Confused as H#LL

So, I'm preparing to keg a batch for the first time, and I've been reading the books and magazines I have, as well as threads here on the website and I'm presented with a lot of conflicting information, it would seem.

I know I should chill the keg for a day because CO2 is more soluble in cold beer. I know the keg needs to be under pressure for a few days before the beer is force carbonated. I know there is a certain level of PSI that needs to be maintained. But I was reading stuff about pressure changing when you take the CO2 tank off the beer, and other things that said the pressure doesn't change until you tap it, etc.

Long story short, what are the important things to know about kegging, and operating it for dispensing over a period of time? I'm all kinds of confused. The more good information I can get about the WHOLE process/procedure, the better.

Also, what is the deal with those little 16-gram keg chargers. How do they work? How many beers can they dispense before they need changed? I have 1 CO2 tank and three kegs. I'm going to need to be able to dispense from all three at once.

Also, what all do I have to do to wash and sanitize a keg? How do I sanitize the ss tube on the inside?

I ask way too many questions around here, so I'm sorry, but you all have such a deep wealth of knowledge. Thanks so much!

BREW ON

There is the numbers approach that gives you the volume of co2 that dissolves into solution under a given temp and pressure. Dial in the co2 pressure based on the temp of the beer and desired carbonation level and leave it for about a week. The bootleg/non numbers method is to set the gas at wide open throttle (sort of speak, I use about 20psi) which forces the gas to dissolve into solution quicker, however you have to keep pulling samples inorder to tell the level of carbonation to avoid over doing it. Whatever method, once you are done you have to bleed the excess pressure to a suitable level for dispensing. If you keep your keg cold and don't move it, there will be very little change. If the temps rise and/or the keg is agitated some co2 may be lost, in which case just repeat the carbonation steps.

You need to unscrew the posts to pull out the dip tubes. I made a snake with some wire and attached a piece of cloth on the end to pull through the tube for cleaning. Pepsi/ball connector posts you should be able to remove with a standard socket. Coke/pin lock posts require sockets slotted to fit over the pins. I have removed pin lock posts with an adjustable wrench but was not a good method.

I have a 16 grammer & it takes two or three charges to dispense a keg. That assumes the keg is carbonated already. I haven't tried carbonating using the little things.

I sanitize by putting a gallon of solution in the keg, putting about 5 psi in it and running the solution out slowly.

david_42 said:

I have a 16 grammer & it takes two or three charges to dispense a keg. That assumes the keg is carbonated already. I haven't tried carbonating using the little things.

I sanitize by putting a gallon of solution in the keg, putting about 5 psi in it and running the solution out slowly.

Click to expand...

I have a 5lb. tank for charging...I was just looking at dispensing options for the wedding. I could buy two or three of those setups and three or four cartridges for each and be good to go to kick a corny?

For santizing then, I'd want to hook up the CO2 and the cobra tap like I'm going to dispense beer and run the sanitizer out that way?

As always, thanks so much! (On an unrelated note, I'd brewed your Church of Chocolate Brown Ale today, modified slightly to do a partial mash, smelled great. Thanks.)

BREW ON

Primary 1--Franziskaner Hefe Clone (Wedding Brew #1)
Primary 2--Church of Chocolate Brown Ale--THANKS david_42! (Wedding Brew #2)
Secondary 1--Palilalia IPA (kegging equipment trial brew)
Secondary 2--empty