Kegging w/o Co2

So, I had just enough money to buy a new keg and the attachment hoses today.

I won't be able to get the regulator and Co2 until next week.

Right now I have a batch that is ready to bottle but I'm wondering if I can just add it to the keg and let it condition until the other parts are bought.

Is that a possibility or should I just leave it in the secondary until I have the whole thing set up?

it does not matter either way if you want to keg it just add priming sugar to the keg less than to bottle though,if it was me i would just leave it in secondary till you get what you need

Sure, you can do that. What'd I'd probably do is go ahead and add priming sugar, so that the beer will be carbed up if you keep it at room temperature while waiting for the rest of your kegging gear.

Sometimes kegs don't seal perfectly without a little shot of c02, but even if it doesn't the worst that can happen is that it won't be carbed up until you give it some c02.

Rack carefully, just like when you normally rack with the tip of the tubing at the bottom of the keg so it doesn't splash, and you'll be fine!

If you absolutely need to serve it at some point, assuming you primed the keg, you can hook up a gas out quick disconnect to a cobra tap, and putting the keg on a slant, attach a beverage disconnect to let the pressure equalize.
AKA, serve it cask style and consume in less than 3-4 days.
My posts are not best served by medicinal stress relief from multiple G&Ts.

I would second what Yooper said, and I'm not just saying that to kiss her heiny...I've been wanting to secondary a beer in a corny keg and carb it naturally through secondary fermentation...hmmmm, I do have three carboys sitting here....
The one thing I would wonder about is this....when I used to bottle regularly sometimes I would have a bottle only fill 3/4 full at the end of the bottling session, I used 22 oz bombers, those bottles that I only partially filled would be much more (overly carbed) carbonated than the correctly filled bottles and I wonder if the same occurence might happen if you put say 4 gallons in a 5 gallon corney? As it stands now, I usually fill dang near to the top as I usually do a 6 gallon brew and force carb. Does anyone have experience with this?

I would just wait. Get the equipment, set it to the volume you want, and let it carb up. There's nothing wrong with naturally carbing a keg, but I can tell by your post that that's not what you originally set out to do. Have some patience and do things the way you planned.

If you're going to get the parts next week, I also say keep it in the secondary and wait. If you were going to get the parts next *month* (or at least 3 weeks from now), then I'd say prime the keg with dextrose/corn sugar.

Both are fine, but because the dextrose triggers a fermentation process, this does mean that it will take some time for it to carbonate and lose some of the green flavor. (Again, which is why beer will taste fine, then when you bottle, you get the green flavor if you don't wait.) It's all based on your expected timeframe.

Well, i think im going to do the prime first method.

Reason...it turns out i will only be able to get the regulator this week...then the co2 the following week (money).


However, when i read instructions on prepping your keg there is a lot of pressurizing and such in the list to do.

Is the co2 necessary for cleaning and adding the beer?

no co2 is not a must to put beer in the keg, but to pour and drink you do

Thanks. One thing im confused on still. Is priming sugar alway used?

only use priming sugar if you want to naturally carb your beer otherwise you just attach it to your co2. if you are getting the parts for the co2 in two weeks you have two options. one rack the beer to the keg and add sugar then wait a week or two in the fridge or what i would suggest to do: wait two weeks till you get everything then keg then set to 12 psi and wait one to two weeks. you will get less sediment if you do it the second way and will acheive a clearer beer

Another question. If carbing with the priming sugar (no co2) how does one push out the oxygen? I read of people sealing the lids with the co2 and releasing the oxygen and all. Will I have some issues if I'm not doing that?

OK. So I added the priming sugar and beer to the keg.

So, by this Saturday (Feb. 11th) it will be in the keg for a week.

I'll actually have the co2 and regulator tomorrow (coming earlier than i thought).

Should I hook the co2 up and add any to the keg or do anything at all?