Kegging - 1 year later

[JR_Brewer]

Last January I got a kegerator, and after a year of experience, some good, some bad, I wanted to post some lessons learned for the potential keggers out there. For background, I've got a 2 tap (dual Perlicks) kegerator that has room for 3 kegs. I'm not going to recap the many articles about kegging (all the magazines and websites have some helpful guides for getting started). I'll try to add the details that the magazines didn't cover, or what I read but didn't follow when I got into it.

In the first 3 months I was kegging, I think I went through 3 or 4 5-lb CO2 tanks due to leaks in the system. So, hopefully you can avoid a monthly run to the welding shop to pick up more CO2. Since then, I've gone nearly 6 months on a tank, and I generally go through 1 keg a month. Here's what I learned:

1. Buy new O-rings for ALL used kegs. I wrongly assumed that when you buy a used keg that's been pressure checked the o-rings are ok. That's no guarantee, and a new set of rings is cheap.

2. Buy a 2nd CO2 tank at the beginning. I made the mistake of not having a spare ready when I ran out of gas. I've since bought one. Go ahead and get it up front.

3. Get keg lube and use it.

4. Pressure check your system. When you fill a new keg, use high pressure to help seal the keg. Crank the pressure up, lift the handle and pull up. When you're first connecting your system, spray the tubing and pressurized parts with star-san, and watch for bubbles that indicate pressure leaks.

5. There's no single standard size wrench for removing keg posts. I have 3 different kegs each uses a different size wrench to remove the posts. I know there are 5/8", 11/16", 3/4", and 7/8" posts out there (if not more). Make your life simple and check this out before you buy so you can standardize you collection. Also, you'll need a 12 point socket/wrench, not just a standard hex.

6. It's nice to have room in your kegerator for one more keg than you have taps. You'll have a spare keg cold and ready when you kick one. This is especially nice at a party.

7. I did not buy a fancy line cleaning device. I thought about it, but here's what I do. When I empty a keg, I clean it using oxy-clean, and run the soapy solution through the lines using CO2 to pressurize it. Then I rinse and then fill it with star san, and then run that through the lines. Scrub the taps, and it's good to go.

Overall, kegging is great. It's easier than bottling, there's no need to save and clean bottles, and there's nothing like a fresh draft homebrew. If you have space and a budget for kegging, I highly recommend it.

Ok, hope that helps, happy kegging!

 

[steveoatley]

Good read, thanks for the input

Check out this thread

This is a handy way to clean your lines, and not have to waste CO2
to push a cleaning solution.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=226497

my 2 Cents

S

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I guess having kegged for years we forget some of the obvious stuff as second nature.

One thing I would add is that your second CO2 source does not have to realistically be a big tank. If you plan to every travel with a corny, get the paintball tank adapter and a 20-24 oz paint ball tank as your back-up. Any decent sized sporting good place fills them and their hours tend to be friendly than the welding gas supply. Besides, if you are organized you will eventually learn how many kegs you can realistically get from a tank then exchange/fill the cylinder just shy of that.

 

[physics911]

Being new to kegging also, a couple of things which helped me work through some of my leak issues are:

1) Don't assume you have only one leak. I had three micro-leaks that I couldn't find using the bubble method; two on brand new components.

2) Use barbs with shutoff valves wherever possible. This will help isolate that particular part of the circuit.

3) Build yourself a cheap pressure tester for your kegs - I used an $8 water pressure gauge (0-100 psi) from the hardware store, a short length of 3/8" tubing, a gas-in quick disconnect, and the barb adapters you need for the tubing (~$15 total). This allowed me to pressurize the kegs, with the liquid out still hooked up but the gas in side off, and come back a day or so later and verify the pressure on the liquid out side of the system is still good.

 

[JR_Brewer]

Being new to kegging also, a couple of things which helped me work through some of my leak issues are:

1) Don't assume you have only one leak. I had three micro-leaks that I couldn't find using the bubble method; two on brand new components.

2) Use barbs with shutoff valves wherever possible. This will help isolate that particular part of the circuit.

3) Build yourself a cheap pressure tester for your kegs - I used an $8 water pressure gauge (0-100 psi) from the hardware store, a short length of 3/8" tubing, a gas-in quick disconnect, and the barb adapters you need for the tubing (~$15 total). This allowed me to pressurize the kegs, with the liquid out still hooked up but the gas in side off, and come back a day or so later and verify the pressure on the liquid out side of the system is still good.

All great points! Yes, to clarify, even with new components, you'll get leaks. It's not faulty components, it's the connections. I wrongly assumed that with brand-spankin new components, everything was going to work perfectly. No, connections, when not properly tightened, will leak.