Pressurizing a keg

This may be a silly question, but if someone could provide me some info I would appreciate it.

Say after drinking some beer out of my keg, I want to pump it with 10 psi to let it sit in the fridge before drinking the next time, when the cO2 is connected and turned on, how long does it need to be turned on pumping cO2 into the keg to reach the desired psi?

Thanks!
Aaron

Hi Aaron. Why do you need to remove the keg off the gas? You don't lose any gas by keeping it hooked up.

The part of this I'm not understanding is where you say you've already drank from the keg.
What pressure were you drinking it at?
If you're already drinking it at 10psi..... it's already at 10psi, so leave the CO2 connected where it's at.
Like JohnnyO says, you won't lose any gas.

If you're asking how long it takes a flat keg to slow force carb to 10psi, it takes 10-14 days.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I have read that it is not good to put the cO2 tank in a fridge? I keep the keg in a fridge in my garage when I am not drinking it. Thank you.

My CO2 bottle is in my keezer with the kegs. No ill effect.

aaronc5150 said:

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I have read that it is not good to put the cO2 tank in a fridge? I keep the keg in a fridge in my garage when I am not drinking it. Thank you.

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Keep it hooked up. Some folks have the CO2 in the kegorator. Some outside. I have mine outside and run a gas-line into the fridge.

There is nothing wrong with keeping your CO2 in the fridge - The discussion you read about here is usually about how the pressure drops, and hunting non-existent leaks.

If you're aware of the fact that the pressure will drop to about 400 PSI when you chill the CO2, you won't have a heart attack the next day when you look at the high pressure gauge.

Ok, I will do that. If I were to not leave the cO2 hooked up at all times, and disconnect it before putting it in the fridge after I drink some - what are the cons of that in comparison to leaving it hooked up at all times?

aaronc5150 said:

Ok, I will do that. If I were to not leave the cO2 hooked up at all times, and disconnect it before putting it in the fridge after I drink some - what are the cons of that in comparison to leaving it hooked up at all times?

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Well, there are a couple issues there.
1) Assuming you force carbed the beer with CO2 in the first place, you must have had it hooked up to the CO2 for at least a week or 2 straight. Why not just leave it hooked up till the keg kicks?
2) (Not really related to unhooking the gas) Moving your kegs around will keep the sediment stirred up = cloudy beer. May not be an issue

There's nothing technically wrong with what you want to do - As long as your kegs are sealed, and you have them on CO2 while you serve from them.

Can you not serve from a keg while it's in the fridge?

Being that the fridge is small, I am not sure that both the keg and cO2 tank will fit in it, I will try though when I get home.

IF they both will not fit - how much c02 do you recommend leaving in the keg while it is in the fridge NOT hooked up to the cO2 tank? Thank you for your help.

aaronc5150 said:

Being that the fridge is small, I am not sure that both the keg and cO2 tank will fit in it, I will try though when I get home.

IF they both will not fit - how much c02 do you recommend leaving in the keg while it is in the fridge NOT hooked up to the cO2 tank? Thank you for your help.

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All of it

No, really...

The keg should always be stored, and served from, at serving pressure.

aaronc5150 said:

Being that the fridge is small, I am not sure that both the keg and cO2 tank will fit in it, I will try though when I get home.

IF they both will not fit - how much c02 do you recommend leaving in the keg while it is in the fridge NOT hooked up to the cO2 tank? Thank you for your help.

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Find out where you Freon lines run in your fridge. Then then very carefully drill a hole somewhere there are no freon lines. Then run your gas line through that. Problem solved.

Thank you guys for the good info. Do you guys recommend a good starting pressure to serve/store beer at from a 5 gallon keg? I am aware that it may need to be adjusted when serving. Thanks again.

There's another thread on that very subject right now (And about a million more to search through)

Short version is about 12 PSI depending on the temperature of your cooler, and you should never have to adjust the CO2 pressure to serve.

You adjust the CO2 pressure to your preferred carbonation level, and your beer lines to control the head.