I am ready to start kegging and need some help ...

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Azorean Brewer
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I am ready to start kegging and need some help ...

Post by Azorean Brewer »

Ole' knowledgable ones,

I have purchased everything I need. I have good used Chest Freezer (14+ cu. ft.)and have sealed all of the seams with silicone. I purchased a kegging system, and two additional kegs (ball lock). Also a temp. controller.

In reading the "Brew Masters Bible", it says to fill the keg, and purge off the air with 5 lbs of C02, do this three times, and then pressurize the keg to 5 PSI and shake the keg for 20 seconds, resting for one minute, repeat this three times total. Then it says to pressurize the keg with 25 PSI and allow to sit in a cool dry place for one week. Do I leave the c02 hose hooked up?

Also what it does not tell you is what is the dispensing pressure? Can I keep my c02 bottle in the freezer at say 45F? Have I missed anything?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Paul.
bredmakr
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maintain pressure

Post by bredmakr »

Paul

You want to leave the CO2 online. This will allow CO2 to go into solution and additional CO2 to enter the keg. The constant pressure will force CO2 into solution.

As for all the shaking and hooplah, all I do is purge the keg of oxygen, fill it with beer, put it under pressure, purge the headspace in the keg and then go to my carbonating pressure. I also agitate the keg of beer at 30 psi to increase the rate at which CO2 goes into solution and I usually have carbonated beer in 2-3 days this way.

As for dispensing, I go with 10-14 lbs depending on the carbonation level that I have achieved. That is a good rule of thumb for the basic set up. If you ever start running longer lines you made need more pressure to account for friction loss within the hose.

The CO2 tank and gages will be fine inside the freezer.

Hope this helps.

Mike
Dr Strangebrew
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This is what I do...

Post by Dr Strangebrew »

There is a carbonation chart on page 43 of "Brewmaster's Bible" by Stephn Snyder. Anymore I usually ignore it and set the regulator at 25 psi. I do this in a quiet room so that I can hear the gas travel down the line as I rock the keg back and forth until I can no longer hear the gas. I then leave the keg pressurized at 25 psi for a few hours/ overnight with CO2 line hooked up. When I'm ready to drink I vent the keg, and set the pressure to around 8 psi. I leave the pressure there throughout the session. When I'm done drinking I return the pressure to 25 psi.
Another way to carbonate is to hook the gas into the out valve and let the gas bubble through. I only do this with very malty beers. This method will also rid the beers of volatiles, including wanted- hop character, and unwanted volatiles. Hope I helped.
Nate
Freon12
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Additional tid bits

Post by Freon12 »

I started using kegs as bright beer tanks last year and have not purchased finings since.
I guess the shape of the "corni" is condusive to clearing beer. 2 weeks in cold storage in the keg and bam, clear beer!

I do have a slight issue with turning the co2 back up to 20psi after the beer is carbonated, but I use the exact same carbonation proceedure.

Steve

P.S. The beer was very good, you saved my palate! You should have no problem clearing your high quality beer.
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Push Eject
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Here's the PushEject way...

Post by Push Eject »

I'm going to get flamed for this, but I do it all the time and IT WORKS...

Put your secondary carboy in your fridge at 35 degrees for two days when you feel it's done secondarying [sp? :)]

Syphon your beer from secondary into your sanitized keg... I use co2 to push the beer from carboy to keg, but a hose works too -- guess I'm oxygenphobic.

Hook your co2 tank up and crank it to 40-45 psi (it's really important that the beer be cold i.e. <40 deg's).

Rock your keg on the edge of a box or something for a minute or so or until you can't hear the gas flowing anymore. Let it sit for 5 minutes and repeat twice.

Disconnect your co2 and wait for two hours.

Release the pressure in your keg... all of it.

Attach your co2 and turn it to your dispensing pressure (8 - 12 psi).

Pour yourself a beer.

Kegged and carbonated beer in about two hours. Cheers.

Charlie
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CO2 "volumes" for beer style?

Post by plalo »

I've seen a chart that tells you the conditioning pressure to be used for desired volumes of CO2 but I cannot find what volumes for the specific STYLE of beer in the keg. Any pointers folks? Much thanks and good beer!

Cheers,

Brent
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