Keg help

[tomchukj]

So my lovely wife is finally wearing down and I believe she is going to allow me to invest in kegging. Right now I am looking at beverage elements and their 189 kit to start with. This is becoming a reality because a friend of ours asked that I make my american wheat for his greek easter party.

I obviously don't want to screw this up though so what are my steps using this setup with a party tap? I would force carb but not put it on ice until the day of the party. I am a complete nub to this type of setup as I have bottled for the last 5 years. So what psi do I set it for prior to the party and how do i get it to pour nice at the party? I have read issues with party taps here and am just concerned.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I would force carb but not put it on ice until the day of the party

You really need it to be cold to force carb. Brew bucket with cold water and ice is plenty but a spare fridge is easier.

How many available days will you have?

 

[phiLLy820]

Have to have a mini fridge to mod. Let's have a dedicated temp control to keep the keg cold. You want the solution cold to force the co2 into it. This is a must even with a part tap. Cheers!

 

[brewprint]

I would not buy that kit unless you really want to start small. But if that's what you want go for it.

I see no need for a brand new co2 tank unless you can get it filled. My options are only for exchanges.

Where are you going to keep your kegs? Do you already have a fridge to store them or it?

Save money and buy used especially if you had to talk the wife into it.

Force carbing a warm keg is useless. It simply doesn't work...at least for me. Force carbing a cold keg by rolling for 1 minute at 30 psi does about the same as putting it at 30 psi and letting it sit for 36 hours.

I've not had any issues with picnic taps. Use longer lines like 6 feet plus and it reduces foam.

 

[tomchukj]

Thanks this really helps and I may just have to wait longer in order to accomplish this. I do have a spare fridge in the garage but I doubt the wife will allow me to take it over for 3-4 days in order to condition the keg properly prior to the party. I was just going to put the keg under pressure in my utility room downstairs for a 7-10 days prior to the party and assumed it would carbonate that way but now I know that is not an option.

I would be bottling the beer tomorrow, which would give me a full 2 weeks prior to the party.

 

[Kingbogart]

You can force carb warm, it will just require more pressure. Visit this chart for an idea of what pressure might work. For a wheat I would thing 2.4-2.6 volumes is about right. As it chills the day of, you'll want to reduce the pressure to where you think it will stabilize. Also, day of, try to place it and don't move it after, so that you don't stir up trub.

 

[tomchukj]

Thanks Kingbogart. If I am understanding you and the chart correctly I would force carb around 25 psi until the day of. At that point bring it over to their house early in the morning and reduce the pressure to around 6-7 psi. Would I need to purge it on the day of or having it at that pressure for 4-5 hours would be enough?

 

[Kingbogart]

I would wait until serving time to purge. Get it there, reduce to the 7-8 and let sit in the ice. Then when you're ready to serve, purge and rehook to gas. Should be pretty good at that point. You might have to fiddle a little with the pressure to get the system balanced, but you should be pretty close. When you're buying I would recommend getting longer beer line with your tap. I think most kits come with 5' but to balance most systems you need a lot closer to 10-15. This is widely used at the most useful calculator.

 

[PapaO]

You can get your co2 at Illinois Fire & Safety in Addison http://www.illinoisfire.com/contact.html cheaper than Air Gas and you don't have to exchange your tank.

 

[tomchukj]

Thanks everyone this really helped.

 

[tomchukj]

Just want to make sure I understand, sorry for all the questions

1) hook up to co2 and seal keg at 30 psi
2) reduce to 25 psi and leave gas connected to force carb at warm temperature (roughly 4-5 days prior to party hooked up at 25 psi)
3) day of get it to location as early as I can and get it on ice. Hook up gas and set to 7-8 psi. Leave gas connected
4) when party gets started disconnect gas, purge and then rehook up gas at 7-8 psi.
5) serve

 

[Kingbogart]

You might consider rolling it around for like 15 min while it's connected at 25. When the bubbling noises stop, you're getting close to your expected pressures. At standard pressures and temps (38 degrees and like 10-12 psi) keg carbing isn't any faster, just easy. It would normally still take about 2 weeks. Lots of people will increase the pressure to around 30 for a day, and then reduce to 10-12 to decrease how long it takes, but that's usually done cold.

With only 4-5 days, I would be concerned you're going to be under-carbed if you don't roll it around. You could also use even higher pressures, but that could lead to over-carbing, and there's not really a calculation for that.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

A few people have mentioned it in passing, but I want to highlight the idea of chilling the beer for a day or so before pressurizing at 20-30 psi. Colder beer will absorb the CO2 faster. Then follow the suggestions in this thread when it comes time to serve. Good luck!

 

[tomchukj]

Dumb thought... Cant i just chill this damn thing in my 10 gallon igloo mash tun filled with ice and pressurize that way? Would this allow me to force carb at the 30 psi for a day or so then drop it to serving psi? If that is the case I would leave the gas constantly connected correct?

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Yes, that would get your keg to the correct temperature (maybe possibly a bit too cold but as long as it doesn't freeze you should be OK) but you still need to do the rocking of the keg to fast track your CO2 absorption. I typically don't have my gas connected while chilling down, but everything after, including the rocking stage, is hooked up to the CO2

 

[tomchukj]

Thanks everyone for the help. Pressurized at 30 psi for 48 hours on ice. Just depressurized set to 9 psi and poured my first glass to see how it was.

Poured amazingly but only got about a half glass. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1428197219.014838.jpg

After that nothing came out of party tap. Is this a case of too much line or where else can i look? I already checked and pressure was on and co2 valve was open

 

[Kingbogart]

It is almost definitely not too much line. It is most likely a clogged poppet, clogged diptube or a bad connection on the liquid side.

Disconnect both the gas and liquid lines. Depress the gas side, and make sure it hisses. That will verify it's still under pressure. Next, lightly depress the liquid side. You should get a little beer spray. If you don't get spray it's either the poppet or diptube. If you get spray, it's likely that the liquid connection isn't fitting well.

Report back and we may be able to help you further.

 

[tomchukj]

Gas leaked out and beer came out without an issue.

 

[Kingbogart]

That pretty much clears your diptube. Do you have any other kegs you can try? It sounds like your poppet isn't clogged, but sometimes the connection made between the liquid disconnect and the poppet don't fit well. Especially on universal poppets. If the poppet and the disconnect don't fit right, then either the poppet or the line don't get opened and you don't get beer. Trying another keg could help determine if it's the poppet.

Also if you have ball lock kegs make sure you don't have the posts swapped. The look very similar and both disconnects will fit on either side, though one will be a little tight. Make sure the post on the gas side has a groove in it. As seen here.

 

[tomchukj]

I think its the party tap. Took it off making sure hose was ok and beer came flowing out (forgot to turn off co2)

 

[tomchukj]

Just wanted to thank everyone. The greek easter party was today snd the keg was gone very quickly.