Kegging my first brew in about a week, few questions.

Hey guys, I am kegging my first beer which is a trappist ale kit from midwest in about a week. At that point it will have been in the primary for 3 weeks.

Do I need to leave the keg around 70 degrees for a few weeks before I carb it so it can condition like it does in the bottles or is throwing it in the fridge, getting it down to about 30 degrees and carbing it up with the CO2 tank okay? If I have to let it sit another 2-3 weeks anyway I figure might as well just natural carb and save the CO2.

I’ve never done that kit so can’t comment on the specifics on priming it. But, if you want to keg it and leave it at room temp then I suggest flooding the air out with co2. If you’re using your keg as a secondary then I’d also do that. If you’re trying to natural carb (by adding priming sugar) then I’d still flood the air out by putting it under pressure, about 12 psi and over 15 minutes gently pulling on the relief valve every 5 minutes (short pulls.. you don’t need to drain all the pressure off) on the keg. The goal is to get the air out. co2 is heavier than air so you need to let the co2 have time to fall and push the air to the top then let the co2 push the air out. I’ve never naturally carbed as using co2 is quicker but maybe your kit needs to age so …why not? I’d still do the above. I don’t secondary but do age my stouts fully pressurized (15psi co2 & finish to 30psi N at room temp to make sure lid stays sealed over temp diff … so I guess that’s like a secondary; you should monitor the pressure as some co2 will get absorbed and you may need to top off). 30 degrees is a too cold and will lead to over carbing except if you’re trying to quickly force carb (over two days). There are charts here on HBT that guide you on psi, temp and beer style so try searching for that. Don’t forget about your beer serving line length to prevent too much foam… it’s a bit much but, over time, it really isn’t. Cheers on your first kegged beer!

It's probably all done natural carbing by 3 weeks.

Fridge is a good spot, my beers would take 3 months to clear up nice in the fridge.

So after 3 weeks in the primary, kegging it up and sticking it in the fridge probably is not a good idea right? It would probably need some time to condition in the keg at room temperature before being put into a fridge?

philly224 said:

So after 3 weeks in the primary, kegging it up and sticking it in the fridge probably is not a good idea right? It would probably need some time to condition in the keg at room temperature before being put into a fridge?

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Risky giving advice about these things because there are lots of
ways that work. Any everyone develops their own procedure.

Kegging after three weeks in the primary and sticking in the fridge works.
I usually leave four weeks in the primary, then keg, then stick in the fridge.
I do four weeks for all my beers (currently just ales) based on stuff I read
on these forums and it is easy on my schedule.

Since you are new to kegging, my advice (such as it is), don't try
a secondary just to condition the beer. Lots can go wrong.
Instead do a few batches straight from primary to kegging and maybe
then try a secondary for conditioning. This way you will have a baseline
to compare to.

Conditioning at room temperature is for bottles to develop carbonation. And that is because priming sugar gets added before bottling. If your not adding priming sugar to the keg then there is no need for room temperature.

grathan said:

Conditioning at room temperature is for bottles to develop carbonation. And that is because priming sugar gets added before bottling. If your not adding priming sugar to the keg then there is no need for room temperature.

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Okay great! Thank you.

I would set the seal with 30psi purge the relief valve twice, disconnect gas spray the lid and connections with Star-san and check for leaks. If you have no leaks chill keg for 12-24 hours. set your regulator for 10-14 psi depending on how carbed you like it and the temperature of your fridge, let it sit for 2-3 weeks and you should be golden.

beaksnbeer said:

I would set the seal with 30psi purge the relief valve twice, disconnect gas spray the lid and connections with Star-san and check for leaks. If you have no leaks chill keg for 12-24 hours. set your regulator for 10-14 psi depending on how carbed you like it and the temperature of your fridge, let it sit for 2-3 weeks and you should be golden.

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I basically do this when I have a good pipeline and it works well, even after 2 weeks. But, if the pipeline is full, I gas the keg up at room temp, purge a few times and leave some gas in the keg as it sits at room temp until kegerator room opens up.
Then it's in the kegerator for at least a week before I start tasting. Sometimes, in a rush, I will gas at 30 psi for a day, then 20 for a day then 10 for 2 days and it'll be very close to where I like it.
As mentioned, your tastes will dictate what you like for each style of beer you keg.

Okay so I am kegged up with everything hooked in and I don't seem to have any leaks (I tested all the lines with soapy water. I have a few more questions now.


1.) If I turn the gas up to 25 PSI at 34 degrees F and leave it at that for 2-3 days then dial it back a bit will I get it carbed up faster? I was thinking of lowering it to about 10 after 2 days and then trying it a few days after that.

2.) If I turn it down to about 6 PSI for serving should I turn it back up to maintain carbonation or once its carbed can I just leave it at serving pressure without fear of under/over carbonating it?

3.) Lastly I don't think I have any leaks but if I monitor the gauge on my regulator will I be able to tell if I am losing CO2 too fast? I don't want to come back to an empty tank tomorrow.

If you don't hear any leaks at 25 psi then it's not gonna leak out overnight at 6 psi

Google 'carbonation chart'. I usually shoot for 2.5 volumes co2. Which would be closer to 9psi serving pressure.

More co2 will be absorbed 25psi so yeah shorter time. Shaking the keg greatly reduces the time required as well. I usually leave mine at 9psi for a month, but if you shook it for 5 minutes, 34 degrees, at 25 psi it might be ready next day, might even be over carbed so use caution until you develop a system.

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grathan said:

Conditioning at room temperature is for bottles to develop carbonation. And that is because priming sugar gets added before bottling. If your not adding priming sugar to the keg then there is no need for room temperature.

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Not necessarily. IMO it depends on the beer. A lot of beers benefit from extended aging at cellar temps, or a few weeks at room temp. For an IPA or other hop forward beer, I like to get it chilled and carbed ASAP to retain as much hop flavor and aroma as possible. For malty, higher gravity, or trappist ales like the OP's, I like to let them age at cellar temps for a few months first. Unless I was in a big rush to drink it, I wouldn't cold crash and force carb a trappist ale after only 3 weeks, but that's JMO.

Okay I think I'll just set to 10 psi which looks like a good number based of that chart and leave it for at least two weeks. I have it set to 25 right now (for close to 24 hr) when I get home should I just bleed the keg to get it down to 10 or do I do that with the dial on the regulator?

philly224 said:

Okay I think I'll just set to 10 psi which looks like a good number based of that chart and leave it for at least two weeks. I have it set to 25 right now (for close to 24 hr) when I get home should I just bleed the keg to get it down to 10 or do I do that with the dial on the regulator?

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You'll need to do both. Turn the gas way down, bleed the keg, and then turn it up to 10psi. That is unless you have one of the fancy new regulators that vents excess pressure when you turn it down.

Alright thanks a lot! I'll do that when I get home.

When I burst-carb before putting the keg in the fridge I do so at 30psi. Once the keg goes in the fridge I set it to serving pressure, 12psi for all styles, and don't vent the keg when doing so. Typically it was only at high pressure for 2-3 days max and still has a large capacity for dissolving CO2. So, leaving the 30psi in the headspace (which has decreased some by now due to dissolving into the beer) and simply maintaining 12psi from the reg. will only allow a minimum of 12psi in the keg. It's not like pressure is additive- i.e, I won't get 42psi.
Also, this 'flooding the keg before filling' is nonsense. Sorry to all those that stand behind it, but realistically the beer has to be splashed heavily during transfer to aerate it at all. As proof: ever walk by a swamp that doesn't have any wave action? Well, the leaves in that swamp will be in tact, which is evidence of anaerobic water. Stir that swamp, splash around in it, and you've introduced oxygen to the water. The same thing happens with your keg. The keg isn't pressurized with atmospheric air so why on earth would the air want to go into the beer? You have to force gas into a liquid. Just the two contacting each other won't cause a transfer. In the long run it's your CO2 you're flushing out the top of an empty keg.

End rant, off podium. Kyle

grathan said:

Conditioning at room temperature is for bottles to develop carbonation. And that is because priming sugar gets added before bottling. If your not adding priming sugar to the keg then there is no need for room temperature.

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This isn't necessarily true. Yes you need your bottles at room temp to carb. this is so the yeast will eat your priming sugar and produce co2 to carb. This is not what conditioning is though.

Conditioning refers to chemical processes that take place over time after fermentation. The harsh alcohol flavors mellow in your beer, other off tasting chemicals dissipate, and the other flavors in your beer blend together. The best way to illustrate this process is to bottle 4-8 of the beers in your batch and date them 1 day, 1 week, 2 weeks etc. from your bottling date. then sample your beer on those dates. You will notice a vast different between 1 and 4 weeks out and varying effects beyond that depending on style. Patience and time is an important component that separates good beer from great beer. To condition, your beer does need to be at room temperature. as temp drops conditioning time increases exponentially. 70-75 seems to be the ideal conditioning temp range.

For Kegs You do not have to carb while conditioning but make sure you purce the headspace with co2 and fill the dip tube with beer (ensuring no air remains in the dip tube). once cooled in the kegerator your beer wont condition much from that point.

Ok techbrewie. I'll bite. Why does beer need to condition at room temperature after 3 weeks in the primary? I think your using the term exponentially quite loosely. My beers do take 3 months to condition, but I feel the time and results would be quite similar warm or cold after 3 week primary.