"Jumping" from one keg to another? | HomeBrewTalk.com - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Community.

Homebrew Talk

Help Support Homebrew Talk by donating:

  1. Dismiss Notice
  2. We have a new forum and it needs your help! Homebrewing Deals is a forum to post whatever deals and specials you find that other homebrewers might value! Includes coupon layering, Craigslist finds, eBay finds, Amazon specials, etc.
    Dismiss Notice

"Jumping" from one keg to another?

Discussion in 'Bottling/Kegging' started by Yooper, May 16, 2009.

 

  1. #1
    Yooper

    Ale's What Cures You! Staff Member  

    Posted May 16, 2009
    I need help! A while back, someone explained how to transfer one keg of carbed beer to another keg. I thought it was using a black (out) QD with some beer line to another black QD and pushed with co2. This would get the beer into a clean, sanitized keg. I can't seem to recall the details, though, and so I'm apparently doing it wrong since no beer comes out!

    Can someone remind me how to do this, or point to the thread explaining it? Thanks!

    We have to have clear, relatively yeast-less beer for Memorial Day weekend. The keg I want to take it out of is pouring nicely, but I don't want to move that keg and stir up the sediment.

    Please help! Thanks!
     
  2. #2
    ChshreCat

    Well-Known Member

    Posted May 16, 2009
    Silly question but, are you releasing pressure on the second keg?
     
  3. #3
    Yooper

    Ale's What Cures You! Staff Member  

    Posted May 16, 2009
    Oh, yes. And it keeps venting, like the co2 from keg #1 is going in, but no beer.
     
  4. #4
    Yooper

    Ale's What Cures You! Staff Member  

    Posted May 16, 2009
    Hey- it just started working! I just had to speak softly to it!

    It's "Fizzy Yellow Beer", so I can't even see it in the beer line!
     
  5. #5
    SpanishCastleAle

    Well-Known Member

    Posted May 16, 2009
    Once you equalized the pressure between kegs, did you remove the grey gas QD from the destination keg? If not it'll just keep filling when you vent it. I've forgotten to do this once.
     
  6. #6
    Yooper

    Ale's What Cures You! Staff Member  

    Posted May 16, 2009
    I didn't have a gray QD. I made the jump with two blacks, going from "IN" to "IN" so the beer would fill through the long dip tube.

    I filled the destination tank with co2, took off the gas QD and then vented it a little. I put on the QD on the first keg, then on the destination keg, and vented it more and more. I turned up the psi a little, and then finally it started flowing well.

    My goal was to have the clearest beer I could (but I didn't filter or use finings) with no sediment. Also I didn't want to siphon because I didn't want to risk oxidation. So, the beer is all moved, and we'll see how it works out on Friday when I serve this beer to non-craft beer drinkers. I'll do the same with an Irish red that I just chilled today. Once it's chilled and carbed (it's already perfectly clear), I do the same thing before moving these kegs out to the cottage.
     
  7. #7
    SpanishCastleAle

    Well-Known Member

    Posted May 16, 2009
    Oh I see. I often use two seperate gas QDs to fill the two kegs (although I just remembered that's because I'm often going from pin-lock to ball-lock) so I thought maybe you were too. It is a great way to transfer. I secondary everything in kegs (when I do secondary) and it makes future transfers so easy and clean.
     
  8. #8
    homebrewer_99

    Well-Known Member

    Posted May 16, 2009
    I have a "jumper" with QDs that are black out to black out.

    Be sure to vent the receiving keg. :D
     
  9. #9
    Yooper

    Ale's What Cures You! Staff Member  

    Posted May 16, 2009
    Yep- even I figured that out! :tank:

    Maybe it was you describing this process a while back, because that's exactly what I did. Black out to black out, so that the keg would fill from the bottom under co2 and not risk oxidation. I just used the two disconnects and some extra beer line, and it finally worked fine. I must not have vented well enough at first, because once it started it did go well.

    Now, I'm thinking that I should put together a filtering set up, if I'm going to do this again. I have a water filter that I've used. It's an RV water filter in a plastic housing. Would that be an appropriate beer filter, if the filter was fine enough?
     
  10. #10
    wilserbrewer

    BIAB Expert Tailor  

    Posted May 16, 2009
    This is extremely easy if you are using picnic taps. Take a short piece of (i believe) 3/8 tubing and just connect the two taps together. Start w/ the two kegs at the same pressure. Decrease pressure on the empty keg and it will fill. Just keep adding Co2 to the full keg to push the brew, while venting the empy keg.

    I actually did this to save 4-5 gallons of BMC from a half keg at my hunt club. I actually just used a piece of electrical tape to connect the two picnic taps and filled a sixtel that previously held a batch of Ed's Haus Ale. That keg of BMC was in my keezer for about another month and tasted fine.
     
  11. #11
    homebrewer_99

    Well-Known Member

    Posted May 16, 2009
    You could use a "water" filter hook-up (I have one too). The problem is getting all the air out of the filter itself before pumping it with beer. I found that using the filter (even after soaking in vodka) is that I oxidize my brew.

    I've been thinking about completely soaking the filter (in the holder) in beer first may help some, but my confidence level is way down on that one.

    Personally, next time I'm de-gassing both kegs and using an autosyphon to rack from one keg to another. :D
     
  12. #12
    wedward

    Well-Known Member  

    Posted May 17, 2009
    I use the see through whole house filter during transfer and haven't noticed any ill effects. How do you know you've oxidized the beer this way? There's typically very little airspace there and you're flushing that out with the first beer. I rinse in light starsan first to get wet and then let it rip.
    My only filter issue is whether to reuse the filter or not. So far I reuse only once and keep ales & lagers separate.
     
  13. #13
    SpanishCastleAle

    Well-Known Member

    Posted May 17, 2009
    Once you have the destination keg full of CO2 you could hook up the filter/back-to-back assembly to the liquid post of the destination keg and press the poppet at the other end and purge the whole assembly with CO2. You'd have to hook it up 'backwards' from the way you'd be flowing the beer...so you don't backflush/backpressure the filter.
     
  14. #14
    Yooper

    Ale's What Cures You! Staff Member  

    Posted May 17, 2009
    Can you say that more slowly? :drunk: I read it three times, and I don't quite "get it".

    I fill the destination keg full of co2. They I hook up the liquid post to the filter assembly. Press the popper on the "old" keg?
     
  15. #15
    SpanishCastleAle

    Well-Known Member

    Posted May 17, 2009
    lol...I've had a few.:drunk:

    You would just use the CO2 gas in the destination keg to purge any air out of the filter/QD assembly. You'd be flowing CO2 gas out of the liquid post since the keg has no liquid in it. So just hook it up such that you are flowing gas through the filter in the forward direction (i.e. out of the keg as opposed to into it) and press the poppet at the free end to allow gas to flow.

    When the beer passes through a filter it creates a TON of surface area so any air in the filter would get maximum contact with beer until purged out.
     
  16. #16
    Yooper

    Ale's What Cures You! Staff Member  

    Posted May 17, 2009
    Ok, I think I get it! But, wouldn't that just push the O2 in the filter canister INTO the first keg? Or would it be ok, since the first keg does have a blanket of co2 protecting it?
     
  17. #17
    beerthirty

    big beers turn my gears  

    Posted May 17, 2009
    Yoop, I transfer all my beers to a second keg with this method. Once done there is so little sediment(if any) in the second keg I have never even thought about adding a filter. The nice thing about doing this is transport. Either moving kegs in and out of the keezer or taking them to a party the beer stays clear and the praise stays high all the way down to the foam.
     
  18. #18
    Yooper

    Ale's What Cures You! Staff Member  

    Posted May 17, 2009
    That's helpful, thanks! There are two I'm taking, and I'd really like the "fizzy yellow beer" to be as BMC like as I can get it, except with flavor.
     
  19. #19
    beerthirty

    big beers turn my gears  

    Posted May 17, 2009
    The biggest help to getting the second keg crystal clear is to cold crash the first, don't move it and then drink 2-3 pints from it before making the transfer so the area around the diptube cleans up.
    If your kegs are kept clean and purged then you don't need to fill the second one with CO2. Just attach the hose and pull the vent on the second. Just like the BMBF the more pressure in keg #2 the less foaming you will get during fill. I normally vent completely during the first 2/3 fill for speed then allow the pressure to build in #2 to push down the foam. Takes about 5 minutes to transfer this way(not including the drinking the 2-3 pints):)
     
  20. #20
    Denny's Evil Concoctions

    Grande Megalomaniac  

    Posted May 17, 2009
    For filtering you can add a valve and a qd so that you can push co2 through the filter housing before you start filtering. (If using a pump then this is also useful for pushing the last bits of beer out the filter).

    Alternatively. Take you receiving leg, hit with some co2, then hook up the liquid in side, this will push co2 back through the filter. Make sure you don;t have the other keg hooked up yet.

    You'll want to filter cold if you want it to be really clear. A 1 micron Absoulte filter might do it, but really, to get rid of all chill haze you need to cold filter through a .5 or less.

    I use a 2.5 and a .3 for those yellow fizzy beers. I'm pumping straight from the primary though.
     
  21. #21
    Yooper

    Ale's What Cures You! Staff Member  

    Posted May 17, 2009
    Good advice! I didn't filter, since it's already moved, and I don't know if I ever will. But I have plenty to think about now!

    I swear that I learn something everyday around here.
     
  22. #22
    SpanishCastleAle

    Well-Known Member

    Posted May 17, 2009
    No, you don't even connect that end...just stick the handle end of a screwdriver or something in the QD and depress the poppet to let gas flow.

    Exactly.:mug:
     
  23. #23
    Yooper

    Ale's What Cures You! Staff Member  

    Posted May 17, 2009
    Ah- I got it! Thank you! Now, I have to decide if and when I want to filter the beer. What size/type filter (those round RV filters) do you use?
     
  24. #24
    SpanishCastleAle

    Well-Known Member

    Posted May 17, 2009
    I don't filter and doubt I ever will. The beer is clear without it so it seems like an unnecessary step and it would seem to add some small risk of infection or oxidation. However it may be one of those things where if you saw an otherwise identical non-filtered beer right next to a filtered one...the filtered beer might look more 'polished'.

    We precision clean filters at my job (and we use a lot of them too) so I have some experience with filters in general but not with beer. But my unrelated experience with them tells me; "not only no...but hell no".:)
     
  25. #25
    Denny's Evil Concoctions

    Grande Megalomaniac  

    Posted May 17, 2009
    10" are the standard size for a household water filter casing. Sometimes you have to change the o-ring to a fatter one (in the filter) depending on the brand of housing.

    Beer and Wine Filter is where I get mine from. He has high quality absolute filters and deals with a lot of micros (he has 10" up to huge ass ones).

    He's also my hop and yeast supplier. You'll have to call or email. The name is Bob, tell him Denny sent yuh. He's in Ontario.
     
  26. #26
    pjj2ba

    Look under the recliner  

    Posted May 18, 2009
    I haven't tried it out yet, but I bought a 5 psi pressure relief valve to do keg to keg transfers. This way all I need to do is to hook the kegs up and then increase the pressure in the donor kegs until the beer starts flowing. The receiver keg should then vent itself as needed.
     
  27. #27
    homebrewer_99

    Well-Known Member

    Posted May 19, 2009
    This was my point (as previously mentioned:

    When the beer passes through a filter it creates a TON of surface area so any air in the filter would get maximum contact with beer until purged out...

    Maybe the first beer filtered (1 glass) needs to be tossed???
     
  28. #28
    Denny's Evil Concoctions

    Grande Megalomaniac  

    Posted May 19, 2009
    I have not had any oxidation issues from filtering.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page

Group Builder