Kegging for newbie

[DivingBiker87]

i want to start kegging my beer instead of bottleing. i had a question or 2.

if you are using a co2 to force carb once your done with the fermentation you put it into the keg and seal it is it then ready to serve or do you have to wait a period of time for conditioning or what not.

let me just make sure these steps are rite.
1 make wort
2 primary ferment
3 secondary
4 keg and serve.

or is there an additional step inbetween the secondary and kegging or serving. thanks.

 

[Hammy71]

Once you keg it can take days to weeks to properly carb the beer depending on which method you use. The beer will still need to condition at (bottling) temps. The purpose of waiting three weeks when you bottle is of course to allow the yeast to carb your beer....but also to let the beer age. So, think of a keg as a one big bottle.

A little research and you'll be kegging in no time.....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/sticky-kegging-faqs-43347/

 

[moxie]

i want to start kegging my beer instead of bottleing. i had a question or 2.

if you are using a co2 to force carb once your done with the fermentation you put it into the keg and seal it is it then ready to serve or do you have to wait a period of time for conditioning or what not.

let me just make sure these steps are rite.
1 make wort
2 primary ferment
3 secondary
4 keg and serve.

or is there an additional step inbetween the secondary and kegging or serving. thanks.

I for one have jumped aboard the "no secondary" bandwagon. I've come to believe it is not necessary, and there are many benefits of keeping your beer in the primary vessel for a longer period. There are many threads around discussing the topic, you may not come to the same conclusion that I did, but either way it makes for some interesting reading!

As for kegging, I have never had any luck with carbing my kegs "quickly." I suppose this could be done by shaking, rolling, or otherwise forcing the gas into the still COLD beer as quickly as possible. I have even had a crazy semi-alcoholic guy suggest that for faster carbing, hook the gas up to the liquid out line so that it bubbles up through the beer from the serving post at the bottom of your keg. This is somewhat of a mad-scientist approach. That being said, I find much better and more consistent results by just allowing at minimum one week for the gas to fully dissolve evenly throughout the keg. I stray from the chart a little bit with my numbers based on my set-up, but you will have to tinker with it until you find a method that works for you and does justice to your brewed product.

 

[DivingBiker87]

So, think of a keg as a one big bottle.
43347/[/url]

does this mean i can put the same amount of priming sugar i would for bottles and then rack into keg and leave for the rite amount of time and not need a Co2 bottle?

 

[moxie]

does this mean i can put the same amount of priming sugar i would for bottles and then rack into keg and leave for the rite amount of time and not need a Co2 bottle?

As far as I know, you can naturally carb the keg this way, however, you would still need a can of co2 for serving it.

 

[KingKegII]

I guess there's some debate about how much priming sugar to use when kegging, this site suggests it doesn't matter, but if you want, start out using about 20% less sugar than you would if you were bottling, keep good records of how much you used, and tweak each time until you're dialed in.

http://www.bodensatz.com/staticpages/index.php?page=Soda-Kegs#carbonation

 

[BadgerBrewer]

In my experience, force carbing is by far the fastest and most reliable method of carbing my beer. I leave on primary for 3 weeks (on average...dependant on the recipe of course), transfer to my keg and chill for 24 hours at 32 degrees. Put 30 psi CO2 on it for 48 hours, purge my keg of all gas, set for serving pressure (8-12 psi) and start drinking. Comes our perfect every time. I never shake or roll as things become unpredictable.

 

[DivingBiker87]

great stuff, thanks guys.