kegging questions too specific for a search

[AdamWiz]

I kegged my first batch yesterday (first kegged batch I should say, not my first batch brewed) and have some questions. First off, before anyone scolds me for not doing my due dilligence - I have done searches, too many to count. I have scrolled through about 1,000 pages of other threads and I can't seem to find responses for my more specific questions. No matter how I word my search inquiry, I just get the same beginner kegging info over and over. So here goes...........

1.) I am not that heavy a drinker and don't throw parties often, so I will not be emptying kegs very quickly. Once I have my beer carbonated where I like it, do I just turn down the pressure to serving pressure and leave it until the keg is done? Or do I need to continue to dial the pressure down each time I pour a glass, then dial it back up to the carbonating pressure for the rest of the time? For now, I have been leaving the pressure at my force carbing temp.(about 18 psi), then reducing it to about 8 psi while pouring, then cranking the pressure back up to 18. Am I making this harder than it needs to be?

2.) I only have room in my spare fridge for two kegs, but I am a very frequent brewer. If I chill and force carbonate a keg in the fridge but am not going to be drinking it for a while, will there be any problems if I take the carbonated keg out and let it warm up to room temp until I'm ready to either drink it or bottle it? Or will the carbonation fade and cause me to have to force carb it all over again when I'm ready for it?

3.) Do I leave the cobra tap connected for the entire time, or if I won't be drinking it for a few days should I remove it between glasses?

4.) How often should I completely disassemble my cobra tap?

I basically bought my kegging setup for the convenience of force carbonating, but I don't plan on drinking off the tap all that much. For the most part my routine will be: transfer to keg, chill and force carbonate, drink a few glasses to sample(maybe over the course of a week or so), then bottle most of the batch with a beergun. Sound good?

I know it's a lot of questions, any info you have is appreciated.

 

[Hammy71]

1. Once the beer is carbed, leave it at serving psi (provided that is around 10-12 psi). I don't mess with the high/low thing. I simply hook the beer up to the serving pressure and let it sit for about 2-3 weeks. Carbs perfectly and your not wasting CO2 'burping' the keg every time you want a brew. It requires patience, but your beer will be perfectly carbed every time and you'll never overcarb the beer. If your serving at 8 psi that's kinda low (unless it's a stout or similar). I use 10' of 3/16ID hose as my beer line. It causes enough resistance in the line that I can serve at 10-12 psi. This allows my beer to remain carbonated and allows me to pour a beer that isn't all foam. I'm sure your cobra tap has a 3 foot line. Something to think about.

2. Yes, you can carb the beers in your kegger and then take them back out to room temperature. Just remember that when you return the keg to the kegger you let it chill again before you hook up your gas. The pressure in the warm keg will be greater than your regulator settings and you might get beer in your regulator. Not a good thing. But warm carbed beer is fine. In fact I have an extra CO2 tank that I use to carb my beers so that I can just throw them in the keezer when ever I have an opening. Chill... and I have beer.

3/4. You can leave the Cobra tap on all the time. I would put the tap in a ziploc bag between servings just to keep them semi-clean and to collect drippings. They do get pretty funky over time so occasionally you'll want to take them apart and clean.

Hope that helps....and makes sense.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I don't know what you were searching for but I know those questions have all been asked and answered before.

1) First of all, why do you have it to 18psi? Are you carbonating champagne? I carb almost all of my beers in the 8-10psi range @ 40° and since my taps have ten feet of line they pour a perfect pint at that pressure.

2) You can absolutely leave it off the gas if you're not going to use it immediately. You can either just hit it with about 30psi for a few seconds and purge to get a proper seal and remove oxygen, or you can fully carb it and then take it off gas and leave it wherever you have room. And the carbonation wouldn't fade... if you have it properly sealed where would the CO2 go?

3) Definitely leave the cobra on unless you feel like sanitizing your tap, hose, and beer-out post enshrine every time you want a beer.

4) I change my lines maybe once or twice a year. I simply rinse and partially fill the keg with hot water, that I use to run through the beer line using CO2 to push it. I then do the same with oxyclean, another hot rinse (long one to make sure I got all the oxyclean) followed by a sanitizer run. Done, clean, and completely sealed.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Ha, just beat me. I'd be a lot faster if this wasn't from my phone

 

[AdamWiz]

I don't know what you were searching for but I know those questions have all been asked and answered before.

It seems that no matter how specific I am when searching, I mostly get the same old beginner's info - mainly the basics about assembly, balancing, and carbonation charts. If I read another thing about how to clean and disassemble a keg I'm going to go nuts. I'm sure the things I asked are out there somewhere, but they're buried in a lot of very long threads with a lot of repetitive info. Honestly, I looked through at least 100 pages of existing threads before posting this. No matter how I word it, those same words are in every single kegging thread, just not necessarily in the context I am looking for.

1) First of all, why do you have it to 18psi? Are you carbonating champagne?

My spare fridge only gets down to about 44 degrees, and I am going for pretty high carbonation (about 2.8 volumes). According to my chart, that requires approximately 18 psi. Do I have a bum chart?

 

[BigUgly]

Let me get this straight. You bought a kegging system to bottle with?!

Hunter

 

[jwags48]

I kegged my first batch yesterday (first kegged batch I should say, not my first batch brewed) and have some questions. First off, before anyone scolds me for not doing my due dilligence - I have done searches, too many to count. I have scrolled through about 1,000 pages of other threads and I can't seem to find responses for my more specific questions. No matter how I word my search inquiry, I just get the same beginner kegging info over and over. So here goes...........

1.) I am not that heavy a drinker and don't throw parties often, so I will not be emptying kegs very quickly. Once I have my beer carbonated where I like it, do I just turn down the pressure to serving pressure and leave it until the keg is done? Or do I need to continue to dial the pressure down each time I pour a glass, then dial it back up to the carbonating pressure for the rest of the time? For now, I have been leaving the pressure at my force carbing temp.(about 18 psi), then reducing it to about 8 psi while pouring, then cranking the pressure back up to 18. Am I making this harder than it needs to be?

2.) I only have room in my spare fridge for two kegs, but I am a very frequent brewer. If I chill and force carbonate a keg in the fridge but am not going to be drinking it for a while, will there be any problems if I take the carbonated keg out and let it warm up to room temp until I'm ready to either drink it or bottle it? Or will the carbonation fade and cause me to have to force carb it all over again when I'm ready for it?

3.) Do I leave the cobra tap connected for the entire time, or if I won't be drinking it for a few days should I remove it between glasses?

4.) How often should I completely disassemble my cobra tap?

I basically bought my kegging setup for the convenience of force carbonating, but I don't plan on drinking off the tap all that much. For the most part my routine will be: transfer to keg, chill and force carbonate, drink a few glasses to sample(maybe over the course of a week or so), then bottle most of the batch with a beergun. Sound good?

I know it's a lot of questions, any info you have is appreciated.

ok! first thing, set your gas to serving pressure and leave it. The beer will keep fine. I would keep it cold after it's bin carb.. I not a big fan with the cold then warm then cold. I think that's going to cause problems, might referment, off flavors, stir up the sediment at the bottom with the moving around . The one thing you have to be careful with is if you carb the keg and disconnect the gas you might slowly lose co2. Then when you do hook it up and pour a pint it's flat. I keep gas on all my kegs after they are force carbonated. I have a chest freezer with a temp regulator on it . I leave my carboys in cold condition until I have an empty keg to fill. This has many benefits....
1) beer is cold when you keg so you can force carb immediately

 

[Hammy71]

Ha, just beat me. I'd be a lot faster if this wasn't from my phone

 

[jwags48]

sorry my fat finger hit send by mistake....
2) cold conditioning will give you clear beer
3) preserve the beer for longer period of time

 

[AdamWiz]

Let me get this straight. You bought a kegging system to bottle with?!

Hunter

I know it sounds strange. I just really hate bottling buckets and spigots.
There are some other reasons for this:
1.) with kegs, I can just bottle a couple six packs if I want , rather than having to clean and sanitize 50 bottles whenever a batch is ready.

2.) with kegging, I can be sampling carbonated beer within a few hours rather than waiting 2+ weeks.

3.) I think bottling from a beergun is better due to being able to purge bottles with CO2 before filling. Plus, I am really looking forward to bottled homebrew with no sediment.

4.) Sometimes I get busy (or lazy) and put off bottling for longer than I should, causing my beer to sit in the fermenter longer than it should. If I'm feeling lazy now, I can just rack toa keg, purge with CO2, and bottle whenever I get around to it.