Using a keg as a secondary

[adamtroxel]

I want to give up the glass carboys and move use my corny kegs to be my "secondary" vessels.

I primary for a month or more generally. my secondary process is generally for clearing the beer and aging.

plan: cold crash the primary. Transfer the beer.

Once I transfer the beer from my primary to my keg - how much pressure should I keep in the tank? 6 psi ok? then just let it sit (a month, a year, more...) until im ready to throw it in the fridge and crank it up to my desired co2 level?

Or is there a better way to do this?

 

[Hammy71]

I primary most of my ales for a month and then transfer to a cornie. I have an extra CO2 tank in the basement and I hook up the gas and leave it on the recommended psi for that temp/style (it's usually a bit higher than your cold beer carbing). When a place opens up in the keezer I simply disconnect and place the already carbed beer inside and wait for it to chill....then ready to go.

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/carbonation.html

 

[samc]

I primary in large corny keg and cold crash in that after 2-4 weeks primary. Transfer straight to serving keg or filter while transferring. Then on to CO2. With OP's method you should be setting the lid with 30 psi and then as Hammy does set to serving pressure/based on current temps.

 

[Golddiggie]

I'm pretty sure that if you're looking more to just age in the keg, you can just get the seals to seat fully, and then not really worry about how much pressure you applied... I could be off on this, since I don't have a CO2 setup (yet)... I have been aging an old ale, with oak, in a corny for about 5-1/2 weeks now... I'm actually bottling it up today (finally)...

I plan to include the corny in my fermenter rotation now... I like how it has a smaller footprint than either carboy's or buckets. I will be using a blow-off tube in it for the first week, or so, of fermentation... I'll switch over to an airlock after that. I might pick up some no-foam for the first brew going into the corny, to ferment... That way I have less to worry about...