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You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> Brewing Forum --> Brewing Discussion --> a couple of new stupid kegging questions

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homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


I'm probably kegging my first batch tomorrow (filled my CO2 tank today).

So, before I start, I want to make sure I'm not missing anything stupid.

Step 1: PBW and sanitize the inside of the keg.

Step 2: Rack the beer to the keg, seal it up.

Step 3: Attach gas and beer lines. (CO2 canister to regulator to manifold to keg... right?)

Step 4: Set pressure and wait.


That's it, yes?

What about purging with CO2 before racking? Is that actually effective? How would I go about such a thing? What am I overlooking?






Posted 34 days ago.

Necropaw
Charter Member
Central WI
608 Posts


Check for leaks




Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


I have nightmares thinking of opening my freezer to find it full of beer. That just seems like the sort of screwup I would make.




Posted 34 days ago.

Necropaw
Charter Member
Central WI
608 Posts


Liquid leaks seem less likely to me. Bit easier to spot early on.

Gas leaks are the one that worry me, especially since getting a tank swap is such a pain in the ass for me thanks to the hours of the welding supply shop.





Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


I'd hate a gas leak, for sure. I filled at the LHBS. Cost was $10 for a five pound tank, which felt a little high... but saved me having to drive around town, since I was already there.




Posted 34 days ago.

testingapril
Charter Member
Atlanta, GA
595 Posts


Fill keg with star San, push it out with co2 if you want to purge. I push with a jumper from one keg to another. Then I store the star San in the last keg I put it in for a month or so.





Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Okay, that makes sense. Push it 'till the keg is empty, then release the pressure, open the lid, and rack via autosiphon?






Posted 34 days ago.

testingapril
Charter Member
Atlanta, GA
595 Posts


If you want. Without pushing out of the carboy with co2 it might just be a big waste of co2.

Although, I've had plenty of people tell me that pushing with co2 is a waste too. I obviously disagree.





Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Yeah, I have no clue how I'd push from a carboy with CO2. But any little edge seems like it's worth doing... at least on a hoppy beer.




Posted 34 days ago.

Necropaw
Charter Member
Central WI
608 Posts


What ive done a few times now is sanitize, hook up the CO2, let it go for 5 seconds or so, put the lid on, let some CO2 in, depressurize the keg, repeat, then open it back up and fill.

I figure its probably entirely useless to do so, though.

Youre already exposing your beer to *so much less* O2 vs bottling.




Posted 34 days ago.

Stonehands
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
59 Posts


I rack to the keg, hook up the gas, and pull the relief valve a couple of times to get rid of a lot of the oxygen in the headspace of the keg once filled. 
I don't push a full keg of starsan, I don't think my dip tubes are short enough to satisfy me that I've gotten the starsan out (a cup or so maybe?). I know it's not supposed to hurt but whatever. 
Sometimes I don't hook up the tap immediately - although I usually do since here lately that's how I get my final gravity sample. Don't know what I'll do if it's wrong or way too high, haven't really missed a FG in a long time. 
Check for leaks. You'll see a liquid leak I would think, especially if you didn't hook up the liquid side yet. Gas leaks can sometimes be more finicky. Sometimes easily found with a spray bottle of starsan. Make sure the lid gasket is wet with starsan when you seal it. 




Posted 34 days ago.

KidMoxie
Charter Member
San Elijo Hills, CA
405 Posts


>Cost was $10 for a five pound tank,which felt a little high...

*Laughsheartily* At least in San Diego $10 for 5 lb is the cheapest I've ever heard of (though not by much). The thing is that the biggercanistersare only trivially more expensive to fill (it's the filler's time you're paying for, really): $12 for 5 lb, $14 for 10 lb, $16 for 20 lb, etc.

Proptip: leave your picnic tap disconnected whenever you're not serving from it, you'll never come back to the nightmare of a full fridge and empty keg. It takes like 5 seconds to connect/disconnect so why take the risk?




Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


Sounds like some good advice... thanks, guys.

Yeah, the LHBS does CO2 for $10 for 5 pounds, $15 for 10 pounds, $20 for 20 pounds.




Posted 34 days ago.

flapjackcarl
Houston, TX
2480 Posts


I typically purge the keg with O2 4 to 5 times. One of these days I'm going to run a quick back of the hand calculation for how many purges it takes to get you down to ~1% O2...






Posted 34 days ago.

flapjackcarl
Houston, TX
2480 Posts


Mini update: I'm still recovering from a hangover (stupid Champagne...), so I decided to play around with purge calculations in excel. If you pressure your keg up to 30 psig, let it reach equilibrium (I'd assume this probably takes a couple of minutes), and then purge to atmosphere, you'll drop your O2 from 23.2 wt% to 5.6%.



Posted 34 days ago.

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