transferring beer from commercial keg to corny keg

first, let me say thanks for all the helpful advice i've recieved just by reading this forum.

i recently purchased a used Perlick 4 tap commercial draft beer dispenser. it was plumbed for sanke kegs. i changed the plumbing over to quick change between sanke and ball lock, and bought 5 ball lock kegs.

i currently have 2 commercial sixth barrel kegs and 3 ball lock cornys full!

my local brewery that i got the sixth barrels from wanted a deposit - $100/ea. - no problem.

they said i could keep them for 60 days without the deposit being charged on my credit card. it's already been 30 days, and because i have so many different beers to sample the 2 kegs are not getting empty fast enough.

is there a safe and easy way to transfer the beer in the sanke kegs to the ball lock corny kegs?

 

You can do it. I have done it before as well and it went well. The big thing is making sure you are using 3/16 line going slow and keeping some back pressure in the corny keg to reduce foaming. Take a look at the similar threads listed below.

 

I do this often.. Here is the thread I started a few years back with details and pics.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/corney-kegging-commerical-beer-20851/

 

go beer out to beer out and use the relief to slowly bleed the pressure that builds up. I do the same thing when transfering my beer to the keg before carbonating. Obviously, I just purge the keg first and then pop the lid to let the O2 to bleed out. Much more sanitary.

 

so, to be clear, all i need is to fabricate a beer out to beer out hose, and a pressure relief valve of some sort on the corny. right?

i think i saw a post that shows a pressure gauge on the "air in" side of the corny to regulate how much pressure was being released, thereby slowing the flow from keg to keg down to inhibit foaming. is this necessary? another post said that they just cracked the "air in" ball lock post open to release pressure.

i have a few weeks to make the decision and gather the hardware necessary to get this done, so i guess i am still looking for the slickest solution.

thanks to all!

 

I find using the high pressure release valve to not be very controllable and too much co2 gets knocked out of suspension.. I prefer to use the controllable relief valve I bought from more beer to move the beer as slowly as possible.

 

thanks John Beere - but when i hit that link you supplied for the relief valve from MoreBeer.com i got a "File not found". i searched their site and found the one you were referring to and ordered it.

here is a good link for the pressure relief valve you were referring me to in case others need to find it.

thanks again.

 

I learned how to do it from JB's thread, must say it works great!

 

I just use the high pressure release valve and it works fine.