Keg Filling Easy Procedure

[StewMakesBrew]

A friend of mine that I'm mentoring in the fine art of brewing is new to kegging his beer, and asked me for the procedure to keg a batch. He said "Wow, this is so simple and easy to understand, you should post on Homebrewtalk or something.

So ... here you go.

How to keg a 5 gallon batch of beer into a Corny keg.

Getting started:

1) Make sure it's clean - if unsure, add 2T PBW to keg, fill with warm water, close and shake, including inverting it (helps to fill the dip tube). Let soak for 30 mins, then release pressure (yes), open and dump. Rinse well with fresh water, then add about 2 cups of fresh StarSan solution (not the concentrate!) and gently roll around to cover all sides and dump. Note this is not a "full breakdown" procedure that you should use after emptying a keg, but just if you can't remember when it was last cleaned.

2) Purge air from the keg: close up the keg, attach to your C02 line and pressurize with C02 for 10-20 sec at your standard kegerator dispensing pressure. Shut off gas, and open release valve. Repeat 3 more times.

Filling the keg:

3) Filling - Remove your airlock from your fermenter, attach transfer tube. Place keg below it for gravity flow, then remove top from keg, run the transfer tube down inside (you did sterilize it with Star San didn't you???), and open spigot of your fermenter - let drain into keg, being sure to stop when you're about 2 1/2" of headspace (reach in and make sure the gas diptube (the short one under the gas post) isn't in the beer).

4) Finishing: Close up keg well, then repeat purge procedure from step 2. After first hit of C02, listen carefully around lid for any leaks or hissing - when in doubt, check with soapy water. Then purge 3x more times, after last time, leave the C02 in the keg.

At this point you're ready to store the keg warm or cold, or start force-carbing your beer, or attaching to your kegerator's C02 for "set and forget" carbonation.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[abbysdad2006]

A friend of mine that I'm mentoring in the fine art of brewing is new to kegging his beer, and asked me for the procedure to keg a batch. He said "Wow, this is so simple and easy to understand, you should post on Homebrewtalk or something.

So ... here you go.

How to keg a 5 gallon batch of beer into a Corny keg.

Getting started:

1) Make sure it's clean - if unsure, add 2T PBW to keg, fill with warm water, close and shake, including inverting it (helps to fill the dip tube). Let soak for 30 mins, then release pressure (yes), open and dump. Rinse well with fresh water, then add about 2 cups of fresh StarSan solution (not the concentrate!) and gently roll around to cover all sides and dump. Note this is not a "full breakdown" procedure that you should use after emptying a keg, but just if you can't remember when it was last cleaned.

2) Purge air from the keg: close up the keg, attach to your C02 line and pressurize with C02 for 10-20 sec at your standard kegerator dispensing pressure. Shut off gas, and open release valve. Repeat 3 more times.

Filling the keg:

3) Filling - Remove your airlock from your fermenter, attach transfer tube. Place keg below it for gravity flow, then remove top from keg, run the transfer tube down inside (you did sterilize it with Star San didn't you???), and open spigot of your fermenter - let drain into keg, being sure to stop when you're about 2 1/2" of headspace (reach in and make sure the gas diptube (the short one under the gas post) isn't in the beer).

4) Finishing: Close up keg well, then repeat purge procedure from step 2. After first hit of C02, listen carefully around lid for any leaks or hissing - when in doubt, check with soapy water. Then purge 3x more times, after last time, leave the C02 in the keg.

At this point you're ready to store the keg warm or cold, or start force-carbing your beer, or attaching to your kegerator's C02 for "set and forget" carbonation.

Hope this is helpful.

Great!! Thank you, as a new kegger, I appreciate it!

 

[schatzke]

If you are looking to purge out all the oxygen 3x isn't going to do it. More like 30

 

[NickTheGreat]

Good write up. I use an auto siphon, so my advice is don't be afraid to leave a little bit in the fermentor. That extra 20 oz of beer you gained isn't worth all the trub in the keg. The trub does eventually leave and works out in the end, but it still isn't worth it . . .

 

[eric19312]

If you are looking to purge out all the oxygen 3x isn't going to do it. More like 30

This may be necessary to hit some extremely low oxygen concentration but would be a stupid waste of CO2 in this easy process given the next step is an open transfer.

 

[schatzke]

This may be necessary to hit some extremely low oxygen concentration but would be a stupid waste of CO2 in this easy process given the next step is an open transfer.

I was talking about after the keg has been filled with beer. Once its filled you really want to get rid of all the oxygen.

 

[lump42]

If you are trying to remove O2 from the keg, fill the keg with star san. Then pressure transfer the starsan to a different keg. The keg will be sanitized and purged. Then to fill connect the sanitized siphon tube to a liquid disconnect and open the pressure relief/ gas post to fill the keg.

 

[mongoose33]

Here's another way, using a spigot; as Lump42 says, fill keg w/ StarSan, push it out with CO2 leaving behind a purged keg, drain (rack) beer into OUT post of keg, and allow the displaced CO2 to replace the beer in the fermenter.

 

[doug293cz]

If you are looking to purge out all the oxygen 3x isn't going to do it. More like 30

I was talking about after the keg has been filled with beer. Once its filled you really want to get rid of all the oxygen.

Yes, to get down to commercial target TPO (total packaged oxygen) of less than 150 ppb (0.15 ppm) takes way more purging than you think it should. Number of purges required depends strongly on the purging pressure. Here is a table and chart that shows what's required after doing an open top keg fill.





If you do closed transfer to a StarSan purged keg, less post fill purging is required, but it's much more difficult to calculate just how much is enough (too many poorly defined variables involved.)

Brew on

 

[eric19312]

Yes, to get down to commercial target TPO (total packaged oxygen) of less than 150 ppb (0.15 ppm) takes way more purging than you think it should. Number of purges required depends strongly on the purging pressure. Here is a table and chart that shows what's required after doing an open top keg fill.

View attachment 401065

View attachment 401066

If you do closed transfer to a StarSan purged keg, less post fill purging is required, but it's much more difficult to calculate just how much is enough (too many poorly defined variables involved.)

Brew on

I've seen you post this before and have questions about application to homebrewing. I am assuming the graph and data table are calculations not measured data.

First a question the 150ppm commercial target...when is that commercially measured? At or immediately after bottling or some time later?

I am thinking it might be some time after bottling in which case the oxygen in the head space at filling would only be one contributor to the amount of oxygen in the headspace at testing. Over time the headspace atmosphere will reach some equilibrium with the atmospheric gasses dissolved in the beer.

 

[doug293cz]

I've seen you post this before and have questions about application to homebrewing. I am assuming the graph and data table are calculations not measured data.

First a question the 150ppm commercial target...when is that commercially measured? At or immediately after bottling or some time later?

I am thinking it might be some time after bottling in which case the oxygen in the head space at filling would only be one contributor to the amount of oxygen in the headspace at testing. Over time the headspace atmosphere will reach some equilibrium with the atmospheric gasses dissolved in the beer.

My understanding is that commercial brewers measure immediately or shortly after bottling (they use a cap piercing O2 probe.) TPO takes into account the O2 in the beer and the headspace. In well handled beer the dissolved O2 at packaging is very low, so the biggest contribution is the headspace O2. Homebrewed beer is not usually as "well handled" as commercial beer. Ref: http://www.craftbrewersconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2015_presentations/F1540_Darron_Welch.pdf

The chart and table are based on simple dilution math calculations.

Concentration = Initial_Concentration * (14.7 / (14.7 + Purge Pressure)) ^ N
where N = number of purge cycles​

Brew on

 

[StewMakesBrew]

I was talking about after the keg has been filled with beer. Once its filled you really want to get rid of all the oxygen.

Well, on this one I go with my mantra for home brewing that has served me really well for 30 years: "What would the trappist monks do?"

Yes, I suppose to rid that 1 qt volume of headspace of every last molecule of oxygen that 30 or more cycles would conceiveably do it. However, considering that:

a) This is home brewing. Let's be real here. Let's not be like those guys at the kids baseball games that thinks he's coaching in MLB.

b) A keg of my beer tends to last about 30-40 days, that's it. I love beer and so do my buddies.

Therefore, four purge cycles is more than enough to get the O2 down to "good enough for the trappist monks" level.

 

[StewMakesBrew]

Good write up. I use an auto siphon, so my advice is don't be afraid to leave a little bit in the fermentor. That extra 20 oz of beer you gained isn't worth all the trub in the keg. The trub does eventually leave and works out in the end, but it still isn't worth it . . .

Totally agree - my fermenter (and that of my pal that I was advising) has a diptube on the valve at the bottom - you get a small suck of trub right at the start which I've noticed is less than 3-4 oz of beer and like a teaspoonful of trub - for something that small, into the keg it goes.

Am I doing this with ultimate science? No, I'm making beer at home, I've been doing it since 1998 and more than 125 batches over that time. It works for me.

 

[StewMakesBrew]

Here's another way, using a spigot; as Lump42 says, fill keg w/ StarSan, push it out with CO2 leaving behind a purged keg, drain (rack) beer into OUT post of keg, and allow the displaced CO2 to replace the beer in the fermenter.

View attachment 401069

This here is genius-level Macguyvering! Damn dude, that's really brilliant. Gonna have to try it if for no other reason than it looks cool.

 

[StewMakesBrew]

I've seen you post this before and have questions about application to homebrewing. I am assuming the graph and data table are calculations not measured data.

First a question the 150ppm commercial target...when is that commercially measured? At or immediately after bottling or some time later?

I am thinking it might be some time after bottling in which case the oxygen in the head space at filling would only be one contributor to the amount of oxygen in the headspace at testing. Over time the headspace atmosphere will reach some equilibrium with the atmospheric gasses dissolved in the beer.

So, when bottling and bottle conditioning, no one ever screws around with CO2 - you just get the beer into the bottle with some bottling sugar in it, cap it up and let the beer gods do their thing. Good brewers use O2-absorbing caps, which I used as well but never ever found a whit of difference between beer capped with absorber caps or regular ones.

But this begs a question - I wonder why someone hasn't invented an O2 absorbing device for corny kegs - perhaps a liner that goes in the lid, or something to hang in there under the lid?

There's a quick million to be made right there.

 

[schatzke]

But this begs a question - I wonder why someone hasn't invented an O2 absorbing device for corny kegs - perhaps a liner that goes in the lid, or something to hang in there under the lid?

Or I guess you could purge the head space...

 

[StewMakesBrew]

Or I guess you could purge the head space...

3 or 4 times ...

 

[NorthwestBrewman2013]

Purging the keg with CO2 is useless if you aren't going to transfer it in a "closed" capacity. You're better off saving the CO2 and not worrying about it. I've kegged 4 batches so far and haven't had any issue with oxidization. For the record, I don't purge.

 

[StewMakesBrew]

Purging the keg with CO2 is useless if you aren't going to transfer it in a "closed" capacity. You're better off saving the CO2 and not worrying about it. I've kegged 4 batches so far and haven't had any issue with oxidization. For the record, I don't purge.

Good point. I purge prior to open transfer because CO2 is heavier than air and pools in the keg. Just a bit of extra insurance against oxygen. You can actually "pour" C02 - try filling a beer pint full of Co2 from your co2 line, and then pour it over a lit match. But hey, if it's working for you, why not?

My beer goes so damned quickly (3-5 weeks per keg max) that the oxygen never has a chance to do it's damage! :rockin:

 

[doug293cz]

Good point. I purge prior to open transfer because CO2 is heavier than air and pools in the keg. Just a bit of extra insurance against oxygen. You can actually "pour" C02 - try filling a beer pint full of Co2 from your co2 line, and then pour it over a lit match. But hey, if it's working for you, why not?

My beer goes so damned quickly (3-5 weeks per keg max) that the oxygen never has a chance to do it's damage! :rockin:

The CO2 blanket is a myth. Watch the video below. It shows that Br2, 3.6 times heavier than CO2 completely interdiffuses with air in about 30 minutes, and that NO2, about the same weight as CO2 interdiffuses even faster. You only have to drop O2 concentration to 16% (verses standard 21%) to put out a flame (ref.) 16% O2 in your headspace will oxidize the hell out of your beer over time.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oLPBnhOCjM[/ame]

Brew on

 

[eric19312]

My understanding is that commercial brewers measure immediately or shortly after bottling (they use a cap piercing O2 probe.) TPO takes into account the O2 in the beer and the headspace. In well handled beer the dissolved O2 at packaging is very low, so the biggest contribution is the headspace O2. Homebrewed beer is not usually as "well handled" as commercial beer. Ref: http://www.craftbrewersconference.com/wp-content/uploads/2015_presentations/F1540_Darron_Welch.pdf

The chart and table are based on simple dilution math calculations.

Concentration = Initial_Concentration * (14.7 / (14.7 + Purge Pressure)) ^ N
where N = number of purge cycles​

Brew on

Thanks for the link...very interesting read

The brewery does cite reason for seeking 150 ppb TPO as being to provide shelf stability out to 120 days. At above this level IPAs noticeable degradation stored warm after 3 weeks. i don't store my ipas warm, and don't try to make them last 4 months haha.

That said I do work to achieve commercial quality in my homebrew, as I appreciate the challange and think I probably enjoy that aspect more than other aspects of the hobby.

So a few comments on the article
Their definition of TPO is not what I expected. They are measuring dissolved O2 in equilabrated beer (in the liquid). They also measure volume of liquid in the package and from that calculate the volume of the headspace. The only other measured variable is temperature. From these values they calculate the concentration of the O2 in the headspace. I think I learned how to do that once but have long since forgotten.
TPO is the defined to be concentration of O2 in the liquid in mg/l added to concentration of O2 in the headspace in mg/l. This seems pretty arbitrary and doesn't really match the name they have given the metric...I'd think you would weight the two based on relative volume...but nevertheless is the metric they identified as being best correlated with stability. Probably they didn't invent this idea, but was surprising.

The rest of the article includes details of their successful efforts to get this metric under control. Double evacuation of the bottles, tight seals everywhere, capping on tight foam... very interesting all the way around. bottomline the TPO is calculated starting with measurement of the dissolved O2 in the liquid beer at equilibrium. Controlling TPO requires controlling oxygen exposure at every opportunity for oxygen introduction post fermentation. Control of TPO is desirable to extend shelf life, especially of hoppy beers and especially when those beers are stored warm.

I am now curious to think about other processes we use to eliminate O2 exposure. For example the fill a keg with star San and push out starsan with CO2 to purge the keg before filling. My starsan is not made with deoxygenated water...I'd expect the Oxygen in the starsan will start entering the keg headspace as soon as I start pushing it out. Also what about quality of CO2? And what is TPO in naturally carbonated keg vs force carbonated keg?

How hard would it be to get a DO meter anyway?

 

[mongoose33]

I am now curious to think about other processes we use to eliminate O2 exposure. For example the fill a keg with star San and push out starsan with CO2 to purge the keg before filling. My starsan is not made with deoxygenated water...I'd expect the Oxygen in the starsan will start entering the keg headspace as soon as I start pushing it out. Also what about quality of CO2? And what is TPO in naturally carbonated keg vs force carbonated keg?

When you really get into this, there's a lot of places O2 can come into the process. If I don't purge my racking tube from spigot to keg, there's a tiny column of air in there which is 21 percent oxygen which will go into the keg. Enough to matter? Who knows? I just know it can't have any effect if I purge it first with CO2 and even then it's probably not perfect.

Don't even start with the oxygenated water in the Star-San.

I've concluded that all I can do is reduce exposure to oxygen as much as I can, all the while knowing I cannot be perfect. But as some say, perfect is the enemy of good enough, and I suspect my methods, while not perfect, are approaching "good enough."

How hard would it be to get a DO meter anyway?

Not hard at all if you have the money. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=dissolved+oxygen+meter

 

[day_trippr]

[...]
How hard would it be to get a DO meter anyway?

About $500 hard, for a decent model...

Cheers!

 

[eric19312]

About $500 hard, for a decent model...

Cheers!

Sadly those models are more or less rejected by the pros. Wrong resolution blah blah blah. Need the $2500 (used) Orbisphere unit. Then need to devise way to draw sample and test without exposing sample to oxygen. Probably a chamber in a beer line.

 

[NeoBrew]

I think it is hilarious that we took a thread called "Keg Filling Easy Procedure" and turned it into a research project on dissolved oxygen!

For the newcomer who made it this far, I would suggest this...

"Relax. Don't worry. And have a homebrew."

 

[doug293cz]

I think it is hilarious that we took a thread called "Keg Filling Easy Procedure" and turned it into a research project on dissolved oxygen!

For the newcomer who made it this far, I would suggest this...

"Relax. Don't worry. And have a homebrew."

Just another rabbit hole in the universe of homebrewing

Brew on

 

[StewMakesBrew]

I think it is hilarious that we took a thread called "Keg Filling Easy Procedure" and turned it into a research project on dissolved oxygen!

For the newcomer who made it this far, I would suggest this...

"Relax. Don't worry. And have a homebrew."

I was just reading and thinking the same. Damn did we get into the rabbit hole. Anyway, whoever above said perfection is the enemy of good is damn right. I pride myself in making good to great beer. But I'm far from perfect.

 

[MaryB]

Fill keg, put in beer fridge and connect lines, drink in 24 hours if I start at 30psi... Beer doesn't sit around long enough here to worry but I suppose you could rig a way to suspend a couple of these under the lid... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0028AG8RO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 Would have to take care to not splash them so probably do it after kegs are in place where they will not be moved.

 

[wes79]

Not to belittle those who seek perfection, but Stew you maybe closer than you think. You make beer you like, your friends like, you have beer................. Perfect!

 

[jpitts38]

I've seen on some tutorials where they leave CO2 valve open and just open the vent several times. To me that's more of a purge/sweep. To me I want almost total replacement. Close CO2 each time and depressure to almost nothing. Shouldn't take many times. That's how we do it at work on large volume areas and it's fine after 7-8 times.

 

[Dcpcooks]

Has anyone played with a vacuum pump for pulling a vacuum on the keg and the pushing the beer from a closed conical with co2? I could see a few challenges.

1)Vacuum pumps for Hvac can't/shouldn't get wet.
2) might be impossible to pull a vacuum on a cornie keg lid, as it's designed to handle pressure out not a vacuum. Might work for sanke kegs.
3) could be a challenge to balance the co2 pressure in the conical vs the vacuum in the keg.

 

[jpitts38]

Also if you use something like Ready Whip to check for vacuum leaks it would get pulled into the beer.

 

[jpitts38]

Could use one these for knockout pot with a stopper.

http://rs1125.pbsrc.com/albums/l600/jpitts38/IMG_0287_zpskcezj4x8.jpg?w=480&h=480&fit=clip

 

[StewMakesBrew]

Not to belittle those who seek perfection, but Stew you maybe closer than you think. You make beer you like, your friends like, you have beer................. Perfect!

Aw thanks Wes!!