Bought a kegging setup today....

[djaychris]

Well guys,

I began homebrewing in early May. Its now the end of July, and I'm already into kegging. This hobby moves fast. I bought a 4.9 cubic foot Sanyo fridge several weeks ago, and recently scored a used 10lb co2 tank off ebay. I figured today, what the heck, and made a trip to the local homebrew store. I ended up with 2 corny kegs, picnic tap, lots of hose, quick disconnects, etc. I also purchased the c02 hand pump for priming the keg without the c02 tank. I'm waiting for my next couple kits in the mail, and I can't wait to keg my next batch of homebrew! Any tips for a newbie?

-Thanks
-Dan

[gone_fishing]

No tips for you, I don't keg yet... but how about some envy..cause I don't keg yet ?;)
Actually, good move... I'm getting anxious to keg myself, but been spending too much lately to be able to make the move yet.

[djaychris]

I didn't originally set out to keg this early. But with the discovery of a major homebrew store near my house, I was able to buy all the kegging equipment cheaper, and save a ton on shipping. Can't wait to get into this.

-Dan

[gone_fishing]

one of the LHBSs that I get things from sells cornies at $25 ea, or 5 for $100. When eventually I do get kegging I'll be getting those cornies from him.

[generalzonzo]

Nice, you will love them. Wait til your friends come over and you can offer them a selection of homebrew from a keg. My only advice is to get yourself a surplus of o-rings for the posts and poppets. They are cheap and they always crap out (or in my case get lost during cleaning) the day you want to keg. If you bought used kegs and they have plastic dip tubes I would replace them with SS. Also, as you begin to take you kegs apart for cleaning, remember that the gas in and beer out posts are slightly different in size. They are marked, usually with notches in the hex part of the post. When cleaning, do one side at a time so you don't end up putting the gas on the liquid side and vice versa. You will find your mistake when you go to plug in! Not that I have done this, well actually I did, and I swear never to do it again (until the next time). Kegging rules I have six in fridge and 2 waiting to be filled. JNow you have to begin thinking about a counter-pressure filler or the like so you can fill bottles for taking to friends.

[HarkJohnny]

here's an easy way for a newb to remember which post goes where.
Grey = Gas and Black = Beer

also, go ahead and fully dissasemble one of those kegs and layout the pieces in order as you take them out. The short dip tub is the gas one, and the long one is, obviously, the beer.

the gas in post typlically has some sort of "serrated" or "wavy" edge to it to distinguish the posts. I also have a couple of cornies that have "gas" and "liquid" imprinted in the rubber handle near the correct post.

one other thing... hose clamps! clamp all of your hose connections. I learned the hard way by losing 3 gallons of freshly tapped beer that sprayed everywhere and drained across the floor and ruined carpet. not only that the wife wasn't too happy with me either!

to carbonate I typlically fill with 30lbs and let it sit (connected) for about 2 days in the fridge. then bleed off any pressure and set to serving pressure, about 8-10psi. YMMV

[djaychris]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I can't wait to start kegging. Just curious....how does a bottle filler work???

-Dan

[generalzonzo]

Now don't quote me, but esentially, a counter pressure filler works by creating equibrium between the bottle being filled and the pressure in the keg. Bubbles dissociate (foam) from solution (beer) when there is a change (degrease) in pressure. So if your kegs are set at 10psi when your pour from the keg the pressure goes from 10psi to 0psi. This change is pressure causes the CO2 gas to come out of solution as tiny little bubbles. There are a few steps to the CPF purging, filling and capping. When counter pressure filling, the bottle receiving the liquid is first purged with pressure (Normally CO2) and then the bottle is filled with the liquid while maintaining pressure. The CPF allows you to pressurize the inside of the bottle to the equivalent pressure that is inside of the keg. Since now there is not a change in pressure between the keg and the bottle the bubbles stay in the solution, but not forever, once the CPF is removed from the bottle, physics takes over and the CO2 in solution tries to equilbriate to the ambient pressure, so cap them quickly to reduce spills. I have only used a CPF once, it was fairly annoying. There is a cool gadget called a beergun (no you can not take criminals out with it). http://www.blichmannengineering.com/BeerGun/BeerGun.htm

Corky told me about it a few months ago when I was planning on getting a CPF. Haven't pulled the trigger yet, other expenses came along, but it will be in my hands soon (after the first mortgage payment on my new Casa de Bad 40 Brewing Co.).

[djaychris]

Thanks for all the help so far. Next big question...I have a tripel that will be ready to bottle shortly. I know naturally carbonating is a pain in the butt for big beers. Could I throw my tripel into a keg, force carbonate for 1 week, then age in the cellar for 6mths? Anybody age in a keg? Are there any downsides to this?

-Thanks
-Dan

[generalzonzo]

Actually, I am going to age a barleywine I have in a keg. It will definately work. Force carbonate and let it go. Once the CO2 seals the lid, nothing will get in especially O2 and light.

[djaychris]

That is great to hear. For some reason I thought you couldn't age in a keg. From what I'm hearing there is no limit. You can age in kegs the same as bottles? So if I want to age for 1 year in a keg, I can?

-Dan

[djaychris]

One more question...do you have to refridgerate a keg when aging? I was under the impression I could age bottles in the cellar (65 degrees). Can I do the same for my keg? I hate to take up half my fridge for 6mths with an aging keg...

-Dan

[corkybstewart]

I always age my beers in the kegs, and I'm going to start naturally carbonating in my kegs with corn sugar at room temperature for a couple of weeks.
A friend of mine won a homebrewing contest with a keg of barleywine he had in his garage for 2 years. He had forgoten about it, tasted it and decided to enter a couple of bottles from the keg and took first place.

[djaychris]

So I can age my kegged beer at room temp, it doesn't have to be in the fridge?

-Thanks
=Dan

[generalzonzo]

Corky,

Do you know if your friend with the winning barleywine force carbonated or allowed it to naturally carbonate?

[djaychris]

Anybody have any ideas on how to get my beer into the 50 degree range cheaply? It seems my Sanyo stays between 35-45 no matter what the setting, so it will be perfect for my lagering phase. But what about the initial fermentation phase for my lager where it needs to be around 50 degrees? My basement is a steady 65 degrees. What is a cheap method to keep a fermentor at a continuous lager temp range (50 degrees)?

-Thanks
-Dan

[djaychris]

anybody out there?????

[toneyc]

The Son of Fermentation Chiller is probably going to be your cheapest bet:

http://home.elp.rr.com/brewbeer/chiller/chiller.PDF

:)
Toney.

[djaychris]

Tony,

Thanks for the link. That looks like a great idea. Unfortunately I'm not too handy with my hands (yet). Might be worth a try though.

-Dan

[wild]

Originally posted by djaychris
Anybody have any ideas on how to get my beer into the 50 degree range cheaply?
You can normally find refrigerators around your community for $0-$50. Then add this little gadget (http://morebeer.com/product_images/1/1580.jpg) to keep whatever temp you need.

Good luck,
Wild

[Carl762]

If you sugar carbonate, there's no real reason to keep in the fridge.

Tell me about this C02 pump you mentioned in the first post.

[djaychris]

Thanks for the advice thus far guys. As for the pump, it is a little hand pump that uses a small c02 cartridge (air gun size). It attaches to the " gas in" on the kegs, and can be used to dispense beer away from home without the huge c02 tank.

-Dan

[corkybstewart]

Not so much a "hand pump" like on commercial kegs but a miniature CO2 regulator and canister. I have one and they are great, but take several cartridges with you, they don't push much beer.

[Chubber]

Go ahead and get a regulator for your CO2 bottle. It won't cost more than a couple of boxes of CO2 cartridges and you won't have to worry about running out of the cartridges. Get a dual-gauge unit.

Welcome to kegging. A wise friend told me to start kegging right away when I started brewing, and I thank him every time I step over to the kegerator.

Make sure your beer lines are 3/16ths, not 1/4. I was serving a 1/2 glass of foam with my 1/4 lines. Or, you can put 20 feet of 1/4 hose on the tap, either works.

I sugar my kegs to help with the carbonation. I find that if I initially charge them to about 10 lbs to seal them, the sugar maintains the charge for about the first 1/2 to 2/3 keg without having to add more gas. I usually have to keep the gas on it to get the last 1/3 keg.

[corkybstewart]

I'm going to start priming in the keg, not force carbonating like I've been doing. I may be delusional, but I remember the primed kegs had a finer textured feel. Also if I'm just using the CO2 to push the beer, the bottles will last longer.
For my portable draft a friend gave me a small CO2 bottle, that I use instead of my little canister/regulator device. Look at garage sales or call your local welding supply store and you can buy or rent one, and get a quality regulator-don't out cheap yourself there. Nothing sucks worese than finding out on Friday night that your bargain regulator has spewed all your CO2 into the atmosphere and there you sit with plenty of beer and no way to get it out of the keg before Monday.