a pint or 2 to sediment but it's grand.
Handy if you don't have a proper dedicated fridge for serving.

[Bubbles]

I've always been a bit puzzled about why people naturally prime their cornies. I thought the main reason everyone had cornies was to avoid the dreaded sediment you get with bottle-conditioning.

So there's a different type of carbonation with natural priming?

[Shanna]

I wonder whether there would be enough Co2 to serve the entire keg? I have primed a 5 litre mini keg a few times before and it only would have enough pressure to serve about 40% before I have had to resort to Co2 bulbs.

Shanna