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First time kegger needs a little help
OK so I've searched high and low to find info on kegging and it seems like everyone has a different method and there seems to be a lot of variables so I'm kind of lost at this point.
I just kegged my first batch. Siphoned it into the keg, hooked up the CO2 to the OUT post and turned on the CO2 tank. Then I stopped, purged and repeated. My LHBS owner told me once I do that then I need to crank it up to 25 and let it sit. I read about rolling around the keg gently until you can't hear any more air coming in so I did that and once it stopped I turned off the tank. What do I do now? Do I keep the CO2 turned on? Do I throw it in the fridge?
Any help from you veteran keggers would be great!
Co2 goes to the IN post. Tap goes to the out post. The out post has a long tube going to the bottom of the keg allowing you to drain most of keg. If y ou hooked the tap up to the in post, you would run out of beer fast if you got any at all. Gassing it up at the out post won't matter but you need the tap on the in post when you want to dispense the beer. Also, the in and out posts are not the same size so if you have trouble getting the co2 or tap to fit you might have them on the wrong post. I did that before.
Now that you have it gassed up with the CO2 as you mentioned you can put it in the fridge and wait till next day. When you are ready to start drinking, pull the release valve pin on top of the keg BEFORE hooking the Co2 back up to relieve the pressure. Then, reduce the pressure from the co2 to about 5 psi and hook it up. Then enjoy the fruits of your labor!
DC
Like deafcone said, CO2 in, beer out.
Typically I evacuate the oxygen in the dead space at the top of the keg three times (to be sure):
--Turn regulator up to 30psi
-- wait until the gas sound stops more or less
-- turn gas off
-- pull on the release ring
-- repeat
I have always rocked my keg with the gas on until I heard no more gas entering the keg. I suppose it helps CO2 absorption as it increases the surface area of the beer while gas is pouring into the keg.
One important thing to note is that CO2 will be absorbed more quickly in your beer if it is cold, so go ahead and put your beer and your CO2 tank in the fridge. Crank the gas up to about 25-30 psi and give it 48 hours. When you are ready to dispense beer, turn off the gas entirely and pull the release valve until all the gas is out. Then turn on the gas to about 10psi (your mileage may vary depending on fridge temperature, type of beer, etc...) and dispense.
If you get foam, turn off the gas, pull the release valve and do it again, this time using fewer psi. It took me a while to get the psi correct (and the beer lines should be as narrow as possible. I used 3/16".)
Enjoy. I wish my kegerator was still around. Back to bottling for me. 
JJJ
I know that for dispensing the gas hooks up to the IN and the tap hooks up to the OUT but my LHBS owner told me to hook up the gas to the OUT for carbonating so that the CO2 gets dispersed into the beer better. Does this sound right?
I put the keg and tank in the refrigerator with the CO2 still on the OUT post. Should I switch it over to the IN post? Now that its in the fridge I'm going to keep it gassed at 25ish PSI for the weekend.
After a couple days I'm going to switch the CO2 to the IN post, hook up the tap to the OUT post, purge the CO2, turn on the gas and set to 11.5 PSI. How's this sound?
FirePitBrew wrote:
I know that for dispensing the gas hooks up to the IN and the tap hooks up to the OUT but my LHBS owner told me to hook up the gas to the OUT for carbonating so that the CO2 gets dispersed into the beer better. Does this sound right?
I put the keg and tank in the refrigerator with the CO2 still on the OUT post. Should I switch it over to the IN post? Now that its in the fridge I'm going to keep it gassed at 25ish PSI for the weekend.
After a couple days I'm going to switch the CO2 to the IN post, hook up the tap to the OUT post, purge the CO2, turn on the gas and set to 11.5 PSI. How's this sound?
I assume the reason the LHBS owner said to hook it up to the out post is because it forces the co2 into the beer from the bottom of the keg that way. Might be righrt. As long as you hook up the out to the tap when dispensing you should be fine. I never left my CO2 tank hooked up in the fridge like that but if you don't shkae it then it might be what you need to do.
Just be sure to purge the Keg before dispensing or you'll get nothing but foam. Try 11.5, it might work. I used 5 psi but it could depend on the thickness of the tap hose. I don't know how thick mine is. If it is too high, just purge the keg and lower the pressure.
Good luck.
DC
The only reason I decided on 11.5 is because Beersmith says to use 11.5 PSI for 2.5 volumes of CO2 at 38 degrees which is roughly how cold my fridge is at the moment. So unless I'm misunderstanding something, which there's a good chance I am, I'm going with that for now.
Thanks a lot for your help guys!
I've done the out post for CO2 before. Works well if you ramp up the CO2 pressure a little at a time over a couple days. If you just set the PSI to 25lbs most of it just bubbles to the top anyway so its similar to filling from the top.
But your overall method sounds fine and its pretty much identical to what I do to carbonate beer.
I am not usually in a rush to get a beer pouring so a few days letting it carb up doesn't bother me.
When i am in a rush for a party I use a carbonation stone, maybe you want to start saving pennies for one of those to help make things go faster in the future.
I see now. I didn't know what a carb stone was so I googled it. Carbing the beer on the outpost is trying to do the same thing. It forces the CO2 to rise through the beer from the bottom of rhe keg carbonating the beer faster. The carb stone does the same thing. It might be more effective. I 've never used one but looks to me the LHBS owner was using that theory when advising using the outpost.
I learned something today already! Now my head hurts!
DC
There are a number of ways to do it. The easiest and most conistant is to kook up to the gas IN, and leave it at serving pressure (usually 8-12 psi) and forget about it. This will take 10-14 days to get the propor carb level, but will not overcarb and be consistant.
Then there is the quick carb. Hook up to your Out post at 30 psi, and leave for 48 hours. Detach, purge the head pressure, then reattach to the IN, and serve. I would advise checking after 24-36 hours first though so you do not overcarb. There will be a little system variance depending on line ID and length of your bevline, gas dosnt matter.
I personally combine the 2 methods. After I purge off headspace, I reattach to the OUT at 30 psi and rock the keg for 5 minutes to maximize absorption. I then disconnect, wait 24 hrs, and check my pressure with a guage, usually it equalizes to 8-10 psi. I then relieve the head pressure and hook up to serve. It will be carbed well, but the nice head ret takes a few days to develop.
You should do all this with the keg and beer chilled to serving temp.
Alright guys thanks for all the replies. I think I understand how things work now - for the most part. Though I'm sure I'm going to have questions later about over/under carbonation and how to fix it. In the future I think I'm going to hook the keg up and let it sit for a couple weeks and carb at serving pressure. I'm usually not in too much of a rush a batch of beer and know it'll only get better with time.
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