Racked into keg and now???

[Payson]

Forgive me for my ignorance but I need help with the following: I just filled my corney for the first time and I plan to force carbonate it. However, I'm still in the process of altering a fridge to suit my needs so I really don't have a good place to cool it at the moment. Is it ok to leave it at room temp after purging the oxygen? If so, how much CO2 pressure should I apply? Or, should I yank all of my food out of my normal fridge, cool it, force carbonate it then let it sit at room temp until my dedicated fridge is ready? Does it matter? :confused:
Thanks!

[Fast_Eddy]

Purge the O2 and let it sit at room temp until the dedicated fridge is ready.

[Payson]

How much pressure should I keep on it? Is time of the essence or is it in some sort of limbo as if it were bottled?

[Fast_Eddy]

If the beer was pretty clear by the time you racked it to the keg then it's a lot like a bottle conditioning beer. If it wasn't clear then let it settle for a couple of days and then pull 2-3 pints off of it to help remove sediment. I usually pull 2-3 pints off mine before I force carbonate so that I don't mix any sediment back into the beer.

Put 5-10 lbs on it. I usually only put 5 lbs on mine to seal it.

I don't think it does any beer any good(taste-wise) to cool it down and then let it warm up and then cool it down again. Although this could just be a hold over from my more ignorant beer drinking days.

[BREWERDLUX]

I ALWAYS HIT MINE WITH ABOUT 20LBS. TO SEAT THE SEALS GOOD AND THEN YOU CAN BACK IT OFF IF YOU WANT. SINCE YOU HAVE NOT CARBONATED IT YET MIGHT JUST LEAVE THE 20 LBS. IN THERE TILL YOU GET IT WHERE YOU WANT IT......

[Payson]

Excellent. Thanks for all of the info. It was a pretty clear Geary's clone. I'm looking forward to imbibing!

[Tom C]

Just killed off 5 gallons of a geary's clone and now I am onto the second keg! I must brew that one again!

Tom C

[danno]

Payson, one thing to remember about kegging at room temperature. It will take much more pressure to get the appropriate amounts of co2 into your beer at room temperature than cold. co2 dissolves more at colder temps. In the "First Time Kegging Questions" thread (http://www.realbeer.com/discussions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=755), I posted a link to a chart that shows temp/pressure relationships to desired carbonation levels...

[Payson]

Thanks Tom for the recipe. Man, it sure smells great! As for carbonation temps, I have the chart you posted but dont intend to force the carbonation until it's cold. Should I go ahead and force it at room temp or is it OK to wait?

[Fast_Eddy]

Don't carbonate until its cold. It's ok to wait.

Also there's no good reason to put any more psi's on the keg than it takes to seal it.