can you rack to a keg?

i was thinking instead of bottling, could i rack over to a cornelius keg instead, and if so would it be better to use a c0 2 tank or the sugar for carbonation?

Co2 for sure

bamabrewin said:

Co2 for sure

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But why co2 over sugar? plz just trying to understand different styles of brewing from all aspects.

You can do both, as many do. The beauty of kegging is you rack one time and carbonate with gas from a bottle. It's quicker and cleaner. In fact, you can carbonate in about 36 hours with gas from a bottle, if you desired.

We use co2 for lighter ales and lagers, all heavier ales that require conditioning, we usually prime with sugar since it is going to be conditioning a while anyway.

I use CO2 for carbing everything, it's faster. CO2 is CO2. Priming sugar is really just a way of adding CO2.
Some make the argument that artificially cabonated beers taste slightly different, I haven't noticed it.

CO2 man. 48 hours at 30psi and you are ready to rock. Why wait if you are serving from your keg?? After 48 hours purge and condition as long as you want to clear. Usually no more than a few days...a few weeks at most and crystal clear.

force carbing is good if you give the beer a proper conditioning time. a rushed forced carbed beer will be green and taste it for a long time if you carb with sugar it gives another 3 weeks of conditioning before you touch it. i use the set and forget method of carbing. my brew schedule for normal strength beers is a 3 week primary rack to keg put in conditioning fridge 3 days at 34 hook up co2 at serving pressure and temp for 2 weeks than roll in the keezer. this works for me YMMV but 6 weeks grain to glass is perfect for me to make sure my beer isn't green

how do you clean them? the keg that is.

DuffManMississippi said:

how do you clean them? the keg that is.

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DuffManMississippi said:

how do you clean them? the keg that is.

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They are EASY to clean. Remove the lid, and you have access to the inside. Usually, just a rinse and a soak with Oxyclean water is enough. Use pressure to push some oxy water through the liquid out post.

As to force carbing, another reason to use CO2 is yeast. If you naturally carb in the keg, you will get a yeast build up in the bottom.

If you can change an airfilter on a car, you can clean a corny keg.

ok guys i got all my answers thx alot . . . . i love h.b.t woop woop

I fill my empty keg with a very low solution of bleach water. Probable only a tablespoon of bleach to about 4 gallons of water. I seal the keg, shake it and put it up side down for a bit. Then I put a few pounds of co2 on it and run the bleach water out of the keg through the tap. Cleans my lines as well. Dont forget to then clean out the blach water with purified water and run it out with the co2 on it to cleanse the lines. Then I blow all the lines out with the co2. I have been doing this method for years and my kegs are in great shape, and I never have a contamination issue. Just remember to cleans everything so your beer doesn't taste like bleach. Good luck.