First time kegging and overwhelmed with methods!

I know there's a thread on this, but I wanted to make sure I have a good understanding so I don't screw anything up. I just have a couple questions regarding kegging that I hope someone could help me with. I plan on kegging tomorrow for the first time. It's an American wheat that's been in the primary going on 1 month. One, do I transfer the beer to the corny tonight, and let it sit in the kegerator at 42 degrees overnight to help dissolve the CO2 more, or should I just transfer it tomorrow and carbonate right away? Second, I've been told the easiest way to force carb the beer is to set it at the respective pressure and let it sit for a week. In this case, a wheat asks for about 2-2.5 volumes, so 11-12 psi at 42 degrees. After a week, relieve the pressure (do I do this until I don't hear anything escaping) and then set it at serving pressure, 4-6 psi? Again, I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I want to ensure I have everything correct. Thank you!

You can go ahead and rack the beer to the keg and hook it up to CO2 immediately. Put the keg in the kegerator at 42 degrees, set the regulator to 12 psi (depending on the volumes of CO2 you want) and don't ever change the regulator pressure. Using the set and forget method you use the same pressure to carb and serve your beer. Pull a pint in a week and check the carb level. It will take 2-3 weeks to fully carb. One more suggestion, get 10' beer lines.

After I transfer beer to my keg, I purge the o2 then I put a 10 psi cap on it, turn off co2 and crash the keg to ~40*. 24 hrs later, I turn the co2 to 30 psi for 24 hours then turn it back down to the desired carbing pressure for another week. At that point it's ready to go. Serving pressure varies, but 4-6 psi is pretty norm.

I'd ignore the last sentence in the previous post. I'm not a big fan of "serving pressure".

jww9618 said:

You can go ahead and rack the beer to the keg and hook it up to CO2 immediately. Put the keg in the kegerator at 42 degrees, set the regulator to 12 psi (depending on the volumes of CO2 you want) and don't ever change the regulator pressure. Using the set and forget method you use the same pressure to carb and serve your beer. Pull a pint in a week and check the carb level. It will take 2-3 weeks to fully carb. One more suggestion, get 10' beer lines.

Click to expand...

+1 This is exactly how I do it. Rack it to the keg, set it between 9 and 12 psi depending on the style, and let it sit for 1-2 weeks then serve at the same pressure. I started with 5' lines and was getting way too much head. Switched to 10' lines and it pours great!

Great, thanks for the help guys. I think my lines might be a little more than 5 feet. If I notice a considerable amount of foam, I will go get some longer lines. And lastly, when you say let it sit for a couple weeks and then pour, I can just keep the pressure on 12 until the beer is gone?

i rack into keg the night before, then put in kegerator. force carb the next morning. im sure you want to try it out since youve never kegged on before, so why wait a week? the carbonation will get better in a week, but force it so you can drink it this weekend.

You don't need to do anything with regard to "serving pressure," echoing what BobbyM said. Any reduction in foaming you get from dropping your PSI can be achieved through longer beer lines.

kyle6286 said:

Great, thanks for the help guys. I think my lines might be a little more than 5 feet. If I notice a considerable amount of foam, I will go get some longer lines. And lastly, when you say let it sit for a couple weeks and then pour, I can just keep the pressure on 12 until the beer is gone?

Click to expand...

Yes, keep the pressure the same until you are done with your keg. When you pour a glass it reduces the head space in the keg which then fills with more CO2. It will equalize itself so no need to adjust the psi as you run through the keg.

Awesome, thanks for the clarification!

kyle6286 said:

Great, thanks for the help guys. I think my lines might be a little more than 5 feet. If I notice a considerable amount of foam, I will go get some longer lines. And lastly, when you say let it sit for a couple weeks and then pour, I can just keep the pressure on 12 until the beer is gone?

Click to expand...

BryceL said:

Yes, keep the pressure the same until you are done with your keg. When you pour a glass it reduces the head space in the keg which then fills with more CO2. It will equalize itself so no need to adjust the psi as you run through the keg.

Click to expand...

I use 11 or 12 psi at 39 degrees the entire time for my whole system. Once the system is balanced, changing pressure to "serving pressure" is silly. If you want a beer out of keg #1, then a beer out of keg #2, it'd be a real pain to turn it down. Then turn it up so the kegs don't go flat! Far easier to set it at the proper pressure to begin with.

If I'm in a huge hurry, though, I've been known to set the one keg at 30 psi for 24-36 hours, then purge the keg and reset with the rest of the system. It's ready to drink in a couple of days.

I like using the single pressure and being patient. I do use about 30 psi to purge O2 and help seal the keg up. After purging the last time, I set the pressure to 12 psi in my 40 degree kegerator and let it carb up for at least 2 weeks. I only using 7 ft of 3/16 beer line and feel like I get a perfect pour

I crank the 02 to 30, wobble it back and forth for a minute every 10 minutes or so for an hour and then cut it down to 10 psi. next chill it what you want to drink and drink....but then again i am just starting out and ****ty home brew is better than AB.

jww9618 said:

You can go ahead and rack the beer to the keg and hook it up to CO2 immediately. Put the keg in the kegerator at 42 degrees, set the regulator to 12 psi (depending on the volumes of CO2 you want) and don't ever change the regulator pressure. Using the set and forget method you use the same pressure to carb and serve your beer. Pull a pint in a week and check the carb level. It will take 2-3 weeks to fully carb. One more suggestion, get 10' beer lines.

Click to expand...

This is my method exactly ... I first started force carbing, but could never dial it in correctly. I purge my keg with CO2, rack, then let sit one to two weeks at 10-12 psi with perfect results. I also serve at 10-12 psi through six foot lines, no problems.

modernlifeisANDY said:

You don't need to do anything with regard to "serving pressure," echoing what BobbyM said. Any reduction in foaming you get from dropping your PSI can be achieved through longer beer lines.

Click to expand...

So you're saying that longer lines = less foaming ? I thought that longer lines = more resistance and more foaming ?

EROK said:

So you're saying that longer lines = less foaming ? I thought that longer lines = more resistance and more foaming ?

Click to expand...

I am a keg noob too, but it's my understanding that longer lines = more resistance = slower pour = less foaming

Yes, longer lines increase the resistance that the beer meets on it's way out of the keg to the tap, and results in a drop in pressure. So, the more resistance you have on the beer going through the line, the lower the pressure on the exit - hence, less foamy!

EROK said:

So you're saying that longer lines = less foaming ? I thought that longer lines = more resistance and more foaming ?

Click to expand...

make sure to use 3/16 line and not 1/4. helps a lot with the foaming

cook1969 said:

i rack into keg the night before, then put in kegerator. force carb the next morning. im sure you want to try it out since youve never kegged on before, so why wait a week? the carbonation will get better in a week, but force it so you can drink it this weekend.

Click to expand...

This is exactly what I did last wk. with my first ever batch. Racked to keg and set in icy cold fridge overnight. 1st thing in the morning filled to 30psi and turned CO2 off. 8 hrs. later purged, set to 12 psi and drew a pint. Had enough carb to be drinkable, but not optimal yet. It got better everyday and by day 8 it was perfect. No shaking/rolling/etc.

This has been mentioned multiple times, but don't forget to purge the o2 out of the keg after you rack the beer into your corny.