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Newbie Keg Questions
Over the holidays i was brew crazy and used up all my bottles. 15 gals worth of bottles are still conditioning and i have a 5 gal batch thats been in secondary for a week. I want to move this beer soon but don't want to buy more bottles when i know i will be going with a full on keg setup with the next few months. I am not ready for a kegerator yet, as I am getting ready to move in the next month. Once I'm moved i will figure out my kegerator situation.
Questions:
1 - To me this looks like a good deal, what are your thoughts? I want at least a two tap keg in the future, so i like the idea of the dual regulator.
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/brew-log … -tank.html
2 - I will probably naturally carbonate this batch if i go with a keg setup - one, just because i'll have the time and patience to let it sit for a few weeks to carb, and two i figure once i have a nice setup i wont want to even take the time to try naturally carbing a batch.
3 - Naturally carbonating a keg, i add my priming sugar, rack the beer, fill the headspace with about 10 psi of CO2, then unplug the CO2 hose and let it hangout in my closet for a few weeks? My closet keeps my beer around 68 degrees right now.
4 - I won't tap this keg until i have a kegerator, could be two months from now -- will the brew be ok for that long? Will i need to add more CO2 a few weeks in?
5 - Am I crazy with all this, should i just drink a ton of brew this weekend and free up some bottles?
That is a really good deal. What I like most is you are getting into a dual regulator setup. The second outlet is more useful for attachments then it is for keg connection. Once you have a balanced system, you will find a good way to carbonate, and you will probably always keep a keg at a single pressure, but the second regulator you can vary for whatever you need.
Most new keggers are excited just to get 2 kegs going and think that is all they need. However you will find that now that you have CO2 on hand, there are so many other fun uses. That is where the second regulator comes into play. My suggestion is to come off the second line with a gas line with a quick disconnect at the end. You can now have another line with the matching QD, and a grey corny QD at the end of that. Same setup, but just with an in-line QD. Now make all your accessory lines have a QD at their ends, and you can attach a line with a liquid QD at the end, a bottle gun fitting at the end, just a plain hose, whatever you want.
Now when it comes time to keg or transfer, just snap on whatever type of line you require. For instance, when I keg a cold beer, I snap on a line with the black QD- this allows me to hook up to the liquid post and blast my keg purging it w/ CO2 from the bottom via the liquid diptube. If you did not have a black QD on there, it would not fit that post. Now it does. After the keg is purged, rack the beer into it, lid the keg, but now need to purge the headspace. This requires connection to the gas side, or grey QD, snap that line on and purge. Now if you want to quick carb or give it a headstart, you need to force through the liquid side again, needing the black QD, just snap that line on and connect.
Once you start kegging you may want a bottle gun, and that requires its own CO2 line, all you will need to do is snap on that dedicated line and now you are gunning.
Bottom line is the second line is invaluable. I am lucky enough tio have 2 seperate tanks, so I power my kegerator with one, and power my accessories with the other. However with a dual regulator, you will get this benefit, just pulling off one bottle.
Good decision.
Thanks Thirsty for a great reply. I would like to have two beers on that regulator--and i was actually going to ask another question -- do you guys have two tanks, one for a kegerator and one for all the work done outside the space of a kegerator, i.e. cleaning kegs, filling kegs headspace for storage, force carb, beer gun, etc. If i do have a 2nd beer on that dual regualtor, one that i'm not moving or using a beer gun for, couldn't i just quick disconnect off that for awhile, do what i need to do with some co2, and than just set it back up?
--I am ready to pull the trigger on this, i cant wait to start kegging my homebrew. I'm just wondering the steps needed for kegging brew and storing it in the closet until im ready to tap.
LB2015 wrote:
-- do you guys have two tanks, one for a kegerator and one for all the work done outside the space of a kegerator, i.e. cleaning kegs, filling kegs headspace for storage, force carb, beer gun, etc. If i do have a 2nd beer on that dual regualtor, one that i'm not moving or using a beer gun for, couldn't i just quick disconnect off that for awhile, do what i need to do with some co2, and than just set it back up?
This is exactly what I was talking about for your second line. Having a second tank makes a world of difference for convenience, but if you put the QDs in the second line, you can use that for all of your accessories.
This is what I now have for utility coming off of a second tank. 
The small white QD in the picture is what I used to use, and they are quite effective. I just got lucky and ran into the SS QDs, so I switched over to those. I also put the QDs at each tank regulator, so if a tank kicks, I can just snap on a new tank while I get the other filled/swapped.
I bet the QD's make a world of difference. Where did you pick up those fancy SS ones?
I went ahead and saw this deal on amazon... http://www.amazon.com/Cornelius-Homebre … amp;sr=1-6 ... Figured it will be a good investment for my new kegerator setup, and better to split up the costs a little bit with a month or so in between purchases. I'll probably just throw the corney keg in the fridge in the garage for a while and test out the new setup by just using the picnic spout.
Now i have about a week or so to figure out how i want to carb this patch. it's a harpoon ipa clone and i cant wait to try. Since i might want to put it in the fridge without a true kegerator setup, i might want to force carb it so i can drink it faster.
Basically i have three options, right?
Natural carb with 1/3 cup of priming sugar for my 5 gallon batch, purge with a little co2 to seal the lid, and then let that sit for two weeks or so.
Force carb with higher psi and roll around, and drink in a day or two.
Third option would be to fill keg and set psi for style and temp of beer and let that sit for two weeks until its ready?
The SS QDs were a score. My buddy works for a company that sells machines to auto service stations that flush and replace auto fluids. I saw these on one of his machines, and asked him if he could get some. He and I built my brew rig from scratch, so he was eager to help. I got 8 sets of QDs, and switched my whole brew rig over to them. Then when I went tobrew last week, I figured out they did not work, there was too much restriction passing through, so on brewday I had to change everything back.
I decided to then incorporate them into my CO2 setup, and now they work great!
I kind of thought your first setup you were getting from midwest was a better deal- and came with 2 kegs, this one has only one. GAs line and QDs are cheap, I would go with the best deal that gives you the expensive necessities- tank, regulator, and kegs.
As far as carbing you will find that once you dial in your forced carb method, priming sugar is for the birds. Force carbing gives you a measurable, accurate, and consistant carb, leaving no priming sugar aftertaste behind.
The setup includes two kegs...at least it better. The description of the pic says "kegs" and also there is a line saying everything in this picture is included. And it comes with two pair of QDs.
I will probably force carb and not prime with sugar, as you are right---why add something into the brew that really isnt needed with my new setup.
LB2015 wrote:
The setup includes two kegs...at least it better. The description of the pic says "kegs" and also there is a line saying everything in this picture is included. And it comes with two pair of QDs.
I will probably force carb and not prime with sugar, as you are right---why add something into the brew that really isnt needed with my new setup.
I would doublecheck, the pic says kegs, but in the desc it says keg:
Dual Body, Taprite Regulator
A new Aluminum 5# CO2 cylinder (empty)
Cornelius style 5-gallon ball lock keg, cleaned and pressure Tested.
CO2 system consists of of commercial grade 5/16 Red Hose, an air manifold with check valves for each keg and Dis-connect foreach Keg. Beer hose setup, fully assembled with dis-connect, 5' line and party nozzle
In addition to O-rings on keg you recieve a 5 Piece Set of NEW O-rings at no charge.
I dont want you get screwed shortchanged.
Package arrived today!! Another reason i love homebrewing is the continual upgrade of equpiment, makes me feel like a kid in a candy store!
During my lunch break i got my CO2 tank filled, and tonight i plan on playing around and cleaning up the kegs. And tomorrow night i'll force carb so i can have draft brew for the football games this weekend!!
LB2015 wrote:
Package arrived today!! Another reason i love homebrewing is the continual upgrade of equpiment, makes me feel like a kid in a candy store!
During my lunch break i got my CO2 tank filled, and tonight i plan on playing around and cleaning up the kegs. And tomorrow night i'll force carb so i can have draft brew for the football games this weekend!!
Fun stuff!
Just make sure your beer is cold in the keg BEFORE you carbonate. Cold beer absorbs much more CO2 than warm. If your beer is not already chilled I would put it in the fridge tonight, then when you fill a keg tomorrow, it will be good to force carb.
The best way I think to get beer carbed in 2 days is this method:
1. make sure headspace is purged, hook up co2 at normal pressure (10-12psi), hook up to gas post for a few seconds, then disconnect, and pull PRV (pressure release valve) to let out gas, rehook and repeat. Do this 3-4 times and you will replace the headspace of O2 with CO2.
2. Turn regulator up to 35 psi, and reconnect gas. Lay keg on side and roll back and forth for 2 minutes (laying it down increases the contact area of headpace to entire length of keg)
3. Disconnect and wait 2 hours for as much gas to absorb.
4. Release any pressure by pulling PRV, then connect to serving pressure (8-12 psi) and let it finish off in 24-48 hours.
Many people just hook up to higher pressure and leave it for a day or 2, I feel it is way to easy to overcarb doing this, and that sucks- you have to bleed the keg off often and many times it will return you flat beer and waste.
Finally one bit of advice I tell every new kegger- REMEMBER THIS ALWAYS!!! Never connect a gas line to a keg if you are not positive the pressure in the keg is equal or less than the gas pressure at the regulator! The beer can come out and into your gas line, possibly up to the regulator. If you put a check valve at your regulator post- all the better. And never ever ever release pressure at the regulator or distributor or manifold (if you have these) with the gas line connected to the keg! You will instantly create backpressure and be instantly cleaning up a HUGE mess!
Good luck!
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