Ball Lock Problems
Brewski wrote:
All my kegs now hold pressure. Had to clean, tweak, & tighten, then pumped them up yesterday afternoon w/ my converted keg pump & they still had pressure this morning.
Did have to buy a new O-ring for one of the gas dip tubes, $.49 + tax.
On force kegging-
I've only got the one CO2 tank, and room for 2 kegs in the fridge.
What procedure would you recommend?
The reason I ask is that I've got 5 gal of Coffee Stout ready to go.
I'd get a T-fitting for your gas line to go to the two kegs or get a manifold to split the gas to the multiple kegs.
You can keep the tank outside the fridge no problem.
Glad your kegs are holding pressure now.
Thirsty and I will be over to drink the beer.
Thirsty, you bring chips and buns.
I'll bring sausages and condiments.
I guess what I mean is, what procedure do you recommend for force carbing?
Have the make that party next weekend, I'm headed up to Hunt Camp to relax, get ready for Spring Turkey season. And, drink some beer, w/ brats, buns, chips, & condiments.
Bottles this trip, kegs the next. Got one of those little CO2 cannisters that you put a gas DC on, & a cheapie faucet.
People force carb several ways.
I am a lazy and patient brewer. For me I read the little CO2/Temp chart, set the pressure and come back in a week ready to serve and drink. I like the this method, because while it carbs it also cold conditions and more yeast settles out. So when I do "tap" the keg, the beer is running clear (after the first 2-3 glasses).
The other method people use is to super overshoot the pressure, the shake the keg occasionally. The more often you shake the sooner the beer is carbed. It work OK, and its fast. If you beer is at all cloudy it will still take a week or so to clear once you stop shaking it and let it sit still in the fridge. You can be drinking it sooner though. The downside to this method is that you have to check the beer every so often to make sure you don't over carb. So you are "wasting"/drinking beer as you do it. Its also easy to over carb this way, then you are shaking and bleeding pressure.
The last time I went somewhere in between because I was desperate. I put the keg on at 30PSI, and I shook it every couple hours, and let it sit on high pressure overnight. The next day, I burped the keg and set the pressure to my normal serving pressure (~8-10PSI) and the beer was close to perfect.
The set it and forget it method works great if you have multiple kegs and beers being served, so you do need to be impatient and start drinking right away. The rapid carb process is useful when you don't have any beer, or you quickly want to get a beer ready for say a party. The nice thing about a rapid carb-up is that you can brew two weeks before a party and have super fresh beer carbed and serving, way better than bottling.
The #1 thing with kegging is that it takes time and experience to get it working smoothly. Everyone has a slightly different setup with tubing length etc etc. So don't worry too much at first, it will just take time to figure out what works best for you.
Thanks,
Sounds good, I'll play with that next week. Headed up to Camp this morning.
This site is great. A couple weeks ago, all I had were some cornys that looked like they weren't worth the money I spent.
And, last night -
Now to get the taps & gas hooked up. Looks like I'll have to put the CO2 tank on the outside. But then it'll be easier to access it for carbing the non-refrigerated kegs.
NICE pour bro! That is one damn sexy beer! I'm tellin ya, once you start kegging, you will be brewing more, it taks that bottle prime sweetness and haze and blows it out. Clear effervescemt beer, mmmmmm
Before kegging you were at zero points.
You start kegging and post a pic of Sexy beer +10.
However, Michelob Ultras "in frame" -12.
I bet you didn't think that kegging would put your homebrewing cool status in reverse did it.
The only way I see to recover is to take a new pic with some Westy 12s in the picture, and just sort of pass it off as "Yeah, picked 'em when I was last in Belgium...no biggie."
brewchez wrote:
However, Michelob Ultras "in frame" -12.
Nice catch!
I bet he is going to come back saying sunthin like "oh, those are the wife's beers, I dont drink that, those are for the guests, and oh yeay, the wife"
Yeah, oh Yeah, well.........
So, the truth is- That six pack used to have Mich Ultra, which the wife does drink, and, of course, I Don't.
But what is in that six pack is Blueberry, Raspberry, & Pomegranate Mead which I made with my daughter.
Look closely there old Eagle Eyes, do those really look like Ultra bottles.
And, FYI, the bottle behind the alleged Ultra six pack is Schlafly Reserve Brandywine.
So, I want my homebrewing cool points back.
Gotta run, the timer just went off on my 3rd Step in a 4 Step Temperature Mash w/ Cooked Adjuncts.
Just sold a truckload of round fence posts, gotta get those orders written up, then I need to install the gas & liquid lines in the beer fridge.
So, do I get my points back, or what, huh? 
Brewski wrote:
So, I want my homebrewing cool points back.
Gotta run, the timer just went off on my 3rd Step in a 4 Step Temperature Mash w/ Cooked Adjuncts.
Just sold a truckload of round fence posts, gotta get those orders written up, then I need to install the gas & liquid lines in the beer fridge.
So, do I get my points back, or what, huh?
Well I guess you're all set. And acouple extra points for posting between mash steps.
Well, thanks to you guys. 
Fire Season Amber & Coffee Stout now on draught
CO2 Tank behind fridge w/ Quick Disconnect so I can force carb kegs.
Inside fridge, harvested yeast in door.
I will admit that I got in a little bit of a hurry, and had a couple leaky gas connections, but with the help of my converted keg pump, a little dish soap & water in a spray bottle got 'er fixed up in no time.
I tried fast carbing the Coffee Stout, no secondary, rolling & it's still really cloudy.
So, I may do a 1 week secondary for lighter brews. Especially if they are going to be transported, like in a pickup truck over gravel/dirt roads to Hunt Camp.
That is awesome! It will never get old, and let me warn you, you will be punching as many holes in that as your fridge will allow for kegs.
Te kids were over for dinner on Sunday, & thought it was great. I now have my first emptied keg, and they damned near finished the second. Well, better get brewing.
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