New to kegging - some dumb questions

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kmudrick

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Just got a 3 keg, dual body reg, 10# tank setup this past week. I have a couple of questions I can't seem to find answers to:

1) How does one go about purging [anything] with CO2? Carboys, kegs, etc - I mean, actually - what does the process entail - do I need any different tubing? How much CO2 does one usually use?

2) Is it okay to only partially fill a corny keg? For instance, I have a 2.5 gallon saison dryhopping right now. I'd love to rack this to a keg and force carb it. Is it just a matter of having to use more CO2 to account for the extra headspace?
 
Just got a 3 keg, dual body reg, 10# tank setup this past week. I have a couple of questions I can't seem to find answers to:

1) How does one go about purging [anything] with CO2? Carboys, kegs, etc - I mean, actually - what does the process entail - do I need any different tubing? How much CO2 does one usually use?

2) Is it okay to only partially fill a corny keg? For instance, I have a 2.5 gallon saison dryhopping right now. I'd love to rack this to a keg and force carb it. Is it just a matter of having to use more CO2 to account for the extra headspace?

Purging is nothing more than filling a sealed up keg with CO2 and then letting all the pressure out until only CO2 is coming out when released. CO2 forms a blanket on the bottom of the keg because it is so much more heavy than the other gasses in "air." SO, to answer the first question with a bit of the second you can fill a container up only halfway. I always purge by blowing about 5 psi through the beer side, waiting a second then pulling the pressure release on the keg with the CO2 line shut off. Then I repeat about two more times leaving the 5 psi the last time and call it purged. Then, when you fill the keg with beer you will need to let the pressure out with the pressure relief valve and start transferring from your source to the keg. Some people pour into a open topped corny keg (purged with CO2 or not) others allow the pressure to come out of the keg as the beer goes in the target keg via the normally beer-out side. This allows the beer to come into the keg "in" the CO2 blanket and then as the keg fills any O2 or other gases are pushed out by the beer and blanket. Basically several different ways to skin a cat. If you are priming/carbonating inside your keg then O2 isn't a problem since the yeast will eat the O2 creating the carbonation. If you are going to force carbonate inside your target keg then I would recommend purging at least once and filling the sealed keg with pressure relief open. If you want you can always purge the keg once after filling but before moving. This is where you can half fill the keg with beer and then purge to make sure any gas other than CO2 is in the keg. After filling and purging the only difference is the headspace, and yes it only requires more CO2. If the headspace is not at the same pressure as the beer then the lesser pressure (headspace or beer) will try to equalize to the same pressure. Just make sure you always fill your keg through the beer-out side unless you are going through the open top and then it is the same as filling a carboy.
 
Ohh, and you shouldn't need any more equipment than you use to serve the beer out of your kegs for carbonating/purging/filling them.
 
I have a newbie question for kegging as well. How do you measure the temp of the beer inside the keg? Do I just put a temp strip on the outside?
 
I measure mine with the "Control" sensor taped to the side of my keg, but yes taping the strip to the keg/carboy is as accurate as you will need.
 
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