kegging process

this is my first post so please be patient with me. My questions lay primarly in the brewing and kegging process. Can i go straight from the fermenting bucket to the keg or do I need to place the brew in a carboy for a period of time? I brewed one of those red ale kits, went from bucket, to carboy, to keg. I also added half of the suggested priming sugar and the brew was flat. After doing some further investigating i had the co2 to low (7 psi). Maybe I can kick the co2 up and it might be alright?
*I JUST WOULD LIKE TO SAY THANK YOU FOR YOUR GUYS HELP*
*THIS SITE IS HUGE HELP!

insco2 said:

this is my first post so please be patient with me. My questions lay primarly in the brewing and kegging process. Can i go straight from the fermenting bucket to the keg or do I need to place the brew in a carboy for a period of time? I brewed one of those red ale kits, went from bucket, to carboy, to keg. I also added half of the suggested priming sugar and the brew was flat. After doing some further investigating i had the co2 to low (7 psi). Maybe I can kick the co2 up and it might be alright?
*I JUST WOULD LIKE TO SAY THANK YOU FOR YOUR GUYS HELP*
*THIS SITE IS HUGE HELP!

Click to expand...

You can go straight from Primary to Keg if you want. I prefer to let my brew sit about 7 days or so in primary, then transfer to secondary for a couple of weeks to let it clarify, then rack to a keg. Either way is fine.

If you are using a CO2 cylinder, there's no need to use any priming sugar. Just rack into the keg, chill the beer, hook up your CO2 to the keg, set your pressure (use the charts to determine the correct PSI for this), wait about 5 to 7 days, then serve.

I carbonate using 2.5 volumes of CO2 at about 38 degrees. That means I set my pressure between 11 and 12 PSI. I've never waited longer than 6 days to reach the carbonation level I want.

By not priming, you avoid the sediment that results and collects in the bottom of your keg, to be piped directly into your glass. No sediment is one of the good reasons to use kegs.