ctoungette
Active Member
Ok, Just got all of my kegging equipment and I am ready to start filling them. I know not everyone flushes the keg with co2 before filling but would like to know the process. Help please!
Flushing keg before filling
- Thread starter ctoungette
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
I don't, but it is a simple process. Clean and sanitize your keg. Drain and let dry. Seal, and attach the CO2 and charge the keg. Bleed the gas out. CO2 is heavier than air, so it will have settled to the bottom. As you bleed it out, the air will go out first.
To be honest, I don't bother, and have never tasted any oxidation in my draft beer. I fill the sanitized and dried keg with beer, then attach the CO2, then bleed out some of the gas to get any air out at that point.
The key is, as with bottling, when filling your keg try to avoid any splashing.
To be honest, I don't bother, and have never tasted any oxidation in my draft beer. I fill the sanitized and dried keg with beer, then attach the CO2, then bleed out some of the gas to get any air out at that point.
The key is, as with bottling, when filling your keg try to avoid any splashing.
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
I clean, sanitize (with StarSan), drain keg, then hit with enough CO2 to get the keg to seal (don't let StarSan dry, since it's not going to do you any good if you do). I then remove it from the gas feed and set aside until time to fill. Then pull the pressure release on the lid (for ball lock kegs) or otherwise release the pressure so that you can open the lid.
I fill via a CO2 push from my sanke fermenter. So, I'm going from a liquid post on the fermenter to the liquid post on the serving keg. This means the keg is filling from the bottom (as well as being pulled from near the bottom of the source keg). I have the lid open enough so that I can see the level of brew in the serving keg (3 gallon kegs typically). With this method, I don't need to worry, one lick, about splashing. I also hit the fermenter with some CO2 before connecting up the liquid QD's (sometimes purging that too). Since I don't rack to another vessel, unless I'm aging the batch, I have a good amount of CO2 on top of the finished brew. Using the CO2 push also means I don't need to lift the fermenter onto a table in order to siphon into serving keg (or bottling bucket). Hell, I could do it exactly where it fermented if I wanted to.
I fill via a CO2 push from my sanke fermenter. So, I'm going from a liquid post on the fermenter to the liquid post on the serving keg. This means the keg is filling from the bottom (as well as being pulled from near the bottom of the source keg). I have the lid open enough so that I can see the level of brew in the serving keg (3 gallon kegs typically). With this method, I don't need to worry, one lick, about splashing. I also hit the fermenter with some CO2 before connecting up the liquid QD's (sometimes purging that too). Since I don't rack to another vessel, unless I'm aging the batch, I have a good amount of CO2 on top of the finished brew. Using the CO2 push also means I don't need to lift the fermenter onto a table in order to siphon into serving keg (or bottling bucket). Hell, I could do it exactly where it fermented if I wanted to.
Here's how I do it: I have an extra gas line on my keezer CO2 system (tank and reg are outside the keezer) so I remove the gas QD, spray the hose with Star San mix, drape it down near the bottom of my sanitized keg, open the gas cock just enough to get a moderate flow of gas and let it run for about 5 seconds, then shut off the gas, remove the hose, and put the lid on.
Then I get everything ready to rack into the keg, then remove the lid, drop the sanitized hose from my autosiphon to the bottom of the keg, put a sanitized piece of foil over the lid opening, and get the siphon flowing. As soon as it's full I put the lid in place, take the keg back to my CO2 system, and use it to purge the head space via the gas in post (fill at around 12psi, shut off the gas, pop the pressure relief valve, and repeat once more).
Cheers!
Then I get everything ready to rack into the keg, then remove the lid, drop the sanitized hose from my autosiphon to the bottom of the keg, put a sanitized piece of foil over the lid opening, and get the siphon flowing. As soon as it's full I put the lid in place, take the keg back to my CO2 system, and use it to purge the head space via the gas in post (fill at around 12psi, shut off the gas, pop the pressure relief valve, and repeat once more).
Cheers!
ctoungette
Active Member
Thanks for all the advise. How do you fill from the dip tube. Do you remove the post and leave the tube in place?
I have flare connectors on all my lines. I simply install a liquid QD on my gas line and install it on the liquid out fitting on the keg. Then I open the relief valve and let the CO2 flow through the dip tube until all the air is purged out.
^^^This is what I do, and then I fill thru the same post, pushing the beer out of my carboy with Co2.
if your goal is to get a final oxygen concentration down to around 1%, then you need to purge the keg 4 times at 15psi. why, you ask?
atmospheric pressure is 14.7psi. call it 15 to make it easy. air contains about 21% oxygen.
if your headspace contains 21% oxygen at 15psi, and you add another 15psi of pure CO2, you will then have 11.5%O2, and the rest mainly CO2 and nitrogen. purge it back down to atmospheric pressure (15psi). you still have the same concentration of gasses, but just less pressure.
fill it again with 15psi of CO2. you now have 5.75% O2, the remainder CO2 and nitrogen.
do it a third time, you get down to about 2.5% oxygen.
do it a fourth time and you have just over 1% oxygen.
atmospheric pressure is 14.7psi. call it 15 to make it easy. air contains about 21% oxygen.
if your headspace contains 21% oxygen at 15psi, and you add another 15psi of pure CO2, you will then have 11.5%O2, and the rest mainly CO2 and nitrogen. purge it back down to atmospheric pressure (15psi). you still have the same concentration of gasses, but just less pressure.
fill it again with 15psi of CO2. you now have 5.75% O2, the remainder CO2 and nitrogen.
do it a third time, you get down to about 2.5% oxygen.
do it a fourth time and you have just over 1% oxygen.
in theory, yes. but that really only happens in fantasy land. gasses never stratify so idealy in real life. if you purge a keg once at 15psi, you will be left with about 10% oxygen, which is still too much.
Very nice math. Now you have me thinking about all that Co2 being consumed.
If you fill from the dip tube (out post) at a very low pressure you could only need to displace the bottom 4-5 inches of the keg with Co2. Then as you rack our beer in thru the same post, the beer would push the Co2 blanket up as it fills the keg in turn pushing the O2 out of the pressure relief valve, lid opening or the other post.
boogyman
Well-Known Member
None of the beer in my house lasts long enough to be effected detrimentally from the very short and relatively insignificant amount of O2 that it may be exposed to during the racking process from fermenter to keg. I purge the keg with CO2 from the bottom up, rack, drink and not worry for a nano-second about it.
I clean my kegs, put on all of the fittings, etc. Then fill with iodophor solution completely to the top, to where it just starts to spill out the top. I then put on the lid and close the bail. I let it sit a few minutes to sanitize it.
Then, I put a gas QD on the in port and connect to my CO2 tank, and a liquid QD on the beer out side with a tube into a bucket that is above the level of the keg. I then turn on the CO2 to about 5 PSI and push all of the liquid out with CO2. This way, when the keg is empty it should only be filled with CO2 from the CO2 tank - little to no O2 at all. I then use the same line attached to the beer out side, and attach it to a racking cane to the fermenter. I use a carboy cap and better bottles, so I just slightly pressurize the carboy with my CO2 to start the siphon and just open the pressure relief valve on the keg, then let the beer drain into the keg through the beer in side. This way, the beer fills from the bottom up with no splashing.
I have filled many kegs this way, and it works quite well. I don't ususally end up keeping them for more than a few months, but I am fairly certain there is minimal O2 in them and that they could probably keep for years if necessary.
Then, I put a gas QD on the in port and connect to my CO2 tank, and a liquid QD on the beer out side with a tube into a bucket that is above the level of the keg. I then turn on the CO2 to about 5 PSI and push all of the liquid out with CO2. This way, when the keg is empty it should only be filled with CO2 from the CO2 tank - little to no O2 at all. I then use the same line attached to the beer out side, and attach it to a racking cane to the fermenter. I use a carboy cap and better bottles, so I just slightly pressurize the carboy with my CO2 to start the siphon and just open the pressure relief valve on the keg, then let the beer drain into the keg through the beer in side. This way, the beer fills from the bottom up with no splashing.
I have filled many kegs this way, and it works quite well. I don't ususally end up keeping them for more than a few months, but I am fairly certain there is minimal O2 in them and that they could probably keep for years if necessary.
I do the same but with StarSan.
Nitpicking, I know, but all the math was wrong (21 / 2 = 10.5). Or am I missing something? Not important tho.
Similar threads
