New to keg few probably dumb questions

[agsensi]

I ordered a keg setup from keg connection.com. http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=577 and was wandering should I clean or just sanitize opon receiving and what should and shouldn't be used in the kegs to clean I thought and read about oxyclean but worried about it leaving odd tastes in beer. Any suggestions appreciated. I know totally newb question. Also was wondering if u use same amount of priming sugar as bottling as I have read a lot of forums and researched and see a lot of different things. PLease help. Keg stuff comes in we'd to go to my newly painted cowboys fridge.

 

[Rowdy]

Soak with hot oxyclean. Double rinse sanitize and fill with beer. The only time oxyclean lingers is when it gets cold so make sure you dump and rinse it before it gets cold.

 

[Golddiggie]

They say the kegs are clean, so inspect them. IF you find them to be clean, then just use StarSan to sanitize, drain, and then fill with CO2. When you're ready to fill with brew, purge the pressure in the keg and fill then. Fill from the bottom either with tubing sent all the way down, or with a connection on the liquid side.

I fill my kegs by connecting to the liquid post, that's fed from a stainless racking cane, that's getting brew pushed via CO2 (I use the orange carboy caps on my sanke keg fermenters for this. It also means that no foreign items enter the keg while I'm filling them with beer. I've also used the red carboy cap to rack mead into a keg for cold crashing and bottling. So, any carboy, or fermenter keg can be used in this way. I am planning on seeing if I can get the sanke fermenters fitted with gas posts, to make this even easier.

 

[hs0656]

Use oxyclean free. It works great. And, you can always add priming sugar for carbonating in the keg, but the easier and quicker method is force-carbing with your co2 cylinder.

 

[agsensi]

So with force carbonating u use no priming sugar? That's what I was. Wondering more than anything. I plan to force carbonate

 

[Golddiggie]

If you have a keg setup, why not use CO2 since it came with a tank? Get it filled and start using that already. IMO, priming with sugar in a corny keg, for at least 95% if the brews made, is foolish. You'll have to wait longer for carbonation, get less precise carbonation, not use the same amount you would if you had bottled it (look at the calculation tools, they list different amounts if you're going to bottles or keg) and you'll have sediment to deal with in the keg that you wouldn't if you used CO2. It's like having a Ferrari and putting regular gas in it.

Since I've been kegging, I've not primed a single batch with sugars (for the portion going to keg, if it wasn't all going to keg).

BTW, I use PBW to clean my kegs, and beer lines. I give a rinse after that soak, and then run StarSan through the lines, letting it sit for a couple of minutes before draining and purging with CO2. You could leave them filled with StarSan when not connected to a keg if you like, just be sure to not drink that part of the first pull. Also stop the pull once brew comes out and discard it. Then you'll be good to pull pints until the keg kicks.

There's a sticky about force carbonating in the main section (of the bottling/kegging section)... Read it... You can also try the standard "2 week set it and forget it" model if you like. Use the method you discover to be better for you, or combine them into one that works. Personally, I'd just use CO2 to carbonate and not use any other sugars. It's worked really well for me and several kegs since I started kegging. I can't imagine going back to bottline every batch. The amount of floor space those bottles took up...

 

[hs0656]

Nope. I never use sugar. When you have the beer in the keg, lube the seal and install the lid. Connect your co2 Line only and burp the oxygen that's in the head space. Put the keg in the fridge and leave the co2 hooked up to it. Beer will absorb the co2 more readily when the beer is cold. Depending on what volume of co2 you desire will dictate what you will set your regulator to dependent temperature settings. For instance, if I want my beer around 2.3 volumes of co2, and my kegerator is set to 38 degrees, I'll set my regulator to around 5 psi and the beer will carbonate over the course of a few days. There are spreadsheets that can help you with this. This may sound confusing, but its actually really easy.

 

[hs0656]

+1 on what Gold says

 

[Golddiggie]

The carbonation chart that will help you to figure out the PSI to set the kegs to... Force Carbonation Chart - Kegerators.com

I have a couple of weather station remote probes inside my brew fridge. That way I can tell what it is at now, plus the high/low temperatures (to get a better average). I also have thermometer strips on the kegs, so I can get a reading on what the brew temp inside the kegs is. The brew is usually about the average of the high/low range, depending on where in the fridge it sits.

BTW, 5PSI at 38F gives you only about 1.9 CO2 volumes...

One of the things I've been doing, since I split the batches into two 3 gallon kegs. Once I've purged the atmospheric air from the keg, I get it to about 15psi at room temp. I shake the keg (more like fast rocking on the floor) to get the CO2 into the beer better, alternating between the kegs. I then put the kegs on the gas half a day at a time (again, alternating) for a couple of days. Then I take them off the gas and either put one into the fridge, or put them aside to wait for an open spot. This way, the brew is partially carbonated before it goes into the fridge. I use a pressure gauge on the gas post before I put the keg into the fridge, and bleed off until it's at about 10psi. Then it goes in, and onto serving pressure. This has worked rather well for me so far. I do occasionally test the reserve kegs to see what pressure they are at. Pretty much always right where I left them last. I do find that this partial carbonation mode helps me to get to the carbonation level I want in the keg a bit faster.

There are plenty of ways you can alter the carbonation method to fit your needs. Start with the common methods and alter to fit your hardware, or desires.

Most of my kegging hardware (except the kegs) has come from Keg Connection too. IMO, they're still a small enough operation to care, but big enough to get the items we desire. I'm actually working with Todd on an order issue now. I'm waiting for this to be a done item before I post up any info about it. I will say just this, I've been on the phone with him twice on it so far. Once last week, and once today. I've also worked with other people from Keg Connection on either tweaking orders, or ensuring I get the correct item, before. Typically it's all good when it arrives.