Quick Kegging Questions

I finally ordered and received my kegging equipment last week and am ready to keg 10 gallons of beer this weekend. I just realized that I forgot a 2-way splitter that allows me to connect both kegs to the same CO2 tank at the same time.

I've also decided that I'm going to do the "set and forget" method of carbing. I plan on putting it on 10 or 12 PSI and leaving it for 2 to 3 weeks before drinking it.

If I set my regulator to 12 and put 12 psi on one keg, disconnect the gas line and then put 12 psi on the other keg...shouldn't they both stay at 12 psi with the CO2 off? (If they don't have any leaks?)

Also, since my refrigerator can only hold 2 kegs, and I plan on having at least 4 total...instead of using priming sugar in the spare kegs...can I just put 12 psi on them and store them in the closet at room temp for several weeks before using them? Shouldn't they be carbed and ready to go when I do put them in play?

Thanks in advance!

No, that is not how it works. The beer will be absorbing CO2 in order to carbinate and thus they need to be pressurized the entire time they are carbing.

No. You need to have continuous pressure to carbonate the beer in the keg. If you just give it a shot of gas and then turn it off, the beer will absorb some of it until the volume of CO2 in the beer equalizes with the CO2 in the headspace, but the level of carbonation in the beer will likely be undetectable.

Even if you leave it on the gas (which you must), 12psi at room temp won't carb anywhere like it will at 38-40*F.

The alternative is to put MORE pressure than you want in the head space and let it absorb until the head space pressure is equal to the carbonation you want. This is difficult to calculate ahead of time unless you know your head space volume and can do some good gas law calculations. You also might not be able to put enough pressure in the head space regardless.

Using some info from another well-known brewing forum *cough* I built a simple gauge to measure the head space pressure in my kegs, and I force carb doing the shaking thing. Normally, people complain about overshooting your carb level, but with a gauge I can get it right where I want it every time in about 10 minutes per keg.

Not to hijack but, Silver do you mind sharing how you made that gauge? I use the set it and forget it method but would venture into the shaking method if I could get it right consistently. Thanks

Damn! You guys are quick to reply! Thanks!

That makes total sense though...I didn't think about the CO2 that would be absorbing in the beer itself. I'll pick up a splitter before this weekend.

So would your advice to be to force carb the spare keg at 30 PSI in the refrigerator for one day and then put it in the closet at room temp? My fridge is set at 36 degrees, but I'm not wild about chilling the beer and then letting it get warm again. Would using priming sugar for the spare kegs make the most sense? Or should I do the 15 minute force carb "rocking" method before storing?

SilverZero -
I am curious about this also!

Thanks again!

I just saw your link. Thanks!

Can this be done while the beer is at room temp? After getting the 3 identical readings and the carbonation level you want, can you then store the keg at room temp? Will it maintain that pressure and carb level?

Thanks again!

stewart194 said:

I just saw your link. Thanks!

Can this be done while the beer is at room temp? After getting the 3 identical readings and the carbonation level you want, can you then store the keg at room temp? Will it maintain that pressure and carb level?

Thanks again!

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Yes. Something like 30 psi (check the chart) is good for 65 degrees. You can keep the keg at room temperature, and it will stay carbed up (with no leaks, of course!).

I needed a splitter, so I went to Ace hardware and got a stainless T and some ear clamps in the plumbing dept. for my second little basement set up.

My gauge is as simple as it could be (mainly because I cobbled it together from the limited inventory of pieces I had on hand - I just got into kegging so I don't have a bunch of extras yet).



I just pulled the gauge off of an old regulator and fitted it into the pipe tee. Other end of the tee is a male air hose fitting, then a short length of tubing coupling all that to a gas QD and barb.

I fill my keg and cold crash it for a couple of days if I can wait that long, fill the head space to 30psi, shake and shake for a minute, then attach the gauge and check pressure. It's usually all absorbed after the first round, so I top it off to 30psi or maybe just 20 to be safe, shake a bit more, reattach the gauge, check the pressure, repeat the shaking, add CO2 as necessary if it drops below where I'm aiming based on temp and volumes CO2 I want per style, and repeat until the gauge reads what I want in the beer even after 2-3 rounds of shaking. I will usually only fill off the regulator twice before I really make sure it's not going to overshoot. So, if I'm getting consistent readings that are low but within 5psi of what I want, I'll only add a bit of gas to the keg and do the shaking again. If I think it's not going to equalize before the pressure is low enough, I'll vent the keg a couple of shots and resume.

If you do overshoot, you could partially vent the keg until the gauge is a bit below what you want, that will allow some of the CO2 back out of solution and it should equalize pretty quickly (maybe hours or overnight - overshooting is harder to fix).

Even so, I'm planning to upgrade this to a full spunding valve so I can do pressurized fermentation in my sanke keg. This kegging thing is a whole new world of projects.

Yooper said:

Yes. Something like 30 psi (check the chart) is good for 65 degrees. You can keep the keg at room temperature, and it will stay carbed up (with no leaks, of course!).

I needed a splitter, so I went to Ace hardware and got a stainless T and some ear clamps in the plumbing dept. for my second little basement set up.

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Thanks Yooper. Do I still need to do the rocking technique with 30 psi first? Or can I just hit it with 30 psi and set it in the corner for storage?

SilverZero said:

My gauge is as simple as it could be (mainly because I cobbled it together from the limited inventory of pieces I had on hand - I just got into kegging so I don't have a bunch of extras yet).

I just pulled the gauge off of an old regulator and fitted it into the pipe tee. Other end of the tee is a male air hose fitting, then a short length of tubing coupling all that to a gas QD and barb.

I fill my keg and cold crash it for a couple of days if I can wait that long, fill the head space to 30psi, shake and shake for a minute, then attach the gauge and check pressure. It's usually all absorbed after the first round, so I top it off to 30psi or maybe just 20 to be safe, shake a bit more, reattach the gauge, check the pressure, repeat the shaking, add CO2 as necessary if it drops below where I'm aiming based on temp and volumes CO2 I want per style, and repeat until the gauge reads what I want in the beer even after 2-3 rounds of shaking. I will usually only fill off the regulator twice before I really make sure it's not going to overshoot. So, if I'm getting consistent readings that are low but within 5psi of what I want, I'll only add a bit of gas to the keg and do the shaking again. If I think it's not going to equalize before the pressure is low enough, I'll vent the keg a couple of shots and resume.

If you do overshoot, you could partially vent the keg until the gauge is a bit below what you want, that will allow some of the CO2 back out of solution and it should equalize pretty quickly (maybe hours or overnight - overshooting is harder to fix).

Even so, I'm planning to upgrade this to a full spunding valve so I can do pressurized fermentation in my sanke keg. This kegging thing is a whole new world of projects.

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Thanks again. I'd like to avoid over carbing it if possible. I'll try to make one of these gauges and see what happens. But you cold crash first, then do this technique, and then you leave your kegs in the fridge afterwards correct?

I do, because the kegs go straight into the kegerator after this. Honest moment: I've only done this 4 times. I just got into kegging. You don't have to cold crash, I have because I wanted to clear the sediment before racking to the keg.

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stewart194 said:

Thanks Yooper. Do I still need to do the rocking technique with 30 psi first? Or can I just hit it with 30 psi and set it in the corner for storage?

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I never, but never, shake or rock my kegs. You can hit it with 30 psi to set the lids, but the beer will absorb the gas and it won't carb up while it sits unless you keep it on the gas. Once it's carbed up (in about 10-14 days), you can disconnect and store.

If I'm in a terrible hurry to carb up a keg, I'll place it in the kegerator at 30 psi for 36 hours (that's a high pressure for cold temperatures, and longer would make it overcarbed), and then purge and reset at 12 psi. I keep my kegerator at 40 degrees, and 12 psi is the perfect carb level for that temperature. Bumping up the pressure for a day helps carb the beer up faster, without shaking/rolling the beer.

There are a couple of reasons I don't roll/shake. One is that I don't want all of the sediment stirred up, and don't even move a keg once I place it. Two, shaking causes some protein shear and can impact head retention later. And I simply don't like foamy beer or to deal with a possiblity of it being overcarbed. Some people do shake, and are happy with the results, but many more have problems when they do it.

I didn't know any of that, but it makes me tend to side with Yooper. I've just started out very impatient to get my kegs ready here at the beginning. If I can have carbed beer in a keg in 20 minutes instead of 10 days in bottles, good luck stopping me.

BUT, as I move into pressurized fermentation, the beer will already be carbed at the end of primary, so I won't have to force-quick-carb. That's the plan anyway. I am happy with the few kegs I've had so far, but I'm always happy to learn what's better (and, more importantly, why).

I didn't know that either. I'm never in that much of a hurry to drink my new batches of beer and always have plenty on hand from previous batches. I'm used to waiting at least 3 weeks after bottling anyway, and that's why I decided I would just use 12 psi and wait 3 weeks before drinking when I started kegging...and not doing the quick force carb method. My beers don't start tasting right until they've matured a little anyway, usually around 5 weeks.

This question was really about how to store the other full kegs that I don't have room for in the fridge. I will either put 30 psi on them, set them in the corner, and then plan on waiting 10 days at 12 psi when I do connect them...or use priming sugar so they're ready to go when I connect them.

Thanks again!

Yeah, in which case you probably should blast the keg at 30psi to seal it, then after you leak-test it drop it to 12 and let it ride. If you're waiting 3 weeks, no reason to put higher pressure on for any length of time.

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Thanks man. I guess I'm still confused about that. I thought Yooper was saying to hit it at 30 psi and then set it aside? I was thinking that maybe the one time blast of 30 pounds would slowly dissolve into the beer over time and not actually stay at 30 which would no doubt over carb it. Still learning all of this stuff but am excited to start kegging. I never "hated" bottling until I started doing 10 gallon batches! Since then though I completely despise it.

But hitting it with 30 to seal it, then check for leaks, then dropping it to 12 for storage makes sense also. I'm guessing that I should probably do this anyway, even if I decide to use priming sugar? As far as using priming sugar in a keg goes, when a keg is empty, being able to put a new keg in place that is already carbed and ready to go would be pretty nice.

Actually, you're right, Yooper is correct. 30psi will absorb over time and would rarely over carb unless you had a very large head space. 12psi would dissipate and you'd be under. Now, 12psi constant (i.e. on a regulated tank) would be great, but for storage off the gas line you want to provide enough gas to go into the beer. You could do the math using ideal gas laws and your actual beer and head space volumes to see if 30psi at a certain storage temp would be enough, too little, or too much, or just trust the more experienced members here.

I'll avoid spreading misinformation at 5am in the future.

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Haha. You're fine man. Maybe she'll chime in again and explain this. I might have misread it. So much of this is trial and error the first time anyway. But I'm glad HBT exists. So many great people on here have pointed me in the right direction. Ultimately though, you just have to experiment a little and find what works best for you and your particular setup.

And honestly, now I'm thinking that using priming sugar in the kegs I'm storing may not be a bad idea. It would allow me to experiment with carbing it that way vs carbing with CO2. I've read that some people think the beer is better after carbing with priming sugar while others say it doesn't make any difference and that carbonation is carbonation, no matter which method you choose to get there.

But that brings up another question. If I do use priming sugar in my kegs (I know to use half of the regular amount) would I still need to keep a little CO2 pressure on them to insure that everything stays sealed? Should I hit it with 30, test for leaks, then put 12 psi for storage or bleed the CO2 off completely and let the priming sugar do it's thing?

Now THAT is where I'd say to give it a quick blast at 30psi to seal it, test for leaks, then bleed it off even to zero (otherwise you're introducing more carbonation than you calculated for your priming sugar alone). The keg will stay sealed, especially if you're using keg lube. That's assuming your head space is minimal and proportional to a bottle. Like you said, the only way to really know is to try it and see what works for you, but it sure is nice having the experience of others to get you started closer to your goal.

Many of my cornies just don't seal right if they don't get a shot of c02 to set the lids. Also, hitting it with 30 psi, pulling the pressure relief valve, and hitting it again helps to purge 02 out of the keg as well.

The c02 does dissolve a bit into the beer, but not enough to carb (or overcarb) the beer. Once the seals are set, mine don't leak again as the pressure dissipates.

It's true that you can either just let it sit or add priming sugar to carb it up while it sits- either way is fine. Mine just go into the kegerator right away for almost all beers, except for my stout which usually needs another week or so at room temperature for aging.

If you're carbing in the keg using priming sugar, you want to keep at least a little pressure in the keg while it's carbonating. If you blast it with 30 psi to set the seals, but then bleed it off, you are likely to get tiny leaks, yes, even with keg lube. The design of the keg depends on positive pressure to maintain the seal. Without pressure inside pushing out on the seals, air can get in/out.

If you bleed off the pressure entirely, your yeast will consume the priming sugar and slowly produce CO2, which will quietly escape the keg. 2 weeks later, you'll be left with an unpressurized keg full of flat beer with a slightly higher ABV.

That 30 psi won't overcarb the beer, particularly at room temperature (which I assume is what you're using, if you're expecting the yeast to consume the priming sugars). To be clear, I'm not saying to leave the CO2 on - I'm saying pressurize it to 30 psi, then disconnect the CO2 and leave the keg (don't vent it).

kombat said:

If you're carbing in the keg using priming sugar, you want to keep at least a little pressure in the keg while it's carbonating. If you blast it with 30 psi to set the seals, but then bleed it off, you are likely to get tiny leaks, yes, even with keg lube. The design of the keg depends on positive pressure to maintain the seal. Without pressure inside pushing out on the seals, air can get in/out.

If you bleed off the pressure entirely, your yeast will consume the priming sugar and slowly produce CO2, which will quietly escape the keg. 2 weeks later, you'll be left with an unpressurized keg full of flat beer with a slightly higher ABV.

That 30 psi won't overcarb the beer, particularly at room temperature (which I assume is what you're using, if you're expecting the yeast to consume the priming sugars). To be clear, I'm not saying to leave the CO2 on - I'm saying pressurize it to 30 psi, then disconnect the CO2 and leave the keg (don't vent it).

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My experience with my 6 kegs is that, once sealed even for a couple of minutes, the lids are almost stuck to the opening and I have to tap with a reasonable force to get them to pop free. Could just be mine, could be something that's not a universal rule one way or the other.

If you're leaving pressure in the head space, your priming sugar calculation will be off, maybe not by much but I'd have to do the math to really be sure. And I'm going to, right after class today.

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SilverZero said:

If you're leaving pressure in the head space, your priming sugar calculation will be off, maybe not by much but I'd have to do the math to really be sure. And I'm going to, right after class today.

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True, it will be slightly overcarbed, but like you, I'm not doing the math. Remember that we're talking about a room temperature keg here, and CO2 is not nearly as soluble in beer at such temperatures, so 30 psi should not be appreciably absorbed into the beer. If you left it connected and had it constantly being applied, sure, but we're talking about one shot, then disconnecting.

Furthermore, we're talking about a full keg here, so the head space is very minimal. 30 psi in such a small space should not add any noticeable extra carbonation to the beer, as the slightest absorption will rapidly lower that headspace pressure below the level at which any more will dissolve into the (room temperature) beer.

Okay, okay, I did a quick calculation. For 5 gallons in a keg with 3L of head space (which is a pretty high estimate, I think) at 30psi, there would initially be 0.25 moles of CO2 waiting to be absorbed. 2.5 volumes CO2 from the sugar would equal about 45 liters of CO2 in solution, or about 2 moles. Add those 0.25 moles and that adds about 5.6L to the situation. In total, this would bring the carbonation up to 2.67 volumes.

This assumes all of the gas dissolves into the beer (which it doesn't, it will reach equilibrium) and also that I'm thinking straight (a dangerous assumption). I'd have to do the dimensional analysis by hand to really get a closer estimate.

I'll trust your numbers, and not just because they support my assertion that any additional carbonation would be imperceptible.

Noob to kegging here with a question. (Apologies in advance for any procedural violations). If I've pressured my corny at 25-30 psi overnight at room temp, should my pressure drop at all? My gauge seems to show a small reduction in pressure. I am planning on reducing to about 12 psi and putting keg to store at 42F for about a week. This is my first time kegging and I really want it to come out right. Any help appreciated.
Keith in NH

keithsavage said:

Noob to kegging here with a question. (Apologies in advance for any procedural violations). If I've pressured my corny at 25-30 psi overnight at room temp, should my pressure drop at all? My gauge seems to show a small reduction in pressure. I am planning on reducing to about 12 psi and putting keg to store at 42F for about a week. This is my first time kegging and I really want it to come out right. Any help appreciated.
Keith in NH

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Was the gas connected the whole time? The pressure should drop as CO2 is absorbed from the head space into the beer, but if there is constant pressure from your gas tank it will just keep absorbing. Obviously, if you kept it at 30 psi you would eventually overcarb quite a bit. You can keep it high for a shorter amount of time to speed up carbonating as the rate of absorption is related to the difference in pressure in the head space and the level in the beer, but that takes a few days or more. Conversely, putting it at 12psi (constant) will carb to 12psi eventually but it will take longer.

Pressurizing and then removing the gas connection will only result in a small bump in carbonation as it will all get absorbed to equilibrium and then stop, and the volume of gas in the head space just isn't much relative to the amount necessary to carb 5 gallons.

Again, trusting my math* and assuming a serving pressure of 10psi and temp of 40F the whole time, you'd need to add about 350psi of pressure to the head space of your keg (assuming 2L of head space, about half a gallon from the beer to the mouth of the keg). And at room temperature (68F) you'd need a pressure of almost 400psi to fully carb 5 gallons of beer without adding any more. I don't think your keg can handle it.

*My math is still evolving as I include factors like serving pressure, temperature, residual CO2, etc. but the bottom line is that you'd need a lot of pressure in the head space to carb without adding gas periodically. Setting to your desired CO2 level and just leaving it to carb with the gas connected to supply more CO2 as it is absorbed until it reaches equilibrium is obviously the best way to go, it just takes longer. How long? That's another calculation.

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It was indeed on the gas the entire time. Maybe a seal issue? I vented, dropped the pressure set between 10-15 psi and put in the cold (42F)- should it stay directly on the gas or can I disconnect and leave it be? Time isn't really a constraint for me at this time.


Keith in NH

keithsavage said:

It was indeed on the gas the entire time. Maybe a seal issue? I vented, dropped the pressure set between 10-15 psi and put in the cold (42F)- should it stay directly on the gas or can I disconnect and leave it be? Time isn't really a constraint for me at this time.


Keith in NH

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A bad seal will probably result in more than just a little drop in the gauge. Also, if you're talking about your service pressure gauge (i.e. the one that's in the hundreds) then that has nothing to do with how much gas is left in the bottle. If you're talking about the outlet gauge, a small change could have been just from temperature changes messing with the regulator or just gradually "settling in" to its set level.

It wouldn't hurt to do a soapy bubble check for any leaks. Once you're sure it's not leaking, set it to 10-15psi (serving pressure, ideally) and leave it on the gas for a couple of weeks. If you take it off the gas, whatever is in the head space will get absorbed and won't carb the full volume very much at all. At 42F, 12psi will give you 2.4 volumes of CO2 which is pretty good for an American ale.

A regulator should be able to maintain pressure even when driving an uncarbed keg. But a bad seal or a split in a gas line can do some weird things; it may only open when the pressure exceeds some level, or if something is moved the right way.

One of my gas systems has an extra regulator that I use for things like flushing carboys and kegs, or gassing up a bottle of beer with a carb cap. Saturday I was kegging a couple of batches and ended up with an extra quart of beer which I put in a Pepsi bottle with a carb cap and hooked up to the extra drop.

Whenever I rocked the bottle the pressure would drop precipitously - way more than you'd expect from gas dissolving in a quart of beer. Eventually figured out the nylon check valve I put near the QD had a crack in it and was letting gas go bye-bye...

Cheers!