1st transfer to keg

[Tommygun]

I am just starting to keg, and will be transferring my 1st batch this weekend. I have a Belgium wit in the primary now which has a good amount of coriander seeds and orange peel still floating on the top of the wort. Does anyone have any advice on the best way to avoid getting the debris into the keg while siphoning? ive read mixed reviews on attatching a nylon strainer to the inlet side of the siphon, but how about attatching it to the out side on the end of the hose that is filling the keg? Or should I just siphon as normal and try carefully not to suck up to much debris?

 

[beerkench]

Have you cold crashed the beer?
Doing this may help the debris sink to the bottom of the fermenter.
I use a fermenter with a plastic tap and transfer to the keg through that.

 

[xinunix]

Here is my kegging process...

I cold crash most of my beers for 48 hours before I keg

1. Pour star san in keg, put on lid and shake like crazy
2. Dump star san back into bucket leaving foam in keg
3. Put lid on keg and hit with 20 psi co2 and purge once or twice, gives a nice layer of co2 and keeps out oxygen
4. Attach auto-siphon to side of brew bucket with siphon clip and adjust so that siphon is just above trub (I use a 3 ring binder as a wedge to tip my bucket and just kind of know from experience how deep I can go with the siphon without getting trub, you can see the cloudy trub coming through the siphon tube if you watch). My auto-siphon also has a removable cap on the end that prevents a lot of larger things from getting into the siphon at all.
5. Purge pressure on keg, remove lid, cover opening with starsan soaked saran wrap
6. Lower siphon tubing into keg and get it all the way to the bottom, you want to transfer quietly, with as little splashing (avoiding introducing oxygen) as possible
7. Give the auto-siphon a pump and let it rip

 

[kh54s10]

I would try a strainer bag on the inlet side. (or cold crash first to see if the debris will sink). If you do one on the outlet side, attach it to the tubing with a large "bag" on the end to catch the debris. If you make it tight it will clog very quickly. Put the tubing and the bag all the way to the bottom of the keg. If you strain at the top and let the beer fall to the bottom of the keg it will oxidize the beer.

 

[241]

Good tips from all here, but other than cold crashing I'm not all that careful about sucking up some trub/hops and other solids when I transfer to the keg. I try to avoid it but if some gets through, oh well.

Once the keg is cooled all the way down to drinking temps and you finally tap it after two weeks, all the junk will come out first. Just run off a half pint or so until the beer runs clear.

This assumes you do the 'low and slow' carbonation method of xx (usually 10-14) psi, xx (usually 38-45) degrees F x 2 weeks.

 

[beerkench]

Good tips from all here, but other than cold crashing I'm not all that careful about sucking up some trub/hops and other solids when I transfer to the keg. I try to avoid it but if some gets through, oh well.

Once the keg is cooled all the way down to drinking temps and you finally tap it after two weeks, all the junk will come out first. Just run off a half pint or so until the beer runs clear.

This assumes you do the 'low and slow' carbonation method of xx (usually 10-14) psi, xx (usually 38-45) degrees F x 2 weeks.

Problem is though when stuff clogs the diptube. I've had this happen when I managed to get hops in the keg it was no fun trying to unblock it numerous times.



Sent from hell
using Home Brew

 

[241]

Problem is though when stuff clogs the diptube. I've had this happen when I managed to get hops in the keg it was no fun trying to unblock it numerous times.



Sent from hell
using Home Brew

I could see how that would be annoying. I haven't ever had that problem in 4 years and I've added leaf hops, vanilla beans, fruit...

 

[MagicMatt]

Here is my kegging process...

I cold crash most of my beers for 48 hours before I keg

1. Pour star san in keg, put on lid and shake like crazy
2. Dump star san back into bucket leaving foam in keg
3. Put lid on keg and hit with 20 psi co2 and purge once or twice, gives a nice layer of co2 and keeps out oxygen

1. 
   
   Just a note here that your sanitation method is not catching the inside of the diptube nor the insides of the posts (poppets, etc). You should be connecting the CO2 to your keg and pushing the sanitizer out of the keg via a picnic tap or similar. This way the everything that the beer touches is sanitized. You can have a lot of nasties hiding in those dip tubes or posts.
   
   I'd consider yourself lucky if you haven't had an infection yet and you never sanitize the diptube.

 

[241]

Good tip. A keg washer also works well for this purpose

 

[brewcat]

If it is floating on top it will stay on top. I'd guess your siphon would stop and the debris will still be floating. Otherwise maybe some cheesecloth or something on the inlet.

 

[xinunix]

Just a note here that your sanitation method is not catching the inside of the diptube nor the insides of the posts (poppets, etc). You should be connecting the CO2 to your keg and pushing the sanitizer out of the keg via a picnic tap or similar. This way the everything that the beer touches is sanitized. You can have a lot of nasties hiding in those dip tubes or posts.

I'd consider yourself lucky if you haven't had an infection yet and you never sanitize the diptube.

Thanks for pointing that out, I missed describing that step. I always completely disassemble my kegs for cleaning when they are kicked and then on kegging night before reassembly I sanitize my posts, poppets, lid, gas and beverage tubes in my star-san bucket. Then I reassemble the keg and follow the steps I listed in my original response.