First Time Kegging!

I'm super excited to be kegging for the first time! I want to be sure I get all my ducks in a row, so a few quick things:

(1) We're having a party here Thursday where my draft beer will make its debut. So I need to force carb a brown ale that has been conditioning in a secondary for about five weeks. Am I okay using the procedure of putting it under 35-40 psi for two days? Do I need to bother shaking the corny around or will it get sufficiently carbonated under that much pressure? The beer has been cold crashed for a couple of days now. I plan to follow the advice in this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/force-carb-question-64267/

(2) Should I filter my beer before putting it in the corney? I have a Buon Vino or whatever electric filter; I was planning on just using the #2 pads that work for red wine.

(3) If I don't filter (or even if I do), should I cut a bit off the tube in my corney so that sediment doesn't get pushed up? Like an inch or so?

(4) I'm usually pretty careful with cleaning/sterilizing; I use the pink bleach-based powder in water and then StarSan. I bought these used corneys and haven't used them before; any special cleaning instructions?

Any other advice? Thanks!

1. I force carb one day at 30psi and then release all CO2. Then adjust to 10psi. Takes a few days and it's great.

2. I don't filter.

3. I don't. Some people do cut their tubes. I don't. If I have sediment, I just dump the first 1/2 glass or so

4. pressure test them. Make sure they don't need new O-Rings. It's always a good idea to keep some on hand.

Just scrub everything pretty well and soak in starsan. I actually keep my kegs full of this while not in use.

Don't worry about sediment and filtering. Your first pull will be a bit cloudy, but after that, as long as you've given it time to settle and don't move the keg, you'll be fine.

As for force carbing... I don't like using this method. It's very unreliable, and I find it effects the taste of the beer. If you really need to do it, then as you said above, crank your pressure to about 30-35psi. Seal the keg by relieving pressure every few seconds. Then after pulling the relief valve about 10 times, let it continue carbing.

Come back every hour or so for about 6 hours and shake the keg for 30 seconds at least. I've also heard of people just hooking up their gas line to the keg out pin. This forced CO2 through the beer from the bottom up.

Either way, keep testing the beer about every 12-24 hours. When it tastes right to you, lower the pressure down to around 10-15psi depending on your fridge temps.

I do 24lb for 24 hours, I hook up gas, bleed out any air by purging a few times, then I hit it with 24psi, disconnect gas, slosh it around a few times, hook it back up to the gas at 24psi and let it sit for 24 hours, then bleed off the pressure and set it to 10psi for serving a few days later, no overcarbing issues to date

osagedr said:

(4) I'm usually pretty careful with cleaning/sterilizing; I use the pink bleach-based powder in water and then StarSan. I bought these used corneys and haven't used them before; any special cleaning instructions?

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What is this pink bleach-based powder? I've never come across it.
If it is chlorine based, I wouldn't use it on kegs as it can corrode SS.
FWIW, I clean my kegs with OxiClean free, rinse well with water, and sanitize prior to use with Iodophor or StarSan.

-a.

I would stay away from the shaking method. That is super unreliable. 30psi for 24-48 hours is not going to overcarb your beer. You have to remember that you are also cooling the beer down to serving temp, so its really not absorbing that much co2 the first 24 hours. Even after 24 hours, it will take another 2-3 days to taste right, so you're kinda pushing it now.

Its best to carb at serving pressure for 10 days atleast, but you gotta do what you gotta do, dont expect it to be clear either. That usually come after a few weeks of being chilled.

JesseRC said:

I would stay away from the shaking method. That is super unreliable. 30psi for 24-48 hours is not going to overcarb your beer. You have to remember that you are also cooling the beer down to serving temp, so its really not absorbing that much co2 the first 24 hours. Even after 24 hours, it will take another 2-3 days to taste right, so you're kinda pushing it now.

Its best to carb at serving pressure for 10 days atleast, but you gotta do what you gotta do, dont expect it to be clear either. That usually come after a few weeks of being chilled.

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Thanks for the info; the beer was just over freezing after cold crashing for three days so hopefully that helps. It was also in the carboy for five weeks so hopefully that helps with clearing. I'll let y'all know how it turned out!

If you run into issues, which I almost always do when when force carbing at high pressures (that's why I dont anymore), just bleed the pressure and serve at 3-5psi while the guest are around. NOthing worse than having to mess with it while guest are around.

I use oxyclean and starsan for cleaning/sanitizing.

To force carb, I set at 30 PSI, and leave it for 48 hrs, then purge and set at 10-12 psi. If you shake at 30 PSI for very long, you will overcarb. The shaking method is meant to carb up in a few hours....30 PSI for 48 hours shouldn't overcarb you though, (if you don't keep shaking it!).

Don't hook your gas line to your liquid out post, unless you have a liquid QD on it. The posts are slightly different sizes, and the liquid one is bigger. Your gas QD WILL get stuck on a liquid out post.

I can't speak to the filtering. I don't filter, but I use gelatin. Even then, (after a week even), I don't get clear beer. I haven't figured this out yet. I can say that cutting the dip tube is unnecessary though.....your first pint will barf out all the sediment, and the rest will be sediment free.

The carbing seems to be your big thing. Hit it with 30 psi for 2 days, then taste it. Hit it with high pressure again, with a bit of shaking if it's not quite "there"...but it should be close.

I usually put my beer in at 15lbs for 4-5 days and it works pretty good. Then I bring it down to about 5 pounds to serve. And another thing worth mentioning, is that after it's been carbonated for awhile, if you run into a lot of foaming, just turn off the co2 to the keg and serve beers until it runs out of co2 pressure, and reapply. This happens to me after I've had a keg in there for awhile.

If you're going to go in with 25+ lbs, be sure you bleed some of that off before you try and tap it, lol.

Also, I wouldn't filter the beer. Just when you tap it, make sure you take the first glass. If there's anything that settled out, it'll be in your glass.

cheers

~r~

I've had no issues force carbing, but you've got to be a little more scientific about it or you'll overcarb/undercarb beers. Go here http://kotmf.com/articles/carbonation.php, and notice that different beer styles require different levels of CO2, and different temperatures will absorbs CO2 different. Use the chart to get a good pressure, hook the line up to your keg, and set it on it's side. Roll the keg back and forth along the floor with your foot for a few minutes. Unhook the CO2 and release the pressure, and hook it back up at normal serving pressure. Let it sit for about an hour to settle, then taste-test.

Thanks for all the advice guys. This beer is very cool; in the fridge right around 30 degrees. From what I can read it will take on CO2 quickly at that temperature. I've got it at 34 psi or so; I'll try it tomorrow evening and see how it's coming along. If it's well-carbed then I can crank the pressure down. At that temperature I could have it as low as 5 lbs from what I've been reading and still hit two volumes of CO2. I'll likely crank it down to 15 or so tomorrow night then maybe 10 Wednesday morning and I probably can leave it there until I serve it; with the beer that cool I should be able to leave the keg and CO2 tank out of the fridge and have it warm up to a good serving temp during the party.

30 degrees in the fridge? Or did you mean freezer? If you're at 30 degrees and 34 psi, you'll overcarbonate if it reaches equilibrium. I use a rolling method to reach equilibrium quickly; I don't know how quickly it will carb up if you just let it sit.

I like your plan osagedr....I think that will work well for you.

One thing, beer isn't wine. Keeping the fridge at 30 degrees runs a severe risk of freezing....

Yes I've been trying to get it closer to 35 to prevent freezing...I have a Johnson Controls digital thermostat I just got but need to install; dang dial in the fridge is somewhat less than "precise!"

Jesse RC:

Saw you had
Keg3: Apfelwein
Keg4: Apfelwein

Don't want to take this to far off point but my question does have to do with kegging. I have an Ed Wort Apfelwein set up and when its done I'm going to keg it. What process do you use to keg the Apfelwein?

1. Conditioning PSI?
2. Servng PSI?
3. Any other info?

Thanks

I suppose that's personal preference. I'm serving my apfelwein at 10 psi with no carbonation, because I like it flat. (Actually it's got about one volume natural carbonation, so you see little bubbles but no fizziness). Personally, I'd keg it like that, and if you don't like it, retro-carb it.

cencoastbrewer said:

Jesse RC:

Saw you had
Keg3: Apfelwein
Keg4: Apfelwein

Don't want to take this to far off point but my question does have to do with kegging. I have an Ed Wort Apfelwein set up and when its done I'm going to keg it. What process do you use to keg the Apfelwein?

1. Conditioning PSI?
2. Servng PSI?
3. Any other info?

Thanks

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Well I dont have a dual regulator so I keg it just like beer and carbonate at the same level and temp. Honestly I dont care for Apfelwein all that much, it taste like a dry champagne, so I usually back sweeten it with a can or 2 of cranberry concentrate (frozen). Some folks love it though.