"Daisy Chained" Kegs?

[afro_lou]

This is totally theoretical at the moment, but is daisy-chaining kegs possible? Has anyone done it?

What I'm thinking is, I'm expanding the brew system right now to go to 10 gallon batches, and I've got a few extra cornies lying around... I've though about replacing the cornies with sixtels, but I believe the theory is the same.

The plan is to carbonate each cornie separately, then in the keezer connect the co2 tank to one (full) keg's gas in, then connect the liquid out to the second (full) keg's gas in, then purge the head space in the second keg thereby filling the second keg up to the "gas in" post, then connecting the second keg to the tap as usual. It seems to me that the pressure from the first keg should be enough to push beer from one keg into the other then out the tap, right?

I'm sure there would be some system pressure tuning needed, but is there something big I'm missing that would make this not work?


Or have I had a few too many tonight?


Cheers!

 

[slym2none]

*giggity*

 

[MagicMatt]

Yep, that's how you do it. The key is purging the headspace - pull the pressure relief until you get a few squirts of beer and foam. Just work your way from keg to keg.

This is really useful for events where you have multiple kegs of the same beer, but you don't want to have to be running around all day/night swapping out kegs as they kick.

 

[afro_lou]

Awesome. Thanks for the confirmation! I was sitting here thinking I'd had an epiphany about serving from kegs...

Not it's time to see just how many cornies I can chain together...

 

[passedpawn]

Interesting idea.

When I serve from a keg, I usually get a cloudy first pour, and a cloudy last. I wonder how those pours work thorough a chain of kegs?

 

[armedcor]

Yep should definitely work. I used work in a cinema where we used Cornys of coke which were daisy chained like that.

 

[Dan]

Interesting idea.

When I serve from a keg, I usually get a cloudy first pour, and a cloudy last. I wonder how those pours work thorough a chain of kegs?

Thats a great question. Seems like each keg would fill the next keg with muckiness from bottom.

I hope im wrong

 

[passedpawn]

Thats a great question. Seems like each keg would fill the next keg with muckiness from bottom.

I hope im wrong

I know, I'd like to give a whirl myself.

 

[armedcor]

Filter the beer into the keg?

 

[passedpawn]

Filter the beer into the keg?

Filtering is a major pain in the azz. Worth it for only a very few beers.

 

[The_Bishop]

Cold crash and gelatin fine before filling the kegs. That's what I do before filling mine, and I get no sediment in first/last pours, unless I'm dryhopping heavily in the keg, then I may get a bit of fine hop muck in the last pour. I use voile bags for keg dryhopping.

 

[passedpawn]

Cold crash and gelatin fine before filling the kegs. That's what I do before filling mine, and I get no sediment in first/last pours, unless I'm dryhopping heavily in the keg, then I may get a bit of fine hop muck in the last pour. I use voile bags for keg dryhopping.

I do that, I still pour about half a glass on the first pour. Cold crashed for 2 or 3 days with gelatin. Been doing this for years. No dry-hopping in keg.

 

[The_Bishop]

What I'll do is cold crash the fermenter for about a day, get it down to near freezing. Then I'll add the gelatin (rehydrated in 2/3 cup RO water and heated to roughly 155F), and keep it cold for another 2-3 days. It crashes everything out. When siphoning into the keg, I make sure I keep away from the trub. I do 5.5 gallon batches for the express purpose of getting 5 gallons of crystal clear beer into the keg.

I've never noticed anything but a very fine dusting of sediment on the bottom of the keg when cleaning it after it kicks. Again, a bit more sediment and a cloudy last pour if I dryhop in the keg, but I can live with that to enjoy the flavor and aroma.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Thats a great question. Seems like each keg would fill the next keg with muckiness from bottom.

I hope im wrong

Pretty much my experience, I use sanke kegs and can hear a gurgling sound when a keg kicks. It is all clear if you stop promptly, but if you keep attempting to pour, the yeast kicks up and and is dispensed. I have cold crashed prior to kegging as well, but found little benefit for the extra work vs cold crashing and serving right in the keg.

Seems to me any labor saved daisy chaining may be in vein, for larger events I use 1/2B sanke kegs 15.5 gallon.

 

[PinzonCachondo]

Wouldn't you get foaming in the successive kegs as beer pours in the little gas in dip tube and free falls into the rest of the keg? Would replacing the gas in diptubes with liquid diptubes make any difference?

 

[afro_lou]

Good points brought up re: trub and excessive foaming.

The plan is to ferment 10 gallons in a 1/2bbl sanke, cold crash, then transfer to two cornies for carbonation and serving. My hope is that most of the fermentation trub will be left in the fermentor after cold crashing and careful transfer. I could see the possibility of a pint or two of cloudy beer being pulled from the second keg into the first, but since both kegs are stationary I would think they would both settle and clear in the same way.

In terms of excessive foaming between the kegs, I believe that by purging the "1st" keg (closest to the tap) of headspace up to or above the "gas in" dip tube, this should keep any beer coming from the "2nd" keg (the one attached to the co2 tank) from becoming agitated. Being that any beer served would be immediately replaced by the 2nd keg, no new co2 would be introduced into the 1st keg until the 2nd keg is empty. Even if the standard "end of keg" foam was pushed through, it should have plenty of time to settle out long before it reaches the liquid out dip tube.

Anyway, that's at least how it is supposed to work in my head... It will be very interesting to see how it actually works in practice!

 

[MagicMatt]

Here's an example: http://www.hungusbrews.com/tag/jockey-box/

 

[afro_lou]

Exactly! Thanks, @MagicMatt!

 

[DrunkleJon]

I actually do this often. I use it for force carbing and filling too. Basically I fill in through the beer out side, daisy chain from gas to the next beer in and keep filling until full. Then to carb this way I push the CO2 in through the beer out line to bubble up through the beer and into the next keg. This to me seems to counteract and defeat the sediment as when the CO2 absorbs into solution it pulls more gas from the headspace of the previous keg which causes the beer and gas coming int of the liquid dip tube to push any sediment away from the tube. I then swap the QDs and reverse the flow to dispense. I dont really notice much sediment in the pours. Maybe it kicks up slightly when one keg kicks, but its not so bad. YMMV though.

 

[afro_lou]

This keeps getting better! I wasn't sure about force carbing this way, but now I'll have to try. Thanks, DrunkleJon!

 

[chickypad]

That's quite the impressive operation that Matt linked. I totally see why they did it, but for regular home dispensing of 10 gal batches it just doesn't seem worth it. Depending on your keezer configuration you'd have less flexibility with the pairs of kegs attached. Plus when the first keg of a pair kicks you might want the option to remove it to make room for something else. It takes me like 5 seconds to switch kegs when the first one kicks, since that happens every few wks at most it's not a hardship.

 

[HungusBrews]

Here's an example: http://www.hungusbrews.com/tag/jockey-box/

FWIW this really does work really well and is my go to for events when I am pouring a lot of beer. I have connected 6 kegs inline successfully. One downside though can be beer clarity. You want to try and remove as much sediment as you possibly can from the bottom of each keg before hooking up the daisy chains. If you don't, the sediment from the last kegs gets poured on top of the next kegs in line and pretty much guarantees cloudy beer.

If I'm planning on daisy chaining a few kegs I'll pull a 1/4 pint through a picnic faucet to remove settled yeast before moving the kegs. Once moved into place let them sit for as long as possible to resettle any yeast and pull another 1/4 pint. If all went well you can then chain away until your hearts content and not worry about clarity. Cold crashing before racking to a keg also helps with this.