Thanks for the info. I have beersmith 2 but have not used it yet. I will look into it more. Jerry

yes, dextrose. 100% fermentable. it's a specific form of glucose that comes from beets, corn, rice, wheat, potats.

Here is a question for Hashie or any other expert here. If I choose to naturally carbonate as Hashie does, what if I have a batch less than five gallons? The headspace would be much larger. It is my assumption that natural would not work due to this and I would have to go with forced carbonation or bottle. I have done over 20 batches but never kegged. My 3 Corny kegs are five gallon kegs. Does my volume to this keg have to be 5 gallons in order to get the correct headspace to naturally carbonate? May seem obvious but it is not to me. If this is correct it would seem that one would need to be very proficient at calculating volumes in order to naturally carbonate. Is this correct? I have Beersmith 2 and there are calculators available here as well. I have a short batch now due to an error with my first BIAB having too coarse of a mesh. Does headspace have any effect on forced carbonation? Thanks, Jerry

Hashie,
It appears that headspace does not affect forced carbing but does affect natural carbing with sugar.
In other words adjust your sugar to match the volume of liquid in the keg if I understand correctly. Is this correct? Thanks, Jerry

if batch into keg is ~2.5gal try the 3/4oz? default for bottling 5gal and see what happens... carbonation is a function of beer temp and co2 head pressure. in a keg assuming you DO NOT exceed ~125psi, you can purge some excess pressure off untij you get close. not hooked up to a coC tank and regulator wont be the most ideal... volume reduction and temp swings will vary the carbonation level (dissolved co2 in the liquid in question).

I find that the corn sugar tends to give less carbonation effect than dextrose (or white sugar). I always thought corn sugar was maltodextrin??
I always bulk prime my kegs - I actuall add the sugar to a saucepan with a bit of water - boil with lid on for a few mins to sanitise prior to adding to keg. Can anyone tell me if this is necessary - If I could just add sugar direct to the keg it would sure be easier.
The main reason that I bulk prime is consistency. I always used to force carbonate with the gas - tried all 3 methods - the quick, the 3 day, and the 1 week methods. ....Results were always a bit hit an miss for my liking, but I probably never perfected the art either.

I've been doing a gentle carbonation with my kegs (ie put the keg in the keezer for 24 hours then hook up the gas to the gas connection and leave it sit for 3 or 4 days and it carbs up fine).

Saying that I've decided to try out natural carbonation with my last two brews so I've naturally carbonated 2 kegs (4g Dextrose per litre) and the other 3 kegs I'm going to do the tried and tested method then compare the two and decide which path I'm going to take in the future.

From what I've read it appears that naturally carbonated kegs have a longer shelf lifethat force carbonated ones,

Sincere apologies guys i didnt read the thread in full as usual with me !

Only just joined the forum and haven't done a BIAB brew yet but have been kegging for the last year. I naturally carbonate with 76-80g dextrose. Ive never force carbed a beer but my mate does and loves it. Not sure what is the better option but naturally carbing seems cheaper to me and also allows you to age beers.

I've found that I prefer natural carbonation. I've given force carbing a go recently, and for some reason it seems beers that have been force carbed don't have the same level of head retention as the exact same beer that has been naturally carbed. I recently split an American amber double batch and fermented both using same yeast, same period etc. One went into keg and force carbed, the other was primed with sugar. The naturally carbed beer had a more creamy long lasting head which is what I was chasing with that beer. I'll definitely be sticking to natural carbonation. Will save me some gas too, as I'm currently using a sodastream cylinder to dispense. Long term goal to get a bigger bottle as budget allows

guess I'm always different. I have done both and prefer the force carb. I can taste a naturally carb'd beer and don't like it. Maybe I'm just really sensitive to something with sugar Carb'd beers.

For me, best force carbing is at serving pressure, takes a while though. I too am blessed with quite a few kegs so time isn't usually an issue. Force carbing at serving pressure can take upwards of 2 weeks to reach that perfect level and bubble size