Keg/Carb question

I'm getting ready to keg for the first time. I'm told that the brew should be chilled to below 50 degrees for the CO2 to absorb effectively. My question is if I should chill my secondary and then transfer to the keg OR transfer unchilled secondary to keg, purge O2 with CO2, chill then begin carb OR does it matter? Thoughts?

I just move to my kegs and then throw it in the fridge and put gas on it. No need for chilling before the transfer. IMO

Unless your crash cooling, just transfer then chill.

BendBrewer541 said:

I'm getting ready to keg for the first time. I'm told that the brew should be chilled to below 50 degrees for the CO2 to absorb effectively. My question is if I should chill my secondary and then transfer to the keg OR transfer unchilled secondary to keg, purge O2 with CO2, chill then begin carb OR does it matter? Thoughts?

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You are basically asking the question of whether you should crash cool or not. The process can give clearer beer, so the decision is to you on how much that matters. All things being equal, and given infinite amounts of room in a kegerator, I would always crash cool.

Welcome to the boards, fellow Bendite.

Agreed. If you can chill your fermenter to 35F for two days prior to transfer to the keg, you'll reduce the sediment substantially.

Thanks guys. Being somewhat new to the brew scene, I wan't familiar with the term crash cool. I think that's what I'll do in this case. It should be interesting getting the first try at kegging dialed in. There seems to be a lot of information out there on proper ways to carbonate, but most seem to follow similar principals.

Hey Dkershner, I'm not the only "Bendite" on here; how cool is that.

Great forum!

Thanks again!

BendBrewer541 said:

Hey Dkershner, I'm not the only "Bendite" on here; how cool is that.

Click to expand...

There's a few of us around, being a big beer town and all.

Oh, and btw, missed something in your OP. Beer does not have to be below 50F to absorb CO2, but the pressure needed is higher.

Here's a chart to show you the exacts, but add 1 or 2 PSI because we live at 4000ft, read my sig for details. http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

Dkershner,
Thanks for the info and the link to the chart. Great information. It will be interesting to see how this keg carbs and serves. I'm sure I'll have a little tweaking at first.