can you transfer carbonated beer from keg to keg?

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Going on a fishing trip with my step-father and father-in-law and would like to take some beer with. Beer has been sitting undisturbed for weeks and is force carbonated. Can I transfer it to another keg and to make sure it is clear travel ready?
 
Yes. What you do is create a jumper. Connect two ball lock OUT connectors with about 6' of line. Once you have that made, purge the receiving keg with co2, connect the kegs together, and then slowly let the gas out of the receiving keg. It'll pull the beer into the keg for you. You can also just pus it across with a tank, but you still want to make sure there is no plain air in there.

As the transfer completes, you'll notice that you might start sucking up gunk from the bottom of the settled keg. Just disconnect the jumper at this point and you're done.
 
Yes. What you do is create a jumper. Connect two ball lock OUT connectors with about 6' of line. Once you have that made, purge the receiving keg with co2, connect the kegs together, and then slowly let the gas out of the receiving keg. It'll pull the beer into the keg for you. You can also just pus it across with a tank, but you still want to make sure there is no plain air in there.

As the transfer completes, you'll notice that you might start sucking up gunk from the bottom of the settled keg. Just disconnect the jumper at this point and you're done.

Yep! And it sounds sort of complicated, but it's not at all. It'll make sense once you hook up the two black quick-disconnects with some beer line. And that's all you need- those two QDs and a length of beerline.

It works really well when you want to move a keg for a party, but don't want to move it and resuspend all the sediment.
 
EXCELLENT! Thank you for the quick responses....I had seen a bunch of posts about transferring, but it was all PRE-Carbination.

Thanks again.
 
EXCELLENT! Thank you for the quick responses....I had seen a bunch of posts about transferring, but it was all PRE-Carbination.

Thanks again.

Oh, a couple of things I forgot to mention. Purge the first keg and reset to about 2-3 psi or just enough to push the beer. That will reduce any foaming.

I add some co2 to the receiving keg before hooking anything up, and purge it. Then, I purge the first keg and reset to 2 psi. THEN I hook up the "jumper cables". Beer will start to flow right away, and just keep pulling the pressure relief valve on the receiving keg to keep it flowing.
 
I have a 3 gallon corney and a hose that is a tight fit in my faucet. Using low pressure I just drop the hose in the little keg and pull the faucet. Works just like siphoning. When the little keg is full I snap on the top, purge, and pressurize and I'm ready to travel to the party !!
 
So, I tried this for the first time yesterday and it did not work.
I had only a small amount to transfer - probably less than 1/2 gallon.
Could that be the issue? I will try again today :(
 
So, I tried this for the first time yesterday and it did not work.
I had only a small amount to transfer - probably less than 1/2 gallon.
Could that be the issue? I will try again today :(

No, it should work. Did you keep pulling the pressure relief valve on the receiving keg? If there is equal pressure between the kegs, or more pressure in the receiving keg, the beer will stop flowing. It goes from higher pressure to lower pressure.
 
No, it should work. Did you keep pulling the pressure relief valve on the receiving keg? If there is equal pressure between the kegs, or more pressure in the receiving keg, the beer will stop flowing. It goes from higher pressure to lower pressure.
Hi Yoop-
thanks for the response. Yes, I did pull the receiving keg's pressure valve slowly, until I bled it dry. The movement was just a bit into beer line but not "far" enough to get into receiving keg.

I then bled/-filled C02 & tried two more times.

Last question: is the Co2 line on or off (and which keg, if ON) during this process?
 
Hi Yoop-
thanks for the response. Yes, I did pull the receiving keg's pressure valve slowly, until I bled it dry. The movement was just a bit into beer line but not "far" enough to get into receiving keg.

I then bled/-filled C02 & tried two more times.

Last question: is the Co2 line on or off (and which keg, if ON) during this process?

ON the "old" keg. You can set it at 2 psi to start, and turn it up until the beer flows (2 psi is enough for my system, but it probably depends on the length of your "jumper cable"). Once the beer starts flowing, you keep pulling the pressure relief valve on the receiving keg. To stop, turn off the gas and take off the jumper cable.
 
Well I did this yesterday and it worked great. I was worried about foaming, but I really didn't get any. The transferring process took a lot longer than I thought it wood though. I think it took around 15 minutes to push from one keg to another, but I was going at around 2 psi to avoid foaming. I had to look inside of the keg to see what was happening, so there may have been a bit of oxygen that got in, but it's all good. The beer tastes great (BM's Cream of 3 Crops) and I think the family is going to love it at the beach!

:off:
Also a bit Off topic, but yoop with your portable keg Co2 charger, have you ever used the Crossman Co2 cartridges from WalMart? I'm a bit worried that they have some sort of oil in them b/c I could smell a bit when I sprayed some Co2 on my hand. I know they say they're not Food Grade, but do you really think this is a big problem?

Or, do you think that oil smell could be b/c my Portable Keg Co2 Charger is new and that's some sort of lube from the manufacturing process?

Thanks for all the great info guys and gals.
 
Well I did this yesterday and it worked great. I was worried about foaming, but I really didn't get any. The transferring process took a lot longer than I thought it wood though. I think it took around 15 minutes to push from one keg to another, but I was going at around 2 psi to avoid foaming. I had to look inside of the keg to see what was happening, so there may have been a bit of oxygen that got in, but it's all good. The beer tastes great (BM's Cream of 3 Crops) and I think the family is going to love it at the beach!

:off:
Also a bit Off topic, but yoop with your portable keg Co2 charger, have you ever used the Crossman Co2 cartridges from WalMart? I'm a bit worried that they have some sort of oil in them b/c I could smell a bit when I sprayed some Co2 on my hand. I know they say they're not Food Grade, but do you really think this is a big problem?

Or, do you think that oil smell could be b/c my Portable Keg Co2 Charger is new and that's some sort of lube from the manufacturing process?

Thanks for all the great info guys and gals.

I have no idea about the co2 cartridges. I have some that I bought ages ago from AHS, and I just use those. Sorry!
 
I wouldn't worry about purging the receiving keg and all that jazz, just transfer the beer! Assuming you'll be killing the keg in a day or 2, the O2 won't have time to hurt anything. Especially after you hook up the traveling keg to CO2 for dispensing.

Now, if the beer will stay in the new keg for a while, that's a different story :D
 
I just did my first really heavy dry hop brew. After racking it to a corny, I let it sit for about 2 weeks out in the garage to try and drop out any extras I missed in first racking. My delema is that I was in such a rush to carb it that I forgot to do one more racking to try and really clarify it. When I popped it this evening, got a bunch of hop chunks. I know if will clear up eventually, if I drink enough (not a bad thing), however I wanted to bottle a bunch for the holiday's and give as presents.

What do you think will happen if I try and rack this after its been carbed?

BTW, the recipe from Jamil in '80 great recipes' for a IIPA is excellent.

Thanks in advance,
BB
 
Same deal here - I racked a 10g batch of a Russian River Pliny clone to 2 cornys. Killed the first one and went to tap the second one last week. First pint was sludge! After that it's great. I think you'll be fine as long as you don't disturb the keg. As long as your sediment stays settled it'll stay out of your draws.
 
Sorry for jacking the original thread but if you try and rack a carb beer though a cane will anything go wrong besides having to re-carb a bit?

To your point about letting dead dogs lye, good advice. However, I've been drinking the kegged Pliny now for a couple of days and its still cloudy. I bottled a few last week and when poured slowly, its as clear amber champagne. I still think seperating any of the yeast / trub out can only be more helpful instead of pulling off the top layer. My two cents.

BB
 
I racked last evening and as this was happening I started to get some foam in the receiving keg. Not to much though. It was that great Pliny head that looks so delicious.

Tried it tonight and at least no more chunks of hops in the draw. I figured it might have been more than just a couple of beers to clear that up. Definately learned a lesson, not to be in a rush.

My only suggestion for someone, especially if you were going to let this one sit would be to really be careful not to oxygenate when going to the second keg. Keep the kegs at a minimum height difference to not have such a large pressure drop, at least to start. Once you've got some in the receiving, then always keep the hose below the surface.

BB
 
great thread. I <3 HBT.

I've been kegging in 5 gal kegs & just found some 3 gal kegs to put on the back of my RZR with a jockey box. I was looking for a way to transfer from the 5g kegs into the 3g kegs without making a foaming mess like I already did!!

Sorry for jacking the original thread but if you try and rack a carb beer though a cane will anything go wrong besides having to re-carb a bit?

foam. foam EVERYWHERE. I tried that before finding this thread. giving keg foamed out and all over the place.
 
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