Just bought a kegerator, have a few simple questions.

Hey everyone,

I just recently bought a used Haier kegerator. I have a few basic questions.

1. How do I decide what PSI to run? Does it depend on the type of beer? Does it affect carbonation?

2. The kegerator has around 3 or 4 feet of beer tube from the keg coupling to the tap faucet. I heard somewhere that ideally I want 1 foot of beer line per PSI I'll be running. Is this true? If I run, say, 10psi, should I coil up 10 feet of tubing on top of the keg before the tap to avoid foam? Will the beer sitting in that tubing taste funny if it sits there for a week or a month?

3. Let's say I drink half the keg and I'm not going to touch it for a month. Would I leave the co2 open or shut it off?

4. As for cleaning, I have a squeeze bottle with a metal threaded end... What household supplies can I use to clean it? Dawn and warm water? Rubbing alcohol? Bleach? I assume the latter could deteriorate things. Also... I only need to clean from the keg coupling to the faucet, right?

5. I assume the only way to determine how much co2 is in the tank would be to replace my single gauge regulator with one of the dual gauge deals that shows inside pressure as well as regulated pressure?

I plan on installing a tower cooler And monitoring the temp versus thermostat closely. Any other tips or things to look for?

Thanks!!

 

1. as for carbonation take a look at this chart it will tell you exactly what PSI for a type of beer at a specific temperature.

http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

2. as for the foaming issue and your tap heights take alook at this about balancing your system.

http://byo.com/stories/item/164-balancing-your-draft-system-advanced-brewing

3. leave the pressure on

4. as i don't have a keg system i wont say as to what could or couldn't be used from household supplies. however i will say that if you do a simple search there are plenty of things made specifically for this that can be purchased.

5. yes dual gauge needed.

 

We often find that with homebrew and homebrew kegs 10-12 foot lines are the least hassle (aside from keeping them cleanly coiled). With commercial kegs, you can get away with the 4-5 foot lines if you balance the serving pressure to the temperature and carbonation level of the keg. Basically, you just start at a lower pressure and slowly raise the regulator pressure until you stop seeing bubbles forming in the beer line.

Also, seeing as you are buying a used kegerator, I would highly reccomend replacing the beer line anyway (who knows how clean the previous owner is or how old those lines are?), as well as running some PBW or other cleaner and then sanitizer through the lines.

 

See comments in bold.

 

1) As mentioned, you need to look up the serving pressure based on the carb level and temperature of the beer. For commercial kegs you can usually find out the carb level from the brewery. If they won't tell you, 2.7 vol is usually a pretty safe assumption.

2) a) Line balancing can be a bit tricky. Unless your beer is stored at or below 36F, most of the line balancing equations and calculators (including the one linked above) are relatively useless. You need long enough lines to slow the flow enough to prevent excessive foaming. The warmer the beer is, the slower/gentler the pour needs to be to prevent the CO2 from coming out of solution. I suggest to err on the side of having lines that are too long. The only side effect of longer lines is a slightly slower pour, and it allows you to serve a wide range of beer temps and carb levels.

2) b) Ten feet is pretty common, and yes, coiling the line on top of the keg is a good way to keep it out of the way. Some people (like myself) detect the flavor of vinyl in the beer from standard beer lines, especially after it's been sitting for a while. Some people don't notice it at all, or only notice it if it's been sitting a long time and simply pour off and dump the first half pint of beer for every drinking session. There are a couple of non-vinyl beer line options that don't impart any flavor. I use accuflex bevseal ultra lines, and like it a lot. It offers slightly less resistance, so the lines need to be a little longer, and it's stiff and hard to get on the barbs, but it's worth it IMO.

3) As long as your system doesn't have any leaks, it won't hurt to leave it on. Some people are paranoid about leaks and will shut the gas off. It really doesn't matter either way, so do whatever you feel comfortable with.

4) Don't use bleach or dish soap (especially scented soaps). You can buy beer line cleaner (BLC) or use unscented oxyclean. Either way make sure you rinse very well many times before hooking it back up.

5) A dual gauge regulator doesn't tell you how much gas is left in the tank. The high pressure gauge reads the vapor pressure in the tank, which for a constant temperature will be nearly constant until all of the liquid CO2 is gone, and you're almost empty. The only way to know how much CO2 is left is to weigh the tank and subtract the tare weight.

 

Thanks for the help, guys!

My first keg will be Woodchuck Cider, which I've read has a recommended serving pressure of 18PSI. That being the case, based on my calculations, if I ran 6 feet of 3/16th beer line (say 7 for elevation above the keg), that would be pretty much the minimum to be equalized, right? I plan on keeping the keg around 35 degrees.

Oxyclean sounds good as a cleaner, but does it sanitize? Maybe a rinse with a low power solution of rubbing alcohol before the final rinse with water would work?

And thanks for the info about the dual regulators. If I was building this from scratch I'd probably get one, but if it basically stays the same til it's empty, it's not worth the money to "upgrade". I guess the only way the regulator would work is if the high side stayed the same come to think of it.

 

Oxyclean is not a sanitizer. It will clean very well though. Get StarSan.

 

I don't know why you asked about rubbing alcohol. It's not really a "food safe" sanitizer, although it probably works.

Oxyclean is a cleaner, but you're correct, not a sanitizer. StarSan is relatively cheap and you don't have to rinse it off. You'd have to get it from a brewing store or online (or maybe some other kind of restaurant supply?), so it's not really a household cleaner.

Are you kegging your own beer/cider, or serving commercial beer (you mentioned Woodchuck)?

 

Oxyclean for cleaning, star-san to sanitize. And that sounds too short for 18 psi, been at 35 F. And by 7 above keg you mean the faucet is 7" above the center of the keg? I thought it was a standard kegerator, which would put the faucet about 2' above the center of the keg.

 

Current plans do not include serving homebrew on tap - I'll be doing a keg of Woodchuck Hard Cider and looking into converting to Guinness, and maybe someday serve homebrew, but right now it's not in my scope (I've made a few batches but have just bottled it).

JuanMoore, when I said 6 feet (7 accounting for elevation), I meant 6 feet of line, or 7 feet of line accounting for the 1 foot of elevation of the faucet above the keg. It might be closer to 2 feet above the keg.

I'll order some StarSan for sanitation. Come to think of it I used it to sanitize bottles when I brewed beer a few years ago, I remember not having to rinse. It's a white powder, right?

 

Star-san is a liquid, and better IMO than the white powdered no-rinse sanitizer.

I'd use at least 12' lines for that pressure. Beer line is cheap, and it's a whole lot easier to trim a foot or two off of a long line if it pours too slow than it is to buy a new line because it's too short and pouring a firehose of foam.

Have you measured any liquid temps inside the kegerator? Many people have had trouble getting their Haier kegerators down below 38°, and you'll need even longer lines if you can't maintain the 35° you're planning on.

 

I suppose you're right about the beer line. I can always cut some off. I have run the kegerator for a few days and played with the thermostat and now it reads a solid 35 degrees on a thermometer I put inside. On the coldest setting, it goes to 30 degrees, and on medium it goes to 40. So I'm basically right between normal and coldest.

I assume if it can maintain 35 degrees with an empty kegerator it should be able to maintain the same temp with contents. The keg certainly won't be fighting the cooling, and should arrive cold.