Tue Aug 30, 2005 8:06 pm
The correct answer is Yes.
You can carbonate the keg either way. There are people that will swear that one way or the other is the only correct way.
If you naturally carbonate, simply use the same amount of priming sugar that you would normally use if you were bottling that amount. Then let it sit just as you would when bottling.
Force carbonating can be done two ways. The first way is to simply cool the keg and then hook up your CO2 at serving pressure and wait for 5 or 6 days.
If you are in a hurry, you can use the "rock and roll" method. For this method you crank up the pressure up to about 30 pounds, disconnect the gas and roll the keg back and forth on its side rapidly for a minute or two. Hook the gas back up again until you stop hearing the gas going in and then repeat the rocking again. My version of the rock and roll method is to do this at room temperature as many times as it takes to no longer hear gas going in (usually about 3 charges) and then chill for 24 hours. Carbonation usually comes out about right. If doing it with chilled kegs, you get best results if you use a keg pressure tester (only us gadget freaks have them) after the "roll" part. Once you get the pressure to read the desired level (10-12 pounds usually), you are done.
The advantage of the "natural" carbonation is that some people think it has a slightly better taste and the head is better. I can't tell the difference. The disadvantage is that it takes a couple of weeks and you get a little more sediment in the bottom of the keg which will make the first couple glasses a little cloudy. After that the beer is just as clear as any other method.
The advantage of the forced carbonation is obviously the short amount of time it takes. Carbonating at serving pressure is best in that you don't run any risk of overcarbonating. The "rock and roll" method is even quicker, but the carbonation level is unpredictable. It is very easy to over carbonate. If this happens, you will need to bleed off excess CO2 a couple times a day until the level is right. By the time you get it sorted out, you might as well have carbonated at serving pressure.
This is a little long winded, but it should cover what you wanted to know. Your next question should be "how do I balance my system so I don't get glasses of beer that are 90% foam?". I'll let someone else answer that one.
Beers!
Wayne
