anything else I need to know before I pour my first draft beer?

I brewed the deception cream stout from the recipie archive back in about September. I racked to a corny eight days ago, after sitting in secondary about 6 weeks.

I attempted to carb to about 2.1 volumes by boost carbing at 28 psi for 24 hours, and it's been sitting at 10 psi for the last 7 days. I think in 3 days I'll vent down to 5 psi and hook up the beer line. I expect the first pint to be slushy.

I have 5' beer lines, 3/16 id.

Everything sound about right? Can't wait!

Only 1 way to find out. Best of luck to you, and enjoy your first draft. Cheers.

Sounds about right excpet i have 6 ft but just leave the serving psi at 12. You may try just leaving it at 10 and see what happens. The only other thing to watch out for is how easy it is to grab a second/third/fourth.

rjsnau said:

The only other thing to watch out for is how easy it is to grab a second/third/fourth.

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Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! He's supposed to find that out on his own, just like we did,

Why are you venting down to 5? That's gonna be a slooooooooooooooooooooooow pour. If you want 2.1 volumes, 10 psi is just right if your kegerator is at 45 degrees. If you're at 33 degrees, then the 5 psi is right for carbonation, but again, with 5 feet of 3/16 beer line, you're going to have a very very slow pour at that pressure. I have a keg that's at 10 psi and its slow enough. Don't really want to think about what it would be like at 5.

BrewKnurd said:

Why are you venting down to 5? That's gonna be a slooooooooooooooooooooooow pour. If you want 2.1 volumes, 10 psi is just right if your kegerator is at 45 degrees. If you're at 33 degrees, then the 5 psi is right for carbonation, but again, with 5 feet of 3/16 beer line, you're going to have a very very slow pour at that pressure. I have a keg that's at 10 psi and its slow enough. Don't really want to think about what it would be like at 5.

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My fridge was at about 38 last night, so I turned it down to try to hit about 42. I don't have a temp controller, so just have to turn the thermostat on the fridge to try to hit my temps. At this point I'm not too concerned if it's 2.1 or 2.2 volumes, since this is my first attempt.

My homebrew store, very knowledgeable guys, suggested using only enough pressure as it takes to pour the beer - about 5-6 psi. I'll try my first pour at 10 psi and see how it works out.

Thanks guys!

I would suggest putting a GLASS under the spout to capture the flowing beer.

Welcome to the club!

DPB

tgmartin000 said:

My homebrew store, very knowledgeable guys, suggested using only enough pressure as it takes to pour the beer - about 5-6 psi. I'll try my first pour at 10 psi and see how it works out.

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Unless you enjoy fiddling with the regulator multiple times a day and wasting CO2, this is pretty crappy advice. Calculate the pressure you need to maintain carbonation (others have mentioned this) and leave it at that pressure until the keg is kicked. If you lower the pressure and don't turn it back up, the beer will slowly lose carbonation. If it's consistently pouring foamy it means your serving line's not long enough, so buy maybe 8-10 feet and swap that in there. Now you can pour beer after beer for as long as you want (months, years even) without touching the regulator or worrying about losing carbonation.