CO2 Keg Pressure

[Boston85]

Sorry for posting again on this topic as I know there are others out there, but I am having a hard time following some of them. I have two 5 gallon cornys and a 2.5 lb CO2 tank that I just got filled today. I have a few questions before I start the kegging.

1.) Do I need to add sugar when I keg? I would rather not force carb, but rather let it carb up for a week or 2.

2.) How much CO2 pressure should I set it at when I am carbing it up for a week or 2?

3.) What pressure should I serve it at?

4.) My CO2 tank has 2 valves since I had 2 kegs, but I will only be using 1 keg at first, so can I just let the other valve sit there? Will nothing leak out of it?

5.) Once the beer is carbed, can I take the CO2 off of it or leave it on the whole time until the keg is kicked?

Anything else important I should know before I go ahead with the kegging? Again sorry for the repeat questions, but this is the first time I am kegging so I want to make sure I do not kill my beer and waste it. Thanks for your insight.

 

[android]

1) if you want to naturally carbonate, yes, you need to add sugar. force carbing is pretty nice though, try it sometime.

2) if you are going to 'set it and forget it' with the CO2 tank, just set it at your normal serving pressure (usually around 12 psi).

3) it all depends on your system. what temp you serve at and how long your beer lines are. again, around 12 is a good starting point. there are charts if you search around that tell you how many volumes of co2 certain temp + psi will give.

4) are there 2 hoses or just two valves? if you have two hoses and have a grey gas ball lock connector on the end, you should just be able to leave it unconnected and not have anything leak out of it.

5) if you take the co2 off, it will only serve about 2-3 pints before the pressure is too low to push any beer out the tap. so you need to keep the co2 connected. and i would think eventually you would start to lose carbonation if you kept disconnecting the co2. i always just leave it on until the keg is gone.

kegging is pretty awesome, the only learning curve on it is getting your psi dialed in and working with carbonation. the other thing is, don't assume just because your beer is carbed and kegged that it's ready to drink. it's true that you can get it "ready" quicker in a keg compared to bottling, but in my experience, it's ALWAYS better after it sits in the kegerator for 3 weeks or so.