Great ... thanks, Dad ...

[Finn]

So last weekend I went to see my stepdad. He's all into burning fryer oil in his crapped-out Cummins Diesel ... gets it from some restaurant that apparently gave him three Cornelius kegs full of the stuff last time.

Natch, I snapped them right up.

Now, I've got one cleaned up and bought a CO2 system to go on it. It's making soda water right now at home ... and there's a batch of nut-brown ale that's going into one of them on Friday!

So ... anybody got any advice for me on this brave new world of beermongering? What's the best way to carbonate a batch? Do I need to start leaving beer in secondary now, now that I won't be bottle conditioning them? Can I charge a beer with CO2 and expect it to continue to change? Will extreme pressure stop fermentation?

ALSO -- I have three of these things, and I was thinking of filling one of 'em up with root beer! Anybody got a good recipe to share?

Dang, this is gonna be fun.

--Finnzo

 

[Blender]

Did you change all the rubber O rings on the kegs? I would after having oil or soda in them because they will possibly impart odor to your beer. I don't use a secondary anymore, three weeks fermenting and they go into the keg. Just be mindful when racking and your beer should be really clear when dispensed. The beer will still need some aging after kegging though, if you rush it will taste green even though it may be carbed. Kegging is one of the better things I did in my beer making hobby.

 

[EvilTOJ]

But what I really want to know is; what restaraunt is giving away cornies of oil and how long will it take me to get there???

+1 on changing out all the O rings and seals. Extreme pressure can stop fermentation, but there's a few people that do ferment under pressure and they say it gives a better flavor to the beer.

 

[Funkenjaeger]

What do you perceive as the difference between bottle conditioning and conditioning in a pressurized keg? Once bottles carbonate, they're under the same pressure as in the keg.

It's really easier to think of kegs as giant bottles, that you just happen to be able to pressurize externally, rather than forcing the yeast to do it. That goes for all the additional typical questions, like transporting a carbed keg, conditioning one at room temp, or moving them into/out of the fridge - all are perfectly fine, just like for bottles.