Stupid kegging question

So I've been slammed at work, and have an IPA that has been sitting in secondary dry-hopping for 2 weeks, which is 4 days longer than planned. The last thing I want to do this weekend is scrub, sanitize, and fill a bunch of bottles, as my kitchen is currently being remodeled and I have no operable sink or dishwasher. So I headed down to my LHBS and got a reconditioned corny keg, figuring I'd prime using my outdoor burner, dump the result into the keg, let it carbonate, and figure out how I wanted to cool and dispense the stuff in a couple weeks.

Now I'm reading online about people recommending that you set 10-12 psi of CO2 pressure to seat the lid of the keg. Did I just hose things up (pun intended) by passing on the CO2 rig at the same time as the keg?

Yes, you need CO2 if you're going to store in a corny. If you don't really intend to use the corny for dispensing, I'd say that you just need to pull the hops from the secondary. You can leave it in the carboy, and it will be fine. I routinely leave beer in secondary for an extended period of time, literally months.

flynavy03 said:

So I've been slammed at work, and have an IPA that has been sitting in secondary dry-hopping for 2 weeks, which is 4 days longer than planned. The last thing I want to do this weekend is scrub, sanitize, and fill a bunch of bottles, as my kitchen is currently being remodeled and I have no operable sink or dishwasher. So I headed down to my LHBS and got a reconditioned corny keg, figuring I'd prime using my outdoor burner, dump the result into the keg, let it carbonate, and figure out how I wanted to cool and dispense the stuff in a couple weeks.

Now I'm reading online about people recommending that you set 10-12 psi of CO2 pressure to seat the lid of the keg. Did I just hose things up (pun intended) by passing on the CO2 rig at the same time as the keg?

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No, it'll be ok. It's just that most of us give it a little blast of co2 to make sure the lid is seated and to purge the o2 out. Some of those reconditioned kegs seal just fine, and others need a bit of keg lube and a shot of co2.

Try not to worry about it! You could just use 2.5 ounces (by weight) of corn sugar, dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water (no need to fire up your big burner) and pour that into your sanitized keg. Gently rack the beer into the keg, and then put the lid on it. You could sort of play around with the lid- pulling it up and making sure there isn't any "play" in it before closing it up.

There are ways to dispense once it's carbed. They have those co2 "guns" that will dispense a keg. They aren't cheap over the long run for lots and lots of kegs, but for about $20 you can buy the c02 charger and the c02 cartridges.

^ ditto yooper.

Thanks for the advice; I was toying with throwing it in the keg or back in a 6gal Better Bottle; my prime goal was to get it off the hops and then figure out the dispensing issues later. I was planning on dispensing it from the keg; I'm just learning the process still. Maybe I should bleed the pressure off the keg and see how well the lid seats, then go from there. The shop sold it to me with a little CO2 pressure. I've got a bag of DME I can boil up to prime with if need be.

Yooper said:

There are ways to dispense once it's carbed. They have those co2 "guns" that will dispense a keg. They aren't cheap over the long run for lots and lots of kegs, but for about $20 you can buy the c02 charger and the c02 cartridges.

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I would recommend one of these at least for sealing if he doesn't have a co2 rig.

Maybe it's just time for me to get new o-rings, but my kegs need a little blast of pressure to form a seal. Without that, I'd leak away all the co2 from the priming sugar.

Having said that, then to answer the OP, yeah, if it's in your budget just go get a co2 rig asap. You'll never regret having it.

I'm also unsure of why you'd use an outdoor burner for priming. All you need is a tiny sauce pan on the stovetop.

You're not planning to reheat the entire batch of beer, are you?

subliminalurge said:

I'm also unsure of why you'd use an outdoor burner for priming. All you need is a tiny sauce pan on the stovetop.

You're not planning to reheat the entire batch of beer, are you?

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The first post stated that the kitchen is being remodeled, and this status prohibits use of several items.

freelunch said:

The first post stated that the kitchen is being remodeled, and this status prohibits use of several items.

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Ahh... Sorry, missed that part.

Wait, no. OP says no sink or dishwasher. Doesn't say no stove or microwave.... In any case, yeah, an outdoor burner will work just fine.

Sorry, I just got the image in my head of someone re-boiling their entire 5 gallon batch just to dissolve a little sugar into it. This is the "beginner's" section. I've seen crazier ideas.

subliminalurge said:

Ahh... Sorry, missed that part.

Wait, no. OP says no sink or dishwasher. Doesn't say no stove or microwave.... In any case, yeah, an outdoor burner will work just fine.

Sorry, I just got the image in my head of someone re-boiling their entire 5 gallon batch just to dissolve a little sugar into it. This is the "beginner's" section. I've seen crazier ideas.

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Heh. I think I'll pass on that idea. Yes, the stove is inop as well. If I had realized herding cats . . . I mean contractors would have taken this long, I'dve passed on this batch.

Edit: Hmm . . . I do have a microwave. I thought you had to boil DME before using it to prime though. Maybe I should just go in search of some corn sugar . . .

Yeah, contractors always take at least 10x the amount of time they told you in the beginning... I need to get into that line of work. Seems to be one of the few jobs where you can finish up late, use up double the budget, and your customers still recommend you to their friends.... LOL....

But back to brewing... Yeah, just use a little corn sugar. Doesn't have to be boiled, just a light simmer to sanitize the water. And you're using such a small amount that it really won't matter on the taste of the finished product.

flynavy03 said:

Heh. I think I'll pass on that idea. Yes, the stove is inop as well. If I had realized herding cats . . . I mean contractors would have taken this long, I'dve passed on this batch.

Edit: Hmm . . . I do have a microwave. I thought you had to boil DME before using it to prime though. Maybe I should just go in search of some corn sugar . . .

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If you can't find corn sugar easily, just use table sugar! You won't know the difference, as it's a very small amount, about 2 ounces by weight for a keg.

Well, I figured I have a shot at getting up to the store tomorrow or Tuesday, so I figured I'd just bite the bullet on a CO2 setup then. I went ahead and racked to the keg and simply closed it up. I figure two days to get some CO2 in a sanitized container won't hurt the beer much as long as I keep the lid closed.

Swished some around my mouth after getting a FG reading (flying tomorrow morning so I couldn't drink it). Holy cats, is that bitter. So that's what an ounce of Cascade for two weeks does. I tried to filter the hops using a sanitized Handi-Wipe zip tied around the neck of my auto siphon. Seemed to work for that purpose, but ran into a problem. About halfway through, my autosiphon didn't. I had to use the damn thing like a pump to get beer through it. Kept bubbling and losing siphon pressure, or whatever the technical term is. So I probably oxygenated the crap out of things. Curses. So I guess we'll see how it goes.