first few pulls from a primed keg?

my first time naturally carbing in the keg here and there seems to be something "off" in the taste, now the kicker is its also my first original recipe so i dunno if the recipe just needs tweaking or something else is off.....

is it normal for the first few pints to have a lot of yeast in suspension still from the priming which could be the off flavor i'm tasting? the beer is darker (20 SRM or so)so its hard to tell but its definitely not clear by any means. I used 2oz of priming sugar and it sat for just shy of 3 weeks, went into the keezer on wed. night and just taking my first few pints tonight 2 days later

the yeast will clear out. let it sit longer, deal with the blow off for the first pints, or turn the pressure up to 30 to blast the yeast off the bottom. then reduce back to serving pressure and vent head space. 2oz is a lot. i force carb, but in a keg they recommend 1/2 oz vs the 3/4 oz for bottling.

EPIC FIRST POST DAWG!

I'm drunk and f'ing around. So you primed the keg? Who told you to do that? It is very normal to have a good bit of yeast in the first few pints. In fact, many of us cut off the first 1" from the dip tube so that any yeast and particulates don't get sucked up in the pulls. Here is what you want to do...for clear beer and for perfect taste (assuming perfect brewing conditions...which is impossible unless you are BMC):

1) Don't use priming sugar
2) Cold crash your primary/secondary (if used)
3) Unscrew the beer connect, pull out the dip tube, and cut off 1/2 to 1"...reinsert
4) Prepare a gelatin solution: 1 tbs. in 1 cup warm/hot water out of the tap...mix it really well until it is dissolved and let sit 30 minutes
5) Heat gelatin solution to around 180 to pasteurize (BUT DON'T BOIL...YOU ARE F**CKED IF YOU BOIL...NOT REALLY, BUT IT WILL DEFEAT THE PURPOSE OF THE GELATIN)
6) Pour the hot gelatin in the bottom of the keg
7) Rack your brew on top of the gelatin
8) Connect your gas line & turn the PSI to 20
9) Set the keg on it's side and roll back and forth for about 15 minutes
10) Turn the gas back to 10 and let sit for 48 hours
11) Pull one off and stroke one off to how freaking awesomely clear and perfect your beer is.

PM me if you have questions...SUCKA!

DocRobinson said:

11) Pull one off and stroke one off to how freaking awesomely clear and perfect your beer is.

PM me if you have questions...SUCKA!

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classic!.......

DocRobinson said:

2) Cold crash your primary/secondary (if used)
3) Unscrew the beer connect, pull out the dip tube, and cut off 1/2 to 1"...reinsert
4) Prepare a gelatin solution: 1 tbs. in 1 cup warm/hot water out of the tap...mix it really well until it is dissolved and let sit 30 minutes
5) Heat gelatin solution to around 180 to pasteurize (BUT DON'T BOIL...YOU ARE F**CKED IF YOU BOIL...NOT REALLY, BUT IT WILL DEFEAT THE PURPOSE OF THE GELATIN)
6) Pour the hot gelatin in the bottom of the keg
7) Rack your brew on top of the gelatin
8) Connect your gas line & turn the PSI to 20
9) Set the keg on it's side and roll back and forth for about 15 minutes
10) Turn the gas back to 10 and let sit for 48 hours
11) Pull one off and stroke one off to how freaking awesomely clear and perfect your beer is.

PM me if you have questions...SUCKA!

Click to expand...

I got my first keg setup in the mail right now, so I need to know what you guys are talking about before Monday!

2) Cold crash at what temp? And for how long? Does it matter if its primary or secondary?
3) Don't know about the dip tube yet, guess I'll find out
4) Gelatin solution of what? 1 tbsn of what in warm water?
10) Is 10 psi the ideal serving pressure?
11) I'm not touching this one! But believe me I can't wait for my beer buddies and wenches to see my clear, perfect kegged beer!

Any other tips or advice for a noob kegger would be great! Thanks and

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/sticky-kegging-faqs-43347/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/keg-force-carbing-methods-illustrated-73328/

duffman2 said:

Hey Doc, I didn't know if you'd see my reply so I copied it for your PM box. Sounds like you got this process down pretty good man. Any other tips for me would be great!

I got my first keg setup in the mail right now, so I need to know what you guys are talking about before Monday!

2) Cold crash at what temp? And for how long? Does it matter if its primary or secondary?

36-40 degrees for 1-4 days. I do 38 for 3 days. It doesn't matter if it is primary or secondary. Some fools to a long primary and no secondary. Some do a secondary. Cold crash whatever vessel you are going to ultimately go straight to the keg from.

3) Don't know about the dip tube yet, guess I'll find out

When you look inside your corny keg, you will see a long tube extending from the top to the bottom. The top is connected to the beer post (on the top of the keg) and you will notice that it basically scrapes the bottom of the keg. Sediment will build up on the bottom 1/4" or so on the bottom of the keg, so as you will see, if the dip tube touches that sediment layer, it will get sucked up.

4) Gelatin solution of what? 1 tbsn of what in warm water?

Are you dense sucka?! Again I am drunk. Gelatin is gelatin. A standard brand is Knox that you can buy at the grocery...pure, non flavored gelatin. It smells like holy hell when you prepare it but believe me, it has no taste and no smell in the keg and finished beer. It is made out of cow hooves. You can also buy gelatin at your LHBS (local home brew shop). I am talking about 1 tbs. of gelatin in warm water sucka!

10) Is 10 psi the ideal serving pressure?

Basically.

11) I'm not touching this one! But believe me I can't wait for my beer buddies and wenches to see my clear, perfect kegged beer!

For sure...it will be one kick ass circle jerk.

Any other tips or advice for a noob kegger would be great! Thanks and

Click to expand...

Suck on that knowledge sucka!

duffman2 said:

I got my first keg setup in the mail right now, so I need to know what you guys are talking about before Monday!

2) Cold crash at what temp? And for how long? Does it matter if its primary or secondary?
3) Don't know about the dip tube yet, guess I'll find out
4) Gelatin solution of what? 1 tbsn of what in warm water?
10) Is 10 psi the ideal serving pressure?
11) I'm not touching this one! But believe me I can't wait for my beer buddies and wenches to see my clear, perfect kegged beer!

Any other tips or advice for a noob kegger would be great! Thanks and

Click to expand...

2) as close to freezing without freezing. If you can, 30-32 should be good.

4) go to your lhbs and buy the little bottle of gelatin. It's flavorless and binds to things like yeast and pulls them out of solution and to the bottom.
(http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_21_187_396&products_id=814)

10) No, not at all. Ideal serving pressure is dictated by you kegging setup(line length, inner diameter, height of the faucets over the keg, etc) AND volumes of CO2 desired for a given beer style.
Two readings for you:
http://www.kegerators.com/articles/carbonation-table-pressure-chart.php
http://ebrew.com/primarynews/ct_carbonation_chart.htm

I, for example keep my kegs at about 13psi and 40F, which you will notice is about 2.5volumes... ideal for American ales and European lagers, or at least a nice compromise of the two, and those are the styles I brew most often.

If I have two belgians on tap, I may up it to 18-20psi to get above 3 volumes. Belgians really suck at 2.5volumes.

Also if you go higher than 20psi to force carb, you can do it much quicker than 15mins. At 40psi and about 100secs, I usually have about 2.5volumes dissolved. (at least my taste buds thinks so.) I then let it equalize out over time to the correct volume through the setting on the pressure regulator.

circle jerk? oh, right.. a sausage fest! ewwww!

While z987k has presented a lengthy post, stick to my post. 30-32 is too low. For your purposes, the CO2 volumes and PSI discussion is too in depth (stick to 10-12 psi for your standard hoskies), and the 40 psi recommendation for force carbing is retarded. Stick to my simple post for simple success.

DocRobinson said:

While z987k has presented a lengthy post, stick to my post. 30-32 is too low. For your purposes, the CO2 volumes and PSI discussion is too in depth (stick to 10-12 psi for your standard hoskies), and the 40 psi recommendation for force carbing is retarded. Stick to my simple post for simple success.

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I see you subscribe to the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' policy.

OP, what both DocRobinson and z987k have said will work. Of course we're not debating 'what's best' here...

DocRobinson said:

While z987k has presented a lengthy post, stick to my post. 30-32 is too low. For your purposes, the CO2 volumes and PSI discussion is too in depth (stick to 10-12 psi for your standard hoskies), and the 40 psi recommendation for force carbing is retarded. Stick to my simple post for simple success.

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Server a high gravity Belgian at 12psi(assuming it's not also at 30 some *F) and it will pale in comparison to a beer that is served at the correct carbonation level.
Carbonation level is VERY dependent on temperature so just saying 12psi does it is such an oversimplification it is wrong.

I presented evidence backed by science and accepted knowledge of beer(correct carbonation levels). But no, don't follow that. An oversimplified blanket statement always works better.

While we're at it why don't we tell him to get 1ft beer lines because well it will still let beer flow, never mind he'll be on here next day asking why his beer is foamy as hell.

Bottom line is both will work, but if you want you beer to be the best it can(I always just assume this on this site, after all what is the point if not?) do some reading and educate yourself in carbonation, serving pressure and draft line balancing related to beer.

As far as the 30 being too cold, 30F will precipitate out proteins that 32F will not.. same as 40F would not to. If you'd like I can cite a page in a textbook for that one.

mordantly said:

the yeast will clear out. let it sit longer, deal with the blow off for the first pints, or turn the pressure up to 30 to blast the yeast off the bottom. then reduce back to serving pressure and vent head space. 2oz is a lot. i force carb, but in a keg they recommend 1/2 oz vs the 3/4 oz for bottling.

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3/4 oz of corn sugar to prime a 5 gal. batch? Sounds like a nice level of carb for a cask conditioned real ale.

Was your use of ounces a typo, where you meant to say 3/4 cup or aprox. 4.5 oz (by weight).

I was under the impression that you use 1/2 of the recommended corn sugar for priming in a keg. Given a 5 gal batch is typically primed with 4-5 oz for bottling, by this rule the OP's 2 oz of corn sugar is dead on.

z987k said:

Server a high gravity Belgian at 12psi(assuming it's not also at 30 some *F) and it will pale in comparison to a beer that is served at the correct carbonation level.
Carbonation level is VERY dependent on temperature so just saying 12psi does it is such an oversimplification it is wrong.

I presented evidence backed by science and accepted knowledge of beer(correct carbonation levels). But no, don't follow that. An oversimplified blanket statement always works better.

While we're at it why don't we tell him to get 1ft beer lines because well it will still let beer flow, never mind he'll be on here next day asking why his beer is foamy as hell.

Bottom line is both will work, but if you want you beer to be the best it can(I always just assume this on this site, after all what is the point if not?) do some reading and educate yourself in carbonation, serving pressure and draft line balancing related to beer.

As far as the 30 being too cold, 30F will precipitate out proteins that 32F will not.. same as 40F would not to. If you'd like I can cite a page in a textbook for that one.

Click to expand...

Who said he's making a Belgian Mr. Wizard?

z987k said:

As far as the 30 being too cold, 30F will precipitate out proteins that 32F will not.. same as 40F would not to. If you'd like I can cite a page in a textbook for that one.

Click to expand...

As far as this statement goes, I can print out "I told you so" on a piece of paper 5 feet behind a beer crashed at 38 with no gelatin and you'll be able to read it like your Nancy Drew books from 4 feet behind your monitor.

Rushis: spot on. i got "oz" stuck in my head and went ass-over-teakettle.

docrob: don't forget father time. 2-3mos aging in a carboy makes that cleaner than any of my car's winshields!

DocRobinson said:

Who said he's making a Belgian Mr. Wizard?

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who said he isn't. Or what if he's making an English ale, or a German ale? My point is 12psi is only a correct pressure if the style calls for it, and the temperature would make 12psi correct as well.

DocRobinson said:

As far as this statement goes, I can print out "I told you so" on a piece of paper 5 feet behind a beer crashed at 38 with no gelatin and you'll be able to read it like your Nancy Drew books from 4 feet behind your monitor.

Click to expand...

Sure, I've made clear beer sans finnings as well, but that doesn't mean that if he has a haze problem that 40F and gelatin will cure it. Hell he didn't say he had any haze/cloudy problem.

I'm simply stating your blanket statements are not necessarily correct.

And my nancy books are textbooks from ever so slightly reputable brewing schools.

whats wrong with nancy drew? i mean i read the anthology in grade skooool.

so the consensus is i'm probably sucking up some yeast for sure with 2oz of priming sugar? guess another week in the keezer will do it some good