Carbonating your beer

With carbon dioxide

Siphon your finished, clear beer into your sanitized cornelius keg. Seal the keg and attach the CO2 gas line to the “In” line. Adjust the pressure on the regulator to 15 psi and bleed off any air in the keg by pulling the pressure release valve a couple times.

Let sit for a day or two in your refrigerator (with the CO2 line attached). If the carbonation seems good, turn down the pressure to 10 psi to dispense. If the beer needs more carbonation after 2 days, turn the pressure up to 20 psi and evaluate after another two days. You can gently shake the keg to speed the process, but this will stir up sediment.

The type of sugar typically used to prime homebrew is corn sugar or dextrose, but you may also choose to use dried malt extract (DME). The proper dosage for a 5-gallon batch of beer is ¾ cup of dextrose or 1-1/4 cup of DME. Do not use white table sugar (sucrose) as it will leave a tart “apple-y” flavor in your beer.

Dissolve the sugar of your choice in about a cup of water and bring to a boil in a saucepan. When this has cooled, pour it gently into your beer while it is in the bottling bucket or carboy. Gently stir it in with a sanitized utensil (racking cane, bottling tube, etc.). Pour into a cornelius keg that does NOT have a CO2 tank or into individual bottles (if you must).

With corn sugar