First Batch into Keg

My first ever batch of homebrew is nearing the end of its fermentation (I think...), and I'm starting to think about the next step: kegging. Because I already have a kegerator, I decided to skip bottling and jump right into kegging.

The good news is that I have all of the equipment that I need and there's great info about how to sanitize and siphon beer into the corny keg. Every resource I've found talks about doing a secondary fermentation in a carboy then siphoning into the keg.

Since this is my first batch, I wanted to keep it a little more simple. Can I attach some tubing to the spigot at the bottom of my fermentation bucket and simply fill the keg from it? Do I need to worry about filtering out any of the hops (I dumped pellets right into the wort)? Do I need to add any sugars to the keg? How long should the beer hang out in the keg before it's ready?

Sorry for all of the newbie questions!

Thanks!

You really should siphon the beer out, first because the spigot may have hops and trub in it, and also so you can siphon from above the trub and only siphon clear beer. You'd had to clog your diptube up on your first keg!

If you're force carbing with C02, no need to add sugar.

I don't ever use a secondary anymore unless im adding fruit or anything. Just let it sit in the primary for 4 weeks then stick it in your fridge at 33 deg for a day or two then siphon your beer to your keg. What kinda beer did you making? If you need to dryhop it just do it in the keg at around 70 deg for like 7 days then put in fridge and carb with CO2

It's an IPA (based on a kit that I got at a local homebrew store that included a little bit of mashing and a lot of extract, but no dry hopping). Is the 4 weeks a hard-and-fast rule? The temperatures here have been pretty steady at 75 degrees recently, and after a week, I'm seeing a bubble only every 45 seconds in the airlock. I like Yooper's advice about siphoning and not adding any extra sugar to the keg (since I'll be forcing carbonation with CO2), but now I'm questioning how long I should leave it in the fermenter, and how long it should sit in the keg before I start drinking it.

benwilde said:

It's an IPA (based on a kit that I got at a local homebrew store that included a little bit of mashing and a lot of extract, but no dry hopping). Is the 4 weeks a hard-and-fast rule? The temperatures here have been pretty steady at 75 degrees recently, and after a week, I'm seeing a bubble only every 45 seconds in the airlock. I like Yooper's advice about siphoning and not adding any extra sugar to the keg (since I'll be forcing carbonation with CO2), but now I'm questioning how long I should leave it in the fermenter, and how long it should sit in the keg before I start drinking it.

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Four weeks a rule? Heck, I'm finishing up a keg of IPA by the four week mark.

The key is to pitch the proper amount of yeast (make sure you aren't underpitching), ferment at the low to mid 60s and then keg at about day 10-14 if not dryhopping. I package the beer when it's been done for at least 3 days and is starting to clear. I dryhop 5 days or so before packaging. Most of my IPAs are kegged by day 15.

However, if the beer has fermentation issues (a too-high fermentation temperature, underpitching, etc), it may take longer to "clean up" and lose some off-flavors created during fermentation. I think in those cases, people who do a longer primary have some benefits.

Airlock activity has very little to do with how your fermentation is going. You really need to use a hydrometer to check your fermentation for completion.