Project: Get beer from 15-gallon keg to 5-gallon corney

[spencer]

Hi all.
I have been given a full 15-gallon keg of ale from the Breckenridge Brewery; however there is a catch: they want the shell back by Thursday. I am going to drag it to a friend’s house for a little party tonight, but we’re not going to come anywhere near killing this thing in less than a week. I would like to transfer the beer into one or more of my 5 and/or 3 gallon corney kegs; I’m just not sure how to do it.

This is what I am working with:
I have a keg fridge that can simultaneously support one 15-gallon keg and two 5 (or 3) gallon corneys. I saw a post here about how to get beer from one corney to the next; however working with 2 posts (one in and one out) seems much easier than trying to do this with everything coming out of (and going in) the same connection.

You can imagine the hardware I have for the keg fridge, and I am not opposed to buying a few parts to get this to fly. Also, once I have the beer into my corney(s), besides drink it, what do I do to keep it carbonated? Do I hit it with some CO2 or just leave it alone?

Thanks all.
Chris
... Oh yeah... Whoopie! Free Beer!

[danno]

when I moved half a keg of Summit EPA to cornies, I just connected my Sankey tap to my beer out (black) corny QD, then pushed the beer at 5-6 psi from the keg to the corny. I did it with the corny lid off, for two reasons. First, I wanted to see how full I was getting, second, I wanted a little bit of foaming so I had a nice layer of co2 to prevent oxidation. after I filled up the kegs, I purged the remaining headspace 3 times, and the beer was fine, it didn't get finished off for another six months, was as good as then we first tapped it...

hope this helps...

[danno]

whoops, I missed the last part of your post. what do you do to keep it carbonated? Just hook it up at serving pressure and let it be. drink away, very nice score there...

[spencer]

Thanks! It was much easier than I thought it was going to be. I had a little trouble with foam in the corneys, so I just let it run over. I probably lost 2 or 3 beers, but it was a small price to pay for a free keg.

[ray m]

Just curious, Spencer.....how did you happen into this "beer windfall"? 15 gallons of free beer from a good brewer like Breckenridge is awesome, let alone downright impressive!

By the way, which Breckenridge brew was it?

[spencer]

My wonderful gal does a lot of fundraising for local non-profit organizations. She was at an event on Friday night & aparently they had too much beer. The woman running the event asked her if I could put it to use, and the rest is history.

When she called me with the good news she told me it was Breckenridge; however when it showed up it was Wynkoop's Rail Yard Ale ( http://www.wynkoop.com/ ). Wynkoop is a little brew pub downtown Denver that was started by our current mayor & I think they make pretty good suds. I agree that Breck is good stuff too, but this was a nice treat because you can only get Wynkoop beers at the brew pub (they don't bottle).

I ended up filling one 3-gallon corney and one 5-gallon corney and taking the balance to an early holiday party. The keg coughed right as I was saying goodnight to the hosts, I returned the shell the next day, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Good things happen to good people <wink>

[Beaver]

Mmmmm...Wynkoop.

[steveh]

Originally posted by spencer
Wynkoop is a little brew pub downtown Denver

Little?

I've only been once, but I wish there was a Wynkoop in my neighborhood.

S.