First time kegging, I guess I did it right!

[DrnkNPublic]

So im new to brewing and bought my first keg yesterday. I put a batch of cider into it (one of the pouch concentrate ones). I listened to the guy at the local home brew shop advice but wound up kinda "winging it". Really his advice was to set it to 20psi and let it sit for 3 days but i tried quick carbing it cuz im impatient. Put the cider in, charged the keg and purged the air, cranked up the reg to 45 psi, charged, disconnected the line, rolled the keg around for a bit/ repeat several times. Purged the excess pressure. Set the psi around 5 and poured a glass. It wasn't super carbonated but I liked it the way it was. Set the psi back to 45 and let it sit over night. Today I poured a glass and it was the same. Not super bubbly but was happy with it. Should I be worried if I didn't do it "right" but still liked it? Plus it's good for a cider but maybe not for an ale, idk I guess I would have to try it. Also when I try to set my reg higher the 55psi the blow off safety thing (idk what it's really called) popes open. Is this just the max that my reg can push? Thanx in advance for ur help!

 

[DaWhip]

Sounds like you did it right, or at least good enough. The carbonation will improve over the next week or so. I usually start drinking after a couple shakes, but it takes a few days to a week (depending on how much shaking I did to start) chilled at the right pressure/temp to really hit the stride. Not sure about that blowoff valve, I would think it would be a lot higher. I know I can hit 60 in my kegs with no pop off.

 

[DrnkNPublic]

I forgot to mention, with the keg inside the fridge I don't have the O2 hooked up (my wife won't let me drill a hole in the fridge) but I have made sure to keep hooking up the O2 every so often. Also it was the blow off value on the reg not the one on the keg that was blowing.

 

[DaWhip]

Ah, the blowoff valve on the reg (at least on mine) will blow off if the pressure in the keg is higher than what the regulator is set to. Prevents backflow into the bottle. So if you put in 55psi, unhook, shake, and try to hook it back up, it will probably blow off since you increased pressure when you shook.

I use a similar method with the fridge. My kegerator only holds one keg. A few days before it kicks I move a new keg next to it and start hooking the gas up to it every time I pour a beer. Not the most efficient or quickest, but working with what I got. Keep an eye on craigslist and snag a cheapo fridge and put all the holes in it you want! I use one of those round red bull coolers like you see in convenience stores. Small footprint, on wheels, and only 40 bucks off craigslist.

 

[DrnkNPublic]

I love the red bull cooler idea! I have alot of stuff in my garage and a small foot print would be great (my wife says I have to many hobbies!) As far as ur advice on the blow off valve, that makes sense, as long as I'm understanding u right. If the pressure in the keg is greater then what I have the reg set to then the reg will blow cuz it's still lower then the blow off value on the keg witch is meant as a fail safe so ur keg won't turn into a bomb!

 

[DaWhip]

Yup. Keg blowoff prevents keg from turning into bomb, Reg blowoff prevents backflow into the tank, but it doesn't really protect your regulator, i.e. When you really screw up is when you hook the gas line up to the liquid post on the keg with the reg turned way down or high pressure in the keg. Beer shooting out the regulator at ~40 psi is always fun cleanup! Habit now is to relieve pressure from the keg before hooking up the gas line any time I have touched the dial on the regulator. It is really not good for the regulator to have anything but gas coming out of there and really tough to get clean. A lot of guys have check valves on their gas line as additional protection.

 

[kristiismean]

I do 30 psi for 48 hours and am always happy with my cabonation levels. but that's with it in the fridge.
cold it will go much faster. (get it cold before you start rolling it around, but still, of course, purge the keg of air. 3 cycles should work, i do 5.