1st time kegging....

Hey all,
Ok so I am about to fill my first keg and would like everyone to check over my procedures to make sure I am not missing anything.

My keg has been cleaned and sanitized, completely rebuilt with all new o rings and pressure tested to 50 psi with no leaks.

I plan to rack the beer into the keg filling from the bottom up trying to minimize splashing. Once full I will hook up to the CO2 and burp it a few times to remove any oxygen.

I will set the regulator at 13 PSI and let sit for 2 weeks in my refrigerator and then start drinking

Let em know if there is anything I missed or a better way to do it.

Thanks Gene

I always partially fill my empty keg with CO2 prior to racking. I have read that alot and it seems to work as I have had no problems, yet. I also force carbonate for 2 days at 30psi after the beer has been in the fridge for at least 24 hours. I don't shake or roll the keg while at 30, however, It probably takes another few days to be carbonated to expectation. I'm impatient though and I'll try one after the 2 days and its still greenish and mildly carbed. Usually, a few days at a lower psi is all it needs. But, I'm still new so read these words with great care and read much more on the subject.

I usually run sanitizer/iodine through my keg lines every few batches to make sure the lines are clean. You may want to do this as well to ensure there are no leaks and everything is clean.

Other then that you are set. However I do force carbonation. Basically I bump up the PSI to about 20 and shake the keg a bit and let it sit for a few minutes, bleed the CO2 and repeat a couple times. After 2-3 times I let it sit overnight and it's ready to be consumed.

However if you are letting it settle in your keg for some extended aging or you are in no hurry to drink, your method is perfect. You will quickly find that kegging is the only way to go

Your beer transfer plan is good.

The CO2 at 13 PSI may or may not be good depending on what temperature you are storing your beer at and what CO2 volume is appropriate for the style of beer you are making. The colder the beer, the more easily CO2 is dissolved in the beer.

I'm may not be an expert but I try to carbonate my beers to the range appropriate to the style. I take my time and set the PSI to serving PSI and let the carbonation happen over 2 or 3 weeks.

Forced carbonation is an alternative if you are in a hurry. To do that you set the PSI at 30 PSI or so and shake the keg every few hours to dissolve CO2 more quickly into the beer. It takes just a day or so to carbonate your beer but achieving the CO2 volume you want is harder to control.

Do a search of this forum for more details.

It looks like you have a pretty good handle on it.

+1 on running the sanitizer through the line. After I sanitize I normally leave 1/2 gallon or so of starsan in the keg, hook up the gas and run it through the line.

The psi level is dependant on the style of beer, the length of your dispensing line, and the temperature of the beer. There are charts out there if you google it. For basic ales in my kegerator at 38 deg F, I usually start out around 11psi and adjust to preference after it is carbed up.

Enjoy your first kegged beer!