First time kegging and clueless

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TwistedGray

El Jefe Brewing Company
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Not looking for input on what gear I should buy for kegging. This is a post asking what I can do with what I have without buying anything else, thank you.


Here is the one and only thing that I am almost certain of...I have everything I need. With that, let's take inventory (with links)
Yup, that's as far as I have gotten...a box full of stuff and enough knowledge to blow something up. I have only ever bottle conditioned my homebrew, so this is rather intimidating...no clue where to begin. I've read a bit here and there, but hell, I don't even know what connects to what! Eeeeek.
 
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A couple of questions-
1- what is your avg brew volume? After boil.
2- are you doing al grain?
3-why do you want to keg 1/2 g at a time? Where’s the rest of the uncarbed beer?

Suggestions- go to keg connect or another vendor and look at what they offer. I’d advise two kegs (used or new) 5 lb CO2 tank with regulator, appropriate tubing and connectors. Don’t forget you’ll need some method for chilling appropriately for helping carb and serving.
I have a uKeg 64 oz that I use for taking beer to outings and occasional growler shop fills. It works very well but I don’t see it as a long term “kegging “ solution.
 
I know your OP said you know you have all the equipment you need. However, a 64 OZ growler will only store 5 beers. The usual use of a growler is to serve as local transport to an event where you don't have or want to bring a full keg setup. What you have would also be perfectly serviceable if your local brew pub or package store offers to fill growlers. You fill it up, take it home and pop it into the fridge. If you're brewing your own, the usual batches are increments of 5 gallons because that's what the equipment (corny kegs, brew buckets, fermenters, bottling buckets, ETC) are sized for. If you could share with us your short term and long term goals we can better advise you. Do you have/plan to add a beer refrigerator or freezer to cool the product, or are you sharing space with the household frige? Are you keeping it small due to floor space concerns? Right now we can only assume your intentions. I guarantee no matter what your situation and objectives, someone in this forum has been exactly where you are now.
 
TwistedGray said:
Yup, that's as far as I have gotten...a box full of stuff and enough knowledge to blow something up. I have only ever bottle conditioned my homebrew, so this is rather intimidating...no clue where to begin. I've read a bit here and there, but hell, I don't even know what connects to what! Eeeeek.
Click to expand...

I've never messed with paintball eq, but assuming those parts will fit together, I've re-ordered your list into order of assembly. You don't list them, but I assume you have some kind of clamp to connect the tubing to the ball lock QD and the regulator.

That cap can't take the 30-40 PSI that most use to speed up carbonation, so the quickest method available would be to:
- Fill and chill the growler
- set your regulator at about 12 PSI
- connect and shake until you can't hear air transfer any more

At that point it is technically ready to serve but it will be better if you can put the whole assembly in a fridge, still at 12 PSI, for 3 days.

I'm also not familiar with that particular regulator. Some have a built-in check valve and others don't. When I use the 'shake method' and a regulator without a check valve, sometimes it will back-flow up the hose so it is better to keep your CO2 tank positioned above the vessel you are shaking, just in case.
 
bleme said:
I've never messed with paintball eq, but assuming those parts will fit together, I've re-ordered your list into order of assembly. You don't list them, but I assume you have some kind of clamp to connect the tubing to the ball lock QD and the regulator.

That cap can't take the 30-40 PSI that most use to speed up carbonation, so the quickest method available would be to:
- Fill and chill the growler
- set your regulator at about 12 PSI
- connect and shake until you can't hear air transfer any more

At that point it is technically ready to serve but it will be better if you can put the whole assembly in a fridge, still at 12 PSI, for 3 days.

I'm also not familiar with that particular regulator. Some have a built-in check valve and others don't. When I use the 'shake method' and a regulator without a check valve, sometimes it will back-flow up the hose so it is better to keep your CO2 tank positioned above the vessel you are shaking, just in case.
Click to expand...

Much appreciated, and yes I have all the hose clamps for the tubing. To be clear, once it is connected to the growler I am constantly feeding it 12PSI of Co2 until I no longer hear the Co2 being pushed into the growler? What happens to the air that it's taking the space of? How does that escape? Through the pressure release valve?
 
TwistedGray said:
Much appreciated, and yes I have all the hose clamps for the tubing. To be clear, once it is connected to the growler I am constantly feeding it 12PSI of Co2 until I no longer hear the Co2 being pushed into the growler? What happens to the air that it's taking the space of? How does that escape? Through the pressure release valve?
Click to expand...

You fill with CO2, purge, fill with CO2, purge....3 times or so THEN keep constant pressure on it until it is carbonated. The set and forget method....4 days-1 week for that setup.

This is one expensive way to keg! I'm assuming you do 1 gallon batches?
 
TwistedGray said:
Not looking for input on what gear I should buy for kegging. This is a post asking what I can do with what I have without buying anything else, thank you.


Here is the one and only thing that I am almost certain of...I have everything I need. With that, let's take inventory (with links)
Yup, that's as far as I have gotten...a box full of stuff and enough knowledge to blow something up. I have only ever bottle conditioned my homebrew, so this is rather intimidating...no clue where to begin. I've read a bit here and there, but hell, I don't even know what connects to what! Eeeeek.
Click to expand...

??? 4k posts with 3k+ likes, and your trying to carb a growler...and are wondering what the pressure release valve is for? :coff2:

edit: i removed an 'lol', guess it's possible...have to stay tuned and find out....
 
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TwistedGray said:
What happens to the air that it's taking the space of? How does that escape? Through the pressure release valve?
Click to expand...
Sorry. I totally forgot to put in the 'purge' step. When I carb small batches I use a 2-liter bottle and a carb cap. With that, I can just squeeze the bottle to get out all the air. Otherwise, it should be a similar process.

It usually takes about 5 minutes of shaking. The colder you start off, the faster it goes.
 
So many people eager to crap on a guy for asking a question. Who are you to judge how he spends his own time/money, really? If you don't want to answer his question, don't, but no need to dunk on him for his life choices. It's a bad look for this forum. Kudos to @bleme for taking it seriously.
 
deadwolfbones said:
So many people eager to crap on a guy for asking a question. Who are you to judge how he spends his own time/money, really? If you don't want to answer his question, don't, but no need to dunk on him for his life choices. It's a bad look for this forum. Kudos to @bleme for taking it seriously.
Click to expand...


hey, i'm here to have fun. not at anyone's expense but, there are the occasional troll out there....
 
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Although this is a very expensive way to force carbonate beer per fluid ounce, it is actually a nifty way to experiment with small batches. I'd probably use gallon growlers myself, but for essentially the cost of a 5gal keg, the OP can carbonate a batch of beer, but take up extremely small space, but have a lot of variety. You could fit a dozen in a small keezer.

I know it is expensive, but I've seen much larger scale spending that still only nets a single batch of beer. I have two five gallon kegs currently, but for Christmas I got a 128oz growler for almost this specific purpose.
 
TwistedGray said:
Much appreciated, and yes I have all the hose clamps for the tubing. To be clear, once it is connected to the growler I am constantly feeding it 12PSI of Co2 until I no longer hear the Co2 being pushed into the growler? What happens to the air that it's taking the space of? How does that escape? Through the pressure release valve?
Click to expand...

filling growler leaves, I presume, a little headspace of air
closing growler and hooking up CO2 pressuriezes that headspeace
gas laws now take over
gas dissolves into liquid if not in equilibrium
higher headspace pressure (CO2 hooked up) will make CO2 & air dissolve into liquid (beer)
the rate and amount is determined by the volume of headspace, the pressure of CO2 the volume of beer the CO2 already in the beer, the temp of the beer
shaking the growler simply increases the surface area through which the CO2 can dissolve, rather than just the circular area on the top of the beer level

the air does not escape
it will mix with the beer somewhat
that is why many recommend putting on CO2 and purging, to clear the headspace of air and make it more CO2 concentrated
 
balrog said:
filling growler leaves, I presume, a little headspace of air
closing growler and hooking up CO2 pressuriezes that headspeace
gas laws now take over
gas dissolves into liquid if not in equilibrium
higher headspace pressure (CO2 hooked up) will make CO2 & air dissolve into liquid (beer)
the rate and amount is determined by the volume of headspace, the pressure of CO2 the volume of beer the CO2 already in the beer, the temp of the beer
shaking the growler simply increases the surface area through which the CO2 can dissolve, rather than just the circular area on the top of the beer level

the air does not escape
it will mix with the beer somewhat
that is why many recommend putting on CO2 and purging, to clear the headspace of air and make it more CO2 concentrated
Click to expand...

Understood; thank you.

For sake of redundancy...I add Co2, shake, purge through the release valve on the cap, add Co2, shake, purge through the release valve on the cap, rinse and repeat, and ultimately leave the Co2 hooked up to the growler at 12PSI for a few days to a week?

I thought at this stage I can disconnect the lines to the Co2, put the growler in the fridge for 4-7 days, and connect the Co2 only for serving? Regardless whether it has to stay connected or not through the carb'ing process, what PSI is recommended, on average, for "ales" (I assume there is plenty of literature on this and varying answers to what is "best")? I am assuming for serving, I would have to change it from 12PSI to something else, right?
 
Most say
-fill vessel
-hook up co2, purge, while co2 is hooked up mind you, release, wait for pressure build, purge, repeat several times
-after purging, let co2 build pressure, start shaking, leave co2 hooked up
-you will hear co2 continue to flow, while hooked up, while shaking
-once flowing co2 noise stops, unhook and refig
 
balrog said:
Most say
-fill vessel
-hook up co2, purge, while co2 is hooked up mind you, release, wait for pressure build, purge, repeat several times
-after purging, let co2 build pressure, start shaking, leave co2 hooked up
-you will hear co2 continue to flow, while hooked up, while shaking
-once flowing co2 noise stops, unhook and refig
Click to expand...

Thanks for confirming, easy enough.
 
And we've got [micro] kegged beer folks :)

IMG_20190205_143225.jpg
 
TechFanMD said:
Let us not be in suspense. What is it? How’s the carbonation
Click to expand...

It's an apricot kettle sour and one for the kids at 2.5% ABV. I am force carb'ing it now, but I may just leave it in the fridge to finish carb'ing for the next few days than to keep fussing with it. The carbonation level isn't where it needs to be at yet.
 

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