Question about Kegging, 1st time.

So I just got a new corny keg system for my birthday, and needless to say am very excited to get rolling. But I have a quick question about clarifying in the keg.

If I let my beer sit in the keg for say a few days, wont the outlet tube in the tank just pull all of the sediment off the bottom and send it straight to my glass? If so, would it just be in the first part of a beer, or will it keep happening.

Also, how long can I sip on the beer once I've got it in the keg and cooling in the fridge?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Is there co2 involved? If so, then don't worry about time. The first glass will be sediment.

Yup you will suck up any settled yeast every time you pour, especially the first glass. In my experience, leaving the keg alone for a week or so to carbonate (even after a 14-21 day primary) is not enough time to get it nice and clear. I usually have somewhat cloudy beer until it is around 80% empty.

When I do really want it crystal clear I'll use gelatin (search around, lots of information) and have it clear-up in just a couple days.

Yeah I'll be using CO2. One more quick question. I'm going to be transporting this kegged beer on a 10 hour road trip to meet up with my family for some relaxation. Do you think the car ride will ruin the beer? I'll do my best to keep a constant temp in the car.

It won't ruin it, but you'll stir up any settled yeast for sure.

Can I force carbonate at room temperature, or do I need to do so while the beer is cold? Thinking maybe I can be carbonating on the drive up there, in order to reduce lag time so we can start drinking right away.

It certainly works way better when cold, you would have to increase the pressure to get the same results I believe, I'm not sure how much though.

Do you have time to get the keg nice and cold for a day before you head out? If your really pressed for time you can do the accelerated method by shaking the keg (when cold), you risk over carbing if your not careful but it's possible to go from zero carbonation to fully carbed in less than an hour.

One other quick thing, I don't know how warm it is down where you are this time of year but watch out for leaving your co2 tank in the car for extended times in the sun!

use a carbonation chart it tells you what pressure you need for a given temperature.

Force Carbonation Chart - Kegerators.com

Crash cool your carboy before racking to the keg and it will be nice and clear.

If you're pressed for time, you can hook the keg up to the CO2 for part of the drive and the gentle swaying motion will force carb for you. (Haven't done that, read about it in Zymurgy, so you might want to do more research on pressure and time)

I would imagine that you could pour the kegged product into a bucket, clean the keg and then return it along with the co2 for your drive.

What I do for traveling is simply to "jump" to a new keg.

I carb up the beer as usual, and it's clear, and then pour off two ounces of sludge. Then, without moving the keg, I hook up a "jumper cable" to it, made out of a back QD, 5' of beer line, and a black QD. Bring in a clean and sanitized keg, and give it a shot of co2 (to purge out the oxygen). Then, hook up the black QDs to each "out" post of each keg, and pull the pressure relief valve on the receiving keg. The beer will flow, and then every 10 seconds or so, I just pull the pressure relief valve to keep the beer moving.

That's it! It works great, because all of the sediment is left behind in the original keg (not moving the original keg is a key!) and all you get in the "new" keg is carbonated, sediment-free beer.

badbrew said:

I would imagine that you could pour the kegged product into a bucket, clean the keg and then return it along with the co2 for your drive.

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You definitely don't want to do that! You'd oxidize the beer by pouring, then shake it up on the drive so it can oxidize even more. That would ruin the beer in pretty short order- maybe a day or two.

Matts, I am also a new kegging guy. What do you mean by crash cooling the carboy before kegging? Thanks

Yooper said:

You definitely don't want to do that! You'd oxidize the beer by pouring, then shake it up on the drive so it can oxidize even more. That would ruin the beer in pretty short order- maybe a day or two.

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Point. Could you instead transfer to a carboy that was filled with co2 through the keg tap?:fro:

Thanks for the tips everyone, I really appreciate them!

Snicks said:

Yup you will suck up any settled yeast every time you pour, especially the first glass. In my experience, leaving the keg alone for a week or so to carbonate (even after a 14-21 day primary) is not enough time to get it nice and clear. I usually have somewhat cloudy beer until it is around 80% empty.

When I do really want it crystal clear I'll use gelatin (search around, lots of information) and have it clear-up in just a couple days.

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Im my experience this is not true. On a freshly tapped keg youll get some yeast until it suck the yeast from around the diptube. After that I never see any. This assumes that your not moving the keg around.

mlyday said:

Im my experience this is not true. On a freshly tapped keg youll get some yeast until it suck the yeast from around the diptube. After that I never see any. This assumes that your not moving the keg around.

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What is your serving temperture? I usually keep mine around 7C. Do you get yours crystal clear or just semi-clear?

mlyday said:

Im my experience this is not true. On a freshly tapped keg youll get some yeast until it suck the yeast from around the diptube. After that I never see any. This assumes that your not moving the keg around.

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The other factor in this is the yeast strain. Regardless of crash cooling let's say you use wlp002 or wy1968 which is highly flocculant it will clear 100% in the keg if not in the carboy. On the converse let's say you use wy1950 Denny's fav 50 I don't care If you cold crash at 20 degrees Farenheit you won't clear it in a keg without gelatin or another finning. Keep your yeast in mind when talking about clearing and worst case scenario learn to rnjoy the flavor of your yeast and eventually your body will get used to it.

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Aschecte said:

The other factor in this is the yeast strain. Regardless of crash cooling let's say you use wlp002 or wy1968 which is highly flocculant it will clear 100% in the keg if not in the carboy. On the converse let's say you use wy1950 Denny's fav 50 I don't care If you cold crash at 20 degrees Farenheit you won't clear it in a keg without gelatin or another finning. Keep your yeast in mind when talking about clearing and worst case scenario learn to rnjoy the flavor of your yeast and eventually your body will get used to it.

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk

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Not true. I just finished a keg of beer fermented with Denny's Favorite 50 and although it took more time than some more floculant strains, it poured crystal clear after about 4 weeks (I had another keg ahead of it so I had the luxury of waiting for it to clear). Granted, adding finnings would help, but evntually a keg will clear itself with enough time in the fridge. You'll get a blast of sediment from the start, but after that it's all good.