Making the switch to kegging, but still have some questions.

I've been reading the various stickies and such and just going about making sure I have my bases covered. I still have some questions though and need some insight.

1) The picnic tap I got with my keg kit is 4.5ft long. That seems a bit short, so I thought about just going to Lowe's or Home Depot and buying some beverage line to make it longer. Should I do that?

2) Is there a chart showing the different CO2 volumes for different beers? The beer I'm going to keg is a German Alt.

3) I have the replacement seals for my kegs, but don't have any keg lube. How important is that? Can I do without it on this first batch?

4) The golden rule seems to be 'sanitize anything that touches your beer'. Does that also apply to the gas disconnects that touch the kegs? What about the gas lines? Anything about them that needs to be addressed?


So far I plan on racking my beer to a clean/sanitized keg, then piecing the whole keg system together. Anything with threads gets teflon tape. I'll put everything in my keezer which will be set to 40F. I want to condition at this temp (my serving temp) and not condition at room temp as with bottling, right? Is there anything I'm overlooking?

Thanks for the advice.

test your system with water (no need to carbonate the water) wind it up to functional pressures and put some starsan or soapy water on everything and check for leaks, If the seals are wet then they will be ok but if you can get your hands on some keg lube then do it, I pull the keg disconnects apart and starsan them but the gas lines should stay dry they are not a source of infection and your beer is fairly safe from infection post fermentation so risking humidity in the gas regulators is a bad idea! The beer has to be cold to accept the gas - its the opposite to bottling. I don't use thread tape as I have no leaks. One last thing don't forget to purge the air out of the kegs with the relief valve so it just CO2 being forced into the beer and not oxygen 4 or 5 pulls on the valve should do the trick. Happy kegging buddy!

bigbadal said:

.....One last thing don't forget to purge the air out of the kegs with the relief valve so it just CO2 being forced into the beer and not oxygen 4 or 5 pulls on the valve should do the trick. Happy kegging buddy!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reminder. 4-5 quick pulls or should there be some time on those pulls of the relief valve? I take it this is with the gas at about 10-20 to seat the lid before carbing?

Sorry for over thinking. I just don't want to screw anything up.

IMO

Yesfan said:

.... The picnic tap I got with my keg kit is 4.5ft long. That seems a bit short, so I thought about just going to Lowe's or Home Depot and buying some beverage line to make it longer. Should I do that?...

Click to expand...

You might have trouble finding actual beverage line there. You'll need 3/16"ID line to create the friction required to balance the system. Regular vinyl tubing from HD or Lowes is not food grade and can impart flavors.

Yesfan said:

....3) I have the replacement seals for my kegs, but don't have any keg lube. How important is that? Can I do without it on this first batch?....

Click to expand...

I have found lube to be very important in alleviating leaks. A bad leak can empty a tank in hours. A minor one, days.

Yesfan said:

.... Anything with threads gets teflon tape....

Click to expand...

Don't use teflon tape on M/F FL (flare fittings). Use the appropriate nylon gasket.

No tape on the regulator to CO2 tank valve connection, which also requires a gasket.

Yesfan said:

.... 4-5 quick pulls or should there be some time on those pulls of the relief valve? I take it this is with the gas at about 10-20 to seat the lid before carbing?.....

Click to expand...

Five or ten seconds between is fine. IMHO, "purging" is somewhat of a misnomer. This process results in a dilution of the air in the keg with the CO2 which results in less oxygen available to dissolve in the beer. Is ALL the oxygen removed/purged, no.

Yesfan said:

Thanks for the reminder. 4-5 quick pulls or should there be some time on those pulls of the relief valve? I take it this is with the gas at about 10-20 to seat the lid before carbing?

Sorry for over thinking. I just don't want to screw anything up.

Click to expand...

no worries buddy it's not obvious the first time, just a one second blast each pull and thats it with the pressure 10-20 as you said.

I guess all the nylon gaskets are the same? If so, I'll just go ahead and get a few of those, keg lube, and some 3/16 beer line from either Northern Brewer or Adventures in Homebrewing. Probably AIH since that's where I got my keg kit. Anything else?


Thanks gang! You all have been a big help.

You will get better results setting your seal and purging at 30psi or so. I have found that this pressure is better for getting your keg to set the lid seal. I purge 2 times for a count of 2 seconds, then disconnect the gas set in the cold for 24 hours hook up gas at 10-12psi and leave it for 2-3 weeks. You may get a small amout of sediment in the first 5 ounces or so but should clear up after that.

I personally like to load up on the different O-rings. If one breaks it's something you kinda have to have to serve beer properly...but is also the cheapest part of the whole assembly and therefore we've got no excuse as homebrew keggers not to have backups on hand.

My one tip I always like to give to people new to kegging is to remember which order to connect/disconnect your gas/liquid locks. It's not entirely likely it'll happen, but you don't want to ruin your regulator by blowing beer back into it. Therefore, have positive pressure going into your keg prior to connecting the beer line, and when disconnecting lines make sure the co2 line is the first one removed. You'll also want to disconnect your co2 prior to any time you turn off your co2 tank. I've heard of folks who closed their tank and created a vacuum in the gas line where beer headed back up toward the regulator.

Again, not saying this will absolutely 100% happen if you don't do the steps in the above order, but it's good practice to acquire from the start.

Saying goodbye to bottles is always a lovely feeling, welcome to the club!

You will get better results setting your seal and purging at 30psi or so. I have found that this pressure is better for getting your keg to set the lid seal. I purge 2 times for a count of 2 seconds, then disconnect the gas set in the cold for 24 hours hook up gas at 10-12psi and leave it for 2-3 weeks. You may get a small amout of sediment in the first 5 ounces or so but should clear up after that.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I planned on just dumping the first few ounces anyway to get rid of the sediment. Good news is, after getting off the phone with AIH, the kit I have has the necessary gaskets installed so it's just a matter of hooking everything up and double check for leaks. I'm still going to get some keg lube, so I'll still add some extra gaskets for insurance.

wattershed said:

I personally like to load up on the different O-rings. If one breaks it's something you kinda have to have to serve beer properly...but is also the cheapest part of the whole assembly and therefore we've got no excuse as homebrew keggers not to have backups on hand.

My one tip I always like to give to people new to kegging is to remember which order to connect/disconnect your gas/liquid locks. It's not entirely likely it'll happen, but you don't want to ruin your regulator by blowing beer back into it. Therefore, have positive pressure going into your keg prior to connecting the beer line, and when disconnecting lines make sure the co2 line is the first one removed. You'll also want to disconnect your co2 prior to any time you turn off your co2 tank. I've heard of folks who closed their tank and created a vacuum in the gas line where beer headed back up toward the regulator.

Again, not saying this will absolutely 100% happen if you don't do the steps in the above order, but it's good practice to acquire from the start.

Saying goodbye to bottles is always a lovely feeling, welcome to the club!

Click to expand...

I have extra O-rings I bought from McMaster when I bought my used kegs, so I'm good on that.


I appreciate all the help and advice. Thanks everyone!

All set!



I set the pressure to 20psi, pulled the prv a couple of times for a couple of seconds, then disconnected the keg, and put in the keezer which is set at 40F. I know you mentioned 30psi, but at the time I kept thinking you said 20. I sprayed Starsan at every connection point and didn't noticed any leaks.

I noticed my keg set came with 2 nylon gaskets. I put one where the regulator attaches to the tank. The other I thought goes where the shut off valve and hose barb meet. I couldn't get the barb off and gave up for fear I would break something in the regulator. Still no leaks, so no worries for now.

That German Alt smelled good. :cross:

Are you planning to force carb with co2 or did you keg with sugar or dme for natural carbonation? If force carbing, you'll need to leave the co2 connected. The prv you used is on the keg and not the regulator, correct?

I'm going to force carb as mentioned in beaksnbeer's post (set and forget). The prv I used was on the keg, not the regulator.


The pic was more or less for illustration. I have the keg/tank sitting in the freezer and the temp's at 40F.

I set my regulator to 11psi, but noticed an hour later it reads around 6. Is that just because of the tank being in the freezer with the keg? Is that normal?

No, turn the reg up till you get there and check it a little while later the CO2 is going into the beer and at the colder temp you were reading warm keg pressure. That's why I set at 30 let it chill down 12-24hours then hook up the gas you'll be fine.

Yesfan said:

All set!

I set the pressure to 20psi, pulled the prv a couple of times for a couple of seconds, then disconnected the keg, and put in the keezer which is set at 40F. I know you mentioned 30psi, but at the time I kept thinking you said 20. I sprayed Starsan at every connection point and didn't noticed any leaks.

I noticed my keg set came with 2 nylon gaskets. I put one where the regulator attaches to the tank. The other I thought goes where the shut off valve and hose barb meet. I couldn't get the barb off and gave up for fear I would break something in the regulator. Still no leaks, so no worries for now.

That German Alt smelled good. :cross:

Click to expand...

mmmmmmmmmm ..... Kegging pron!!!!!!!

beaksnbeer said:

No, turn the reg up till you get there and check it a little while later the CO2 is going into the beer and at the colder temp you were reading warm keg pressure. That's why I set at 30 let it chill down 12-24hours then hook up the gas you'll be fine.

Click to expand...

I done all that but would notice the next day that the pressure would read zero. I didn't think nothing of it at the time thinking the regulator would do that until the system equalized. Maybe since the tank's in the freezer colder also meant it took longer to equalize.

So, after being out of town for a few days I come home to find the same thing, but my tank is now empty. I have a leak, but didn't see any bubbles anywhere when I checked the first time. So.........

1) For those who've went through it, what's the usual culprit? I hope I don't have a bad regulator. I sprayed the connections down with star-san. Should I have used soapy water instead?

2) My keg still has pressure, so will it be alright for the time being?

3) To double check my pressure and line, could I set the pressure (unattached to the keg) to my serving pressure, then reconnect the gas line to keg and set the tank in the freezer?



I know this should be just simple and easy, but for some odd reason, nothing's going my way. Thanks for the help everybody.