shoestealer17
Well-Known Member
I started with 20 lbs CO2 pressure on the keg and then disconnected it. I have herd 1/4 cup and 3/4 cup DME that you add before you close up the keg, does anyone know?
Don't know about taste, but it will allow a person to carbonate more kegs than they have room for on tap.
I find it helps the seal also. I've pressurized to 30 lbs without sugar, and went back the next day to find barely any pressure at all, making me wonder what would it have done if I hadn't checked it for a few days. Leak? I doubt it, as it is fine if I add the sugar and leave it for weeks.
first off...
measure DME/CORN SUGAR by WEIGHT, not volume.
If the density of DME or Corn Sugar is about the same across most batches of DME or Corn Sugar than I dont think it makes much of a difference
Accuracy of going by weight will always be superior to by volume. Have a small ding in your measuring cup? That will throw off the volume measure. Want to carbonate to a different level? How are you going to do that with volume?
With a decent scale you can get accuracy to 1/8th of an ounce (or go metric if you wish).
The ONLY thing I'll measure in volume is water (for boiling or into a starter) and volume in a primary. Even for starters, I'm going with weight of DME per water volume.
I am interested in hearing people's general opinion on carbing with sugars and then using CO2 (nitro or beer gas) to push to the tap. I'm planning on setting up for kegging within another month or so, so I'll need to figure out which method will give me the best options/results. I do like the idea of having just one pressure setting on the CO2 regulator for all brews, so that I can carbonate each keg as I wish. I know that some will be carb'd lighter than others, depending on what's going into it. Right now, I prefer to go no more than 1/2 into the CO2 volume range of a brew style.
When carbonating with sugars, inside a corny, how much CO2 do you fill the headspace with (to what pressure)?
naturally carbonating your kegs to different/desired pressures wont make much difference once you.ve hooked up to a consistent CO2 source for serving... all of the kegs will equalize pressure to the serving pressure - if one keg is 20psi and one is 6psi but your CO2 setup is set at 12PSI across all the kegs, your 6 will come up to 12 and your 20 will go down to 12 as you bleed off pressure through serving...
as to the benefits of priming in kegs, i think they are fairly straightforward...
there is a modest gas savings (which may or may not be affected by DME or corn sugar costs)
more importantly, you can be prepping, conditioning, carbonating kegs without taking up space in the keezer/kegerator. if you have more kegs than space, this allows you to keep kegs in the pipeline and have product ready to go on tap immediately after a cold keg kicks.
i am not of the school that priming adds and flavor or quality aspects...
To maintain a certain CO2 level in your beer you will have to have different regualators for each keg to controll the pressure, if you have a manifold they will all equalize in pressure. Internet sites sell primary and secondary regulators that link together to serve several different beers at different CO2 levels with the same CO2 bottle. That is the only way you can have several kegs on one bottle with different pressures, separate regulators, otherwise the beers will all eventually equalize in pressure which is what you don't wantI'm looking at carbonating brews to different CO2 VOLUMES per keg (if I keg now) and then use [just] enough gas to serve the brews up on tap. I don't want the serving pressure to add CO2 volume to the brew.
I've been priming all my brews with honey (wildflower)... The other home brewers that have sampled my brews have noticed the difference over using regular priming sugar. I'm also priming to levels that I want, not just using 5oz/5 gallons of brew (of priming sugar)...
If there's no way to keg and keep the CO2 volumes I wish within the brew, then that's a reason for me to NOT keg. At least not with cornies.
If there's a gas pressure level that won't put any more CO2 volume into the brew, but is enough to push the brew out to the tap, then I'd like to know.
as shoestealer said, CO2 is a gas, it will naturally equalize in a closed system - if you drop your serving pressure to 5psi, then eventually all the beers will settle there for their carbonation level as well.
brewers who desire different CO2 volumes for different beers in their system will have a series of independent low-pressure regulators, so they can dial each keg in to the desired pressure - this pressure is both the desired CO2 volume AND the serving pressure.
this can add some cost to the total cost of a system, a ~$50 regulator for each keg, plus in some cases, additional line length to maintain a balanced system at the tap, etc.
IMHO, unless you plan to have wide variances in desired CO2 volumes, you can probably get by with 2 low pressure regulators into multi-port manifolds - one manifold representing the higher avg desired volumes and one manifold representing the lower avg volumes. not sure independent regulators is necessary for 10, 11, 12 psi - but perhaps one for 9-12 and one for 15-20 or something like that.
IMHO, unless you can taste/sense the difference between 10 and 12psi, the difference is statistically insignificant on the homebrewing scale.
it has nothing to do with cornies by the way, any keg type will behave the same (gas pressure seeks equlibrium)
That actually makes more sense to me... But it also begs the question of what's the typical lowest PSI level for serving brew (via tap) in a keezer configuration? Taps would be either through a top tower, or possibly on the side of the unit. Using enough feed line (for the taps) to get things to work properly. Right now, I'm thinking that a keezer temp of 45-50F would be what I'd be using (liking how the homebrews taste in those temperatures). On the low end, maybe 40F.
I wouldn't need to nail the CO2 levels within the brews dead on, but I would want them to stay fairly close to what I carbonated them to (via honey)... I still plan (nothing purchased yet, so it's still in the planning stage) to carbonate the brews at around 70F. I had faster carbonation, with great results, when I moved my brews to that temperature (or closer to it for most of the day). Of course, for the hot/summer months, I might need to get another chest freezer to use as a carbonation chamber (for the days when it gets too warm in my apartment)... I suspect that if I put brews in the basement, my landlord will snake some away (if in bottles)... So two ~7CF chest freezers will be on the order list...
Chances are, the keezer will be going into the living room, so that I have a shorter distance to go when wanting a brew and watching tv (or on the computer)...
BTW, [FONT="]shoestealer17, are you a mean drunk?? To think, I didn't even have any last night, and you were TUI (typing under the influence)...
[/FONT]
Haha, some people tell me I am occasionally, but I think im rather nice and yes, I was TUI, on an iPhone none the less, I had to comeback and fix typos this morning haha
And to get to the question above, you want around 5 ft of 3/16" ID beer line between the faucet and the keg, and you dont want to dispense at less than 6 psi. Now, this is a topic of great debate, but I dont go less than 8 PSI, im usually closer to 10-12 depending on the beer. You want to dispense at the same pressure that the beer is carbonated at. Equilibrium is the key here. The regulator should be set at the pressure you want your beer at and the beer line length be adjusted to control flow rate. Ive always left my beer lines at 5' and had no problem getting a good pour
.....Yes SS (OP) I pressurize to 57psi, let it sit (COLD) for 3 days. BLEED off ALL pressure (unless you can eyeball 12 psi, I can't, better not to spray beer out of the nozzle at 25 psi) hook back up to your system IMMEDIATELY at whatever pressure you serve at. Gas will enter the keg to fill the headspace and you will be close to 12 psi. Over the next 24 hours it will be perfect, but certainly drinkably carbed immediately. I lower to 8 psi to serve in case it is a little overcarbed at this point.
KEG AND BEER MUST BE COLD AT THE START OF THIS PROCESS. If you just syphoned warm beer into the keg, just add one more day before bleeding and serving.
If the density of DME or Corn Sugar is about the same across most batches of DME or Corn Sugar than I dont think it makes much of a difference
sorry to dispute you but it makes a world of difference. measure out 1/2 cup of corn sugar or DME 5 different times and weigh them. this one experiment will change your mind.
now, if details are not important to the particular brew your carbing, then your in the clear.
That actually makes more sense to me... But it also begs the question of what's the typical lowest PSI level for serving brew (via tap) in a keezer configuration?
dont get hung up on the term serving pressure. serving pressure = storage pressure = carbonation level. it's all the same. you cannot change one without affecting the other two.
I think, when it's time, I'll keg a batch (5 gallon batch) into two 2.5 gallon corny kegs, and carb one with honey, and the other with CO2... Push both out at the same serving pressure and see if there's any difference (that can be tasted)... That will be the ultimate test.
I'm already planning on using the 2.5 and 3 gallon corny kegs for the majority of my brews (while doing 5 gallon batches)... Those will be much easier to transport to gatherings/parties and also mean that if people love it, and kick the keg , I'll still have some at home to enjoy.
Let us know how this turns out, I'd be interested to see
Of course... Even thinking about getting a paintball style tank to use when not at home. I don't think all that many of my family members are into porters and stouts like I am. So, one or two ale's would be enough (or it better be)... Tap one, when it kicks, tap the other. If that kicks, then they are back to bottles...
Im thinking about doing something like that too.
Im tryin to think of the easiest and cheapest way to do it.
Picnic tap, of course, to dispense the beer, but I dont have a good way to keep it cold while at someone elses house
I have a largish soft side cooler (around 20 quarts I think) that I can use. More than wide enough to hold a keg, plus a bunch of ice. I figure that I can fit most of a 2.5 gallon keg into the cooler. I might actually get lucky, and be able to fit it in, be able to close the top, and just run the lines through a small gap in the zipper.
A soft side cooler sounds like a good idea. Where did you get yours?
I am doing the 5 gal but I bet it would work.
Im also thinking about gettin a growler to take 1/2 gal some where whenever I want instead of lugging the keg all around.
And you should check out
http://www.kegworks.com/product.php?productid=21295&cat=967&page=1
Its a pretty cool little idea if you plan to empty the keg rather quickly
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