mulletmaster
Well-Known Member
Does anyone use the CO2 pressure from kicked kegs to pressure transfer or purge sanitizer from kegs before filling?
Kicked keg CO2 uses
- Thread starter mulletmaster
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
Interesting idea. Never thought of it.
An empty keg at 15 psi can liquid purge another keg, for free.
Just don't blow the yeast cake over into the other...
An empty keg at 15 psi can liquid purge another keg, for free.
Just don't blow the yeast cake over into the other...
Well, in my case, two issues: timing - I usually clean the kicks within 48 hours, so the window is narrow; and "Danger! Will Robinson! Danger!" - because racking from italian glass is more nuanced than whacking the carboy with 12-15 psi (and not even counting the nitro stout kicks @35psi 
)...
Cheers!
)...Cheers!
Funny, how some of us do the opposite:
I usually clean kegs within 48 hours from filling.
And yeah, that kicked keg pressure can certainly change the shape of a carboy and her operator.
I fill my kegs with starsan and push to another clean keg via fermentation c02. When I go to fill the purged kegs I use an empty keg or 2 from the kegerator (when available) that is full of dispensing c02 and refill as needed from the tank to push all 10g. I used to have a 5lb tank and pushed everything with that but was burning though c02 super fast, I was constantly swapping tanks. Now have a 20lb and started the new process at the same time, over a year later still going strong on the first tank. For me it's more the convenience of not always getting a fresh tank, but I've become a little obsessed with using as much "free" c02 as possible.
Plus it is super easy and effective. 95% of what I brew is very hoppy Brut / neipa hybrid style and my beer is fresh to the last drop with no hop fade.
Plus it is super easy and effective. 95% of what I brew is very hoppy Brut / neipa hybrid style and my beer is fresh to the last drop with no hop fade.
WTH is a brut/neipa hybrid? Other than just loading up the hops, im not seeing how the two could be merged/meshed....
I stopped arguing once the black India pale ales started coming out...
Back on topic: it's not a bad idea but I don't have enough kegs lying around and besides CO2 is super cheap for me (12$ per refill, about 1 refill per year) so I can afford to be lazy...
I'd never thought of this. I like it! I generally keep a keg full of starsan and C02 push it to another clean empty whenever I'm ready to keg a beer. I don't see a problem doing it ahead of time if I had a kicked keg to push it with. Since I was recently laid off and going back to school for the next year, I need to save some coin wherever I can!
Funny, how some of us do the opposite:
I usually clean kegs within 48 hours from filling.
And yeah, that kicked keg pressure can certainly change the shape of a carboy and her operator.
Got my first laugh of the day lol. Nice one !
:smack:
That makes more sense, yes.
I've never thought of doing this before, but have definitely thought about the waste of CO2 that is in a kicked keg. I think I'm gonna try it.
Kicked keg gas to the to-be-purged keg gas. Liquid line from to-be-purged keg either to the sink or to another keg that you want to purge in the future, depending on whether you want to reuse the star san.
At least that is what I have in mind now.
Not sure if there is enough pressure in the kicked keg to fully purge the other, but if not you could at least go until both are pressure balanced and the finish off with bottle gas.
Kicked keg gas to the to-be-purged keg gas. Liquid line from to-be-purged keg either to the sink or to another keg that you want to purge in the future, depending on whether you want to reuse the star san.
At least that is what I have in mind now.
Not sure if there is enough pressure in the kicked keg to fully purge the other, but if not you could at least go until both are pressure balanced and the finish off with bottle gas.
The psi is an indication of how much extra CO2 is in the keg, beyond its own volume. At 14.7 (or 15) psi the volume of the extra CO2 is about the keg's own volume.
You could even push the "0 psi" CO2 out of a keg's gas post by filling the keg up with tap water through the liquid out post. Just pull the gas QD off before the water reaches the bottom of the gas post. That's another 5 gallons of CO2, almost enough to pre-purge a keg!
Last edited:
HausBrauerei_Harvey
Well-Known Member
Man I like this idea. I just got a spike flex+ with the gas transfer attachment (haven't used it yet) I could connect from that to the gas post of the starsan filled keg, jumper to liquid post of the empty keg, and attach the blow off tube from that kegs gas post to a sani filled vessel for blow off. I've only done a few closed transfers with a jury-rigged setup from my old anvil fermenter and I hate the 10+ minutes of time it takes me to push the starsan from one keg to the next before the transfer, with this idea i'll have my purged keg ready to be filled when i'm ready to transfer, brilliant!
Similar threads
