Kegging help!

I am hoping that someone can help me out. I just got into kegging (kegged my last brew and it did not turn out that well) and trying to figure this whole thing out. To begin with, one person told me that the reason my last brew did not turn out that well was because I did not purge my keg prior to kegging. Is that a possibility?

On another note, I have heard two schools of thought to kegging. One person at a homebrew store instructed me to purge the keg (which I did not do with my first batch) and then turn the pressure up to about 15psi and put the keg in the fridge. I was told to leave the pressure on the keg and it should be ready to drink in about 3 to 4 days. When I did this with my first batch, I put the CO2 tank in the fridge and the pressure dropped. Does this mean that I should turn the pressure up to keep it at 15 or just leave it where it is at. Secondly, should I drill a hole in the fridge so the CO2 can be outside the fridge?

The second school of thought that I have heard is to purge the keg, then insert beer. Then they informed me to blast the keg with as much CO2 as it will hold. Then shake the keg and roll it around to get the CO2 into all of the beer. Then they said to blast the keg with CO2 again until it can no longer take any more. Then place in the fridge and the beer will be ready in as soon as 8 hours.

Now I realize I have placed alot of information on here, but if someone can answer the questions below, I would greatly appreciate it so I dont waste another batch of beer.

1. Does it damage the beer to shake it up after in the keg and pressurized with CO2? (one person told me that it is not good for the beer to do so)

2. Is it better to just put it under about 15psi and leave it charging the keg until ready to drink? If this is the way to go, should the tank be in the fridge or out of the fridge? If in the fridge, do I need to keep the pressure up to 15 like I started with or just let the pressure drop as the temp of the CO2 drops?

3. Did I screw up the last batch by not purging the keg prior to putting in the beer?

4. How long will the beer last once in the keg? Do I need to drink the beer in a certain amount of time before it goes bad because in bottles, it will just get better with time.

You should have posted this as it's own thread instead of in the FAQ but I'll give you my thoughts. Maybe a mod will split these two posts off into their own thread?

Diesel30 said:

I am hoping that someone can help me out. I just got into kegging (kegged my last brew and it did not turn out that well) and trying to figure this whole thing out. To begin with, one person told me that the reason my last brew did not turn out that well was because I did not purge my keg prior to kegging. Is that a possibility?

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Probably not, the CO2 your putting in the keg will likely shield the beer from any O2, unless it's in there a long time.

Diesel30 said:

On another note, I have heard two schools of thought to kegging. One person at a homebrew store instructed me to purge the keg (which I did not do with my first batch) and then turn the pressure up to about 15psi and put the keg in the fridge. I was told to leave the pressure on the keg and it should be ready to drink in about 3 to 4 days. When I did this with my first batch, I put the CO2 tank in the fridge and the pressure dropped. Does this mean that I should turn the pressure up to keep it at 15 or just leave it where it is at. Secondly, should I drill a hole in the fridge so the CO2 can be outside the fridge?

Click to expand...

Did the low pressure gauge drop or the high pressure? Normally I would not expect the low pressure gauge to drop much if there is plenty of CO2 in the cylinder but the high pressure gauge would drop. At any rate I'm a fan of the set it and forget it school of thought, set the CO2 at serving pressure with keg in fridge and wait a couple weeks. The liquid will absorb the CO2 over time and your beer will get a much needed two weeks of aging.

Diesel30 said:

The second school of thought that I have heard is to purge the keg, then insert beer. Then they informed me to blast the keg with as much CO2 as it will hold. Then shake the keg and roll it around to get the CO2 into all of the beer. Then they said to blast the keg with CO2 again until it can no longer take any more. Then place in the fridge and the beer will be ready in as soon as 8 hours.

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Yes you can accelerate the process by shaking but your still drinking green beer. It will get better with a little age.

Diesel30 said:

Now I realize I have placed alot of information on here, but if someone can answer the questions below, I would greatly appreciate it so I dont waste another batch of beer.

1. Does it damage the beer to shake it up after in the keg and pressurized with CO2? (one person told me that it is not good for the beer to do so)

Click to expand...

Have you ever seen the abuse commercial kegs go through! shaking isn't going to hurt it except you might get some head retention problems. The head forming proteins only work once (there is a long technical explanation not necessary for this discussion) so if your making a bunch of foam shaking it, you won't get as much of a head when you serve.

Diesel30 said:

2. Is it better to just put it under about 15psi and leave it charging the keg until ready to drink? If this is the way to go, should the tank be in the fridge or out of the fridge? If in the fridge, do I need to keep the pressure up to 15 like I started with or just let the pressure drop as the temp of the CO2 drops?

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That's my preference, I usually shoot for 12psi though, whatever is appropriate for the style. As I mentioned earlier I'm surprised your low pressure gauge is dropping. I do put my tank in the fridge since I have plenty of room, but it shouldn't matter.

Diesel30 said:

3. Did I screw up the last batch by not purging the keg prior to putting in the beer?

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answered above, although purging is better

Diesel30 said:

4. How long will the beer last once in the keg? Do I need to drink the beer in a certain amount of time before it goes bad because in bottles, it will just get better with time.

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Try to finish it off within a year or two

Ok u r absolutely right that I should have started a new thread on this subject. But as it were, i did what i did. So the new question is, what if my high pressure gauge is reading over 1000 and my low pressure gauge still drops when the canister is in the fridge?

Diesel30 said:

Ok u r absolutely right that I should have started a new thread on this subject. But as it were, i did what i did. So the new question is, what if my high pressure gauge is reading over 1000 and my low pressure gauge still drops when the canister is in the fridge?

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My guess would be that it is a used regulator? I would bet that at some point in the past liquid got backed up into the regulator body and gummed up the works. When you first hook up a keg the initial blast of CO2 opens it up but once the initial blast gets to the keg and the slow part of the liquid absorbing the CO2 begins I bet the diaphragm is sticking. You could try a couple things, first take it apart and clean the interior and parts. Take pictures to remember where everything goes if you not good at remembering that sort of thing. Your second option is to try to find a rebuild kit for your regulator, google brand name and "rebuilt kit". Norther Brewer sells kits for three common brands but shop around for the best price: http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/kegging/gas-hardware/regulators/regulator-parts

If it is a new regulator I would guess defective.