Keg Conditioning

[flexbrew]

Future former bottler. I am under the impression that no forced CO2 will be needed for the Corny and that the entire 5 gallons can be dispensed via the liquid serving line without any additional help.

 

[mrk305]

You are going to need the CO2 to carb and dispense. You can carb with sugar, but you will get sediment in the keg... no big deal, but you will need the CO2 to push it out and to keep it carbed.

 

[flexbrew]

I kind of thought that, I thought I could slowly migrate to a complete system.

So, if I get a keg, regulator and CO2 and I pressurize the keg, do you just set you psi, open the valve wait and leave the valve open until you are done with the keg? Or do you close the valve, wait for the pressure to drop and repressure?

 

[Lowry0031]

To force carbonate (no sugar primer):

fill up the keg with your uncarbonated beer.

put on the lid.

set the regulator to 5 psi.

1. fill the keg. close the valve on the CO2 tank.

2. use the blow off valve to completely empty it.

3. open the valve on the CO2 tank.

repeat 1-3 four times.

then set your regulator to about 10-15 psi, after about 1 week, you have carbonated beer. leave the regulator that high or adjust it if your are getting to much head.

 

[flexbrew]

Sounds like a plan, I would assume the 3 blow off releases at the low psi is to ensure all the oxygen is out? Once that is accomplished we crank it up?

 

[sudbuster]

Future former bottler. I am under the impression that no forced CO2 will be needed for the Corny and that the entire 5 gallons can be dispensed via the liquid serving line without any additional help.

Well, at least for a few pints. Then the beer in the keg will get flatter and flatter and finally nothing will pour. You will need a CO2 tank and regulator to keep the beer carbed and to serve. Sorry, it would sure be nice if it were as you had hoped....

 

[Yooper]

Sounds like a plan, I would assume the 3 blow off releases at the low psi is to ensure all the oxygen is out? Once that is accomplished we crank it up?

Well, you have to carbonate it somehow. If you choose to force carbonate (no priming sugar), you have two choices.

1. Set it at 12 psi at 40 degrees. Come back in a week or two.

2. Set it at 30 psi at 40 degrees. In 36 hours, turn off the co2. Reset the regulator to 12 psi. Purge the tank, and then open it. Leave it at 12 psi. It'll be better tomorrow.

Keep the tank set at 12 psi, and you can do about 5-6 kegs this way with one 5 pound co2 tank. With no co2 tank, this will last a few days. Maybe, if you're lucky.

 

[Lowry0031]

Sounds like a plan, I would assume the 3 blow off releases at the low psi is to ensure all the oxygen is out? Once that is accomplished we crank it up?

that is correct, you don't want that in your beer at this point!

enjoy

 

[flexbrew]

im all over the place in the thread but. I noticed in the "Sizing your Chest Freezer for Corny Kegs" thread that it appears that most of those systems, to get beer you have to physically open the freezer and grab the liquid dispenser and pour, then close the freezer, which is fine, just want to confirm.

Also, they say freezer, I would assume you just set the temp for a desired degree?

 

[devilishprune]

You can build your keezer any way that you want. I have faucets on a collar on my keezer so that I don't have to open the door and grab a cobra tap.

If you have a chest freezer, you need to buy some sort of temperature controller that has a temperature probe to override the thermostat on the freezer. Most chest freezers will not go above freezing, which is not good for beer that you want in liquid form.

 

[flexbrew]

I have a very small area if I am going to make this work. Can you help me find the smallest possible unit to cool a 5 gallon corny keg.

 

[flexbrew]

Maybe I could permanently use a cold plate? although I am unsure of how they work and if that is even a good idea at all? Do I have to recool them?

 

[flexbrew]

nevermind I just realized what that was, dont feel like refilling an ice bucket every couple of hours. I need a really small fridge. I have a little under 30" height under my kitchen cabinet, I know cornys are 27" tall.