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Kegging
A friend and I kegged recently (I am used to bottling, not kegging) and were trying to force carbonate it. I was working off of a temp chart and had him apply 15 psi for 24 hours since he was able to store the keg in a refridgerator at 40 degrees.
After one day there was little to no carbonation. After two days, pretty much the same.
How do you guys keg? How much pressure do you apply?
Also, the beer took on a strange sourness after we kegged it (much different than it tasted just before kegging). I'm wondering if the keg - which is a used keg, btw - imparted some odd flavor to the beer. Thoughts?
First let me say I have little kegging experience. I've just started kegging my beer. If you use force carbonating you have to set the psi up very high....like 40 or 50 psi, and do a little shaking. 15 psi is in the range for normal serving pressure. I let me kegs sit at 15 psi for about 7 days to build up carbonation.
As for the sour taste....well, not really sure. How new is the keg system? Has it been used before? What style of beer is it? I've had a batch that tasted fine when it was put into the keg and it got a weird sour taste after a day in the fridge that then went away after a few more days. I suspect that it was the yeast dropping out of suspension.
Anyone else have thoughts on this?
I purge the headspace out, pressurize, blowoff 3 times, then chill overnight. Next day I crank up to 30# carb and rock keg back and forth for 5 min, turn the gas down to 8-10 # and serve. It will absorb the gas and you will have good carbonation in a day. Or set it to 10# and wait a week.
If you use the set and forget method (which is what webby described). It can take close to a week to reach the desired carbonation level.
I do the set and forget, I guess I am more patient.
The sour flavor may be residual soda flavor leaching from the dip tubes. Did you completely dissassemble and soak it all in hot PBW before use? Sour flavor may also be a sign of carbonic acid from the force carbonating. But its early so I don't think that's the problem.
Used kegs are great but they require some love and care before that first beer use.
I don't believe it was soaked in PBW. With the next batch we'll be sure to do that.
I've read somewhere (I can't remember where) that rocking the keg is undesirable. I completely forgot why - maybe it was a purist.
I'll be doing a Fat Amber version 2 soon which will also be an all-grain batch (first all grain). Maybe we can try kegging that one.
Just boil some water, insert, cap, wait a little and run it through the tap prior to each batch. This will steralize and purge the tank. This is what I do and i have yet to have a problem. PBW it every so often if you want to be safer and have a warm fuzzy.
KyNGmedic wrote:
Just boil some water, insert, cap, wait a little and run it through the tap prior to each batch. This will steralize and purge the tank. This is what I do and i have yet to have a problem. PBW it every so often if you want to be safer and have a warm fuzzy.
I use boiling water to clean out a just emptied keg that I plan to fill with fresh beer.
But for kegs that are new to your brewhouse a good soak in PBW is critical to get the soda residue out. And the dip tubes and popetts need to be removed and soaked too. Lastly, the o-rings should be replaced too as that rubber can absorb the flavors and never really release them.
These kegs were from another brewer who had bought them new, so these never were used for soda...
If you beer is turning sour in a keg that was cleaned and not used for soda... you have an infection possibly and it has nothing to do with your kegging procedure.
Did you clean out the dip tube?
brewchez wrote:
KyNGmedic wrote:
Just boil some water, insert, cap, wait a little and run it through the tap prior to each batch. This will steralize and purge the tank. This is what I do and i have yet to have a problem. PBW it every so often if you want to be safer and have a warm fuzzy.
I use boiling water to clean out a just emptied keg that I plan to fill with fresh beer.
But for kegs that are new to your brewhouse a good soak in PBW is critical to get the soda residue out. And the dip tubes and popetts need to be removed and soaked too. Lastly, the o-rings should be replaced too as that rubber can absorb the flavors and never really release them.
I just started kegging too... I was advised to be careful using boiling water as it could "cook" the contaminants onto the metal.
All I did was was fill the keg 2/3 full of water and a couple tablespoons of oxy-clean, Toss the dip tupe in the opening of the keg, then flip it over (upside down) into a clean bucket to get the top cleaned. Soaked the the lid and posts in a margarine container of the same solution. Seems to have worked...
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