Venting pressure during carbonation in a keg

I've finally landed in the world of kegs, and I've gone with a portable set up and priming sugar to get carbonation into the beer. I think I measured it ok and racked into the keg etc, then gave it some CO2 to clear the headspace. My question is - do I use the pressure release thingy to vent extra CO2 out? If so, how often would I need to do that (every day, one a week)?

PS: I can already see that this portable picnic thing is going to have been a waste of money, I'll be back for a 10# CO2 cylinder before the summer is out. Then it'll be hunting high and low for a suitable kegerator candidate...

When you first rack into the keg, you'll want to hit it with CO2, vent it out to let out the O2, and then hit it again with enough CO2 to seat the lid.

If you measured the proper amount of priming sugar, you shouldn't have to vent it again after that until you put it on gas.

That's what I did - blast it, vent it, blast it again. It seemed unlikely that that little sugar would make the keg explode, but I thought I'd be better off checking!

I think I read somewhere that corney kegs will start to vent at something like 130 psi. If you have that much pressue in there, then I'd worry about more than the priming sugar!

If you added the correct amount of priming sugar, you will be fine. Just wait (just like with bottling) and vent only before you set it on the gas to serve.

If you vent it all the time, it won't get carbed. Once it's been purged, let it set for a couple of weeks and it will be fine (and hopefully carbed).

Thanks guys. When it is time to serve this up, do I vent it then? Can the pressure build up from keg conditioning be used to serve the beer (then you top it up with CO2 as needed).

What are you pushing it with? A portable CO2 bottle or one of those chargers that use the little CO2 cartridges? If the latter, I think you can just chill it and start serving it. When it starts to get slow, give it a shot with the charger. If you're using a bottle and regulator, you'll want to purge the keg first to make sure you don't get beer backing up into your regulator.

The mini-charger setup. Thanks for your info, very helpful. As I said before, I'm kind of regretting not pushing the boat out and going full-on with a 10# CO2 bottle and all the fixin's. I was trying to be economical, but past experience in home brewing should show me that at every step I've tried that, then ended up upgrading shortly afterwards. That said, it's still been a pretty cheap hobby and you can't fault the beer you get out of it (and the dog loves those spent grain biscuits).

My cousin did the charger for a while when he started kegging, but he ended up going back to bottles after 2 kegs, because his beer would end up going flat if it was not consumed fast enough.

After he heard my reviews on a CO2 tank/regulator he upgraded.

Those chargers are only really meant to add some pressure to a keg being served at a party, and not a full term solition.

I would let the keg condition and naturally carb. When you tap it, I would only vent if you have excessive pressure or foaming. Hit it w/ CO2 when the pour slows down / pressure drops.

Arkador said:

My cousin did the charger for a while when he started kegging, but he ended up going back to bottles after 2 kegs, because his beer would end up going flat if it was not consumed fast enough.

After he heard my reviews on a CO2 tank/regulator he upgraded.

Those chargers are only really meant to add some pressure to a keg being served at a party, and not a full term solition.

Click to expand...

This is where I am right now - kegs for parties where I can assume that the keg will get kicked. I don't have a means to keep 1 or more kegs permenantly cold right now. Once I get another fridge or freezer for a permanent set up, I'll be getting a proper set up.

Not one person has mentioned a spunding valve.

This would allow him to set the valve at desired volumes of CO2 and simply let the yeast do their work. When finished you have a perfectly carbonated beverage ready for your tap works.

Edit: I use Sanke tap connections, but these are easy to make with Corny parts.

WortMonger said:

Not one person has mentioned a spunding valve.

.

Click to expand...

Actually, I did. I just didn't know what it was called. Thanks for the vocabulary lesson.

Oh, sorry ChshreCat. I didn't see anyone talking about controlled pressure relief. The good thing about spunding is you can dial in carbonation at any temperature. I let mine carbonate towards the end of primary fermentation, but you could easily do it at room temperature to finished beer that you were priming. You just set it were you want pressure released and it automatically takes care of it for you. CO2 purge and initial seating of the gasket required of course.