Kegging, they said its better than bottling....

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option_klp

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This is more of a vent/looking for feedback. Kegged my first beer. Put 2 gallons of starsan in, washed it around and used the pressure to pump it through the out post through my serving line and transfer line. ( I got extra tubing with quick disconnect for the "OUT" post. I used this tubing to connect to my autosiphon to transfer from carboy.)

However, I had a hard time pushing the disconnect pin in to get a flow going from the auto siphon. When I finally did and get it connected to the out post, It ended up getting clogged with debris. I Dunno if my auto siphon is broken but I had a lot of air bubbles in the line from the carboy to the keg. I did vent the keg as the beer went in. Eventually get done, then I have a hard time getting a seal for the keg lid and not leak.

Eventually get it in my fridge, now the kicker, my high pressure gauge has gone down from the 58 mark to 40. So I closed off the CO2 tank, and this morning the high pressure guage was at 0 (low pressure to the keg is still set at 20 psi). Which I'm pretty sure means I'm leaking from the regulator to the tank.

They tell me bottling is harder lol.
 
I wouldnt say that bottling is "harder" but I find it more time consuming and cumbersome, especially once you get the hang of kegging. Sounds like some beginner blues here that are easily remedied.

"
However, I had a hard time pushing the disconnect pin in to get a flow going from the auto siphon. When I finally did and get it connected to the out post, It ended up getting clogged with debris. With autosiphons that can happen. Keep in mind you are siphoning from the bottom where everything has fallen to. You could try elevating your siphon just off the bottom of the carboy to avoid sucking in as much debris. Or, you could ditch the liquid post during kegging and just use a barb with hose. I Dunno if my auto siphon is broken but I had a lot of air bubbles in the line from the carboy to the keg. I did vent the keg as the beer went in. Eventually get done, then I have a hard time getting a seal for the keg lid and not leak." Probably not broken, but it sounds like there was an air gap somewhere. My guess would be where the hose connects to the wand.

Eventually get it in my fridge, now the kicker, my high pressure gauge has gone down from the 58 mark to 40. So I closed off the CO2 tank, and this morning the high pressure guage was at 0 (low pressure to the keg is still set at 20 psi). Which I'm pretty sure means I'm leaking from the regulator to the tank. Assuming you're using corny kegs based on the comments above, did you use keg lube on your gaskets? If you didnt, I would put some on. If you did, check how much you used. The stuff is a 'dab will do ya' so you dont need a ton. Also, try pressurizing the keg and giving it a spray with starsan solution. If you get bubbles, you've found your leak.
 
Off the top of my head, here's 2 cheap products that might help:
https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/carbonatorredduotightstem.htm ...put that on the disconnect to open it..avoid the potential to damage the pin in your disconnect.
If it's a glass carboy;
https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/carboycap.htm
..if you look around the site or just ask @Bobby_M he can set you up with the racking cane and gas-in bits you need to complete that cap and do fully closed low-pressure transfers.
NOTE: Hold the racking cane with the bottom only a little below the liquid level and slowly lower it as it siphons..that way you avoid the crud from the bottom clogging the diconnect and poppet.
:mug:
 
They tell me bottling is harder lol.
Once you get it sorted out, kegging can be much easier and is definitely faster (only one big bottle to fill).
You can also force carbonate in a keg and drink as soon as an hour after filling. Bottling, not so.

That said, there better (and worse) ways to prepare and fill a keg, read around on this forum.

However, I had a hard time pushing the disconnect pin in to get a flow going from the auto siphon.
I use the back end of a nail set tool to push the pin in. But anything shaped like that, even in plastic, such as the back end of a small screwdriver, will work.

However, there is a special tool that looks like a double sided keg post, you connect the QD to. It keeps the QD open until you remove it:
https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/ball_lock_jumperpost.htm

When I finally did and get it connected to the out post, It ended up getting clogged with debris.
Don't stick the (auto)siphon all the way on the bottom in the trub layer. Keep it suspended well above the trub (use a siphon clamp or such). Then lower the siphon as the beer level drops. Once you get close to the bottom (trub) tilt the fermenter to keep the siphoning well deep. Once trub gets sucked in, stop the siphon, such as by pulling the QD off the keg.

Most siphons provide for a "diverter" cap to be used. It snaps on the bottom, diverting the flow to come in from above, also reducing sucking up trub once you near the trub layer.

As I always say, rehearse the method(s) with water or Starsan, until you've got it down pat, before racking any beer. ;)
 
What kind of fermenter do you have? A lot of them you can modify to add a floating dip tube with a filter on it and do pressure transfers rather than relying on an auto-siphon. You can add a filter to the floating dip tube to keep hop debris from clogging your keg's disconnect during a transfer.

I have an auto-siphon, but I can't remember the last time I used it.
 
I changed from autosiphon to fermenter with low side drain petcock.

Near the end of transfer you can tilt the fermenter a bit if you want to get more of what remains and how close you want to get to sucking trub.

Or, brew a slightly bigger batch and accept a bit more fermenter loss but virtually no trub transfer if you don't tilt.
 
what whoaru said. i havent siphoned beer since 1996. lol

bottom spigot is far easier.

and yes kegging is better.... much better. (shields up!)
 
...it's the same. Just with kegging, you only have one vessel to clean, sanitize, and fill. Bottling, you're doing like 50+. I'm no smartamatitian, but I'd go kegging every time.

Kegging was no picnic for me the first time around. I lost an entire bottle (5#) of CO2 from a leak - similar to you, but I didn't catch it.

Full disclosure: I didn't read all the comments above, but I'm sure it's filled with all the things and stuff. Pretty good group for sharing knowledge.
 
Eventually get it in my fridge, now the kicker, my high pressure gauge has gone down from the 58 mark to 40. So I closed off the CO2 tank, and this morning the high pressure guage was at 0 (low pressure to the keg is still set at 20 psi). Which I'm pretty sure means I'm leaking from the regulator to the tank.
Did you put the CO2 cylinder in the fridge with the keg? Because of the way gas/liquid equilibrium works, if there is any liquid CO2 (normal condition) in the cylinder, the pressure in the cylinder changes with temperature, and the high pressure (cylinder pressure) gauge is nothing more than a thermometer. It does not tell you how much CO2 is in the tank.

Your pressure change from 58 bar (841 psi) to 40 bar (580 psi) is what would be expected when a CO2 cylinder at 79-80°F is cooled to 52°F. If your gauge is a bit off, then the corresponding temps would be a bit different as well.

Then since you shut off the cylinder valve, as CO2 is absorbed by the beer, the pressure in the system will drop precipitously down to low double or even single digit PSI, which will read ~0 on your high pressure gauge.

You may not have a leak at all.

Brew on :mug:
 
Looking back, my first half-year of kegging was a bit of a wild ride while I tried to optimize my process. I certainly felt a lot of frustration, just like you, during those first few months. That's normal and there's nothing wrong with it.

I'll bet you had a pretty good system in place for bottling and now you're back to square one with kegging. You're learning and learning is seldom smooth and easy. But you'll get through this and I'm pretty sure by New Years you'll be asking yourself, "Why did I wait so long to start kegging?" I sure did!

I don't have much to add, the excellent posts above have covered things quite nicely. I will suggest, however, that you might want to consider using a low foaming sanitizer such as Iodophor or 5 Star's Sani-Clean. When you start using pressure, Star San's bubbly nature can be a bit of a hindrance.

You've got this, sir! Just tough it out, you'll get there.
 
I just did my first transfer from fermenter to keg about a week and a half ago. It was definitely kind of odd for me in that it was a bunch of things I had never done before and things I had never worked with before, and there were hiccups like where I accidentally ended up spraying the gelatin out the beer line and having a leak in the hose (since I needed to connect two different sized hoses since my fermenter spigot and beer QD were drastically different sizes), but in the end, I was able to get the beer into the keg via a closed transfer without exposing it to oxygen.

Whether "bottling is harder" depends on what you mean by "harder." If you mean, in the process, no, bottling is easier. I didn't have any issues the first time I bottled and the only issues I've ever had with bottles was a bottle bomb once and a couple gushers here and there, but the process itself was self-explanatory and kind of idiot-proof. Kegging isn't "hard," but it's a bit more complicated than bottling and I hear stories of experienced brewers doing things I could never imagine happening with bottling (such as transferring beer into a keg without realizing that the StarSan solution is still in there, etc. etc.).

But if "harder" refers to effort, then bottling is definitely way harder. It would typically take me hours to bottle an entire 5-6 gallon batch. The closed transfer from my fermenter to my keg took, what, 10 minutes? CO2 purge it, hook it up to the CO2 tank, give it a few days for conditioning and carbonation, and it's ready.

Plus, with bottles, the priming sugar results in there being a bit of trub at the bottom of every single bottle, but with kegging, only the first 100ml or so was trub and after that, there is zero trub. Plus, it's the clearest beer I've ever brewed, which comes down to it being a single container that I've removed all the trub from. And in the first place, I only transferred maybe 2% of the trub that was in the fermenter to begin with since I cold crashed beforehand and didn't tilt the fermenter to get everything in there.
 
I keg. I bottled for years, but once I got kegs, haven't bottled much at all. But, there are aspects that take a lot of effort. I have two leaking kegs, and I only sometimes want to try and track down why, so mostly I don't use them. Except right now, where I'm just waiting for one of my good kegs to kick, and I'll transfer a brew from a bad keg to a good one. Someday I'll find out why it leaks. Maybe. Or not.
 
When I began kegging, I plodded thru similar issues. (Leaks, lost CO2). Did a careful check once I got a replenished CO2 tank and found the culprit. Here's what I checked.

1) hook tank to regulator and close output valve on manifold so the gas terminates after the regulator. Shut off tank. Wait and watch - is it holding pressure. Or does it leak to zero. The problem is at the regulator if it leaks.

2) check most common spots for leaks - posts, corny lids, clamps holding hoses. Get some water and dawn in a sprayer and look for bubbles.

3) when storing corny kegs, put some pressure in it. Wait... Did the pressure leak off? Bad corny if yes.

I had a leak in a corny that was slowly eating all the CO2. I have also had leaks at the clamps and the regulator. Fixed the clamps by tightening further and got a new regulator.

Once you get it all dialed in and not leaking... You are good to go and the problem rarely comes back. I haven't had any issues after I got thru the process to find and close all leaks
 
I just did my first transfer from fermenter to keg about a week and a half ago. It was definitely kind of odd for me in that it was a bunch of things I had never done before and things I had never worked with before, and there were hiccups like where I accidentally ended up spraying the gelatin out the beer line and having a leak in the hose (since I needed to connect two different sized hoses since my fermenter spigot and beer QD were drastically different sizes), but in the end, I was able to get the beer into the keg via a closed transfer without exposing it to oxygen.

Whether "bottling is harder" depends on what you mean by "harder." If you mean, in the process, no, bottling is easier. I didn't have any issues the first time I bottled and the only issues I've ever had with bottles was a bottle bomb once and a couple gushers here and there, but the process itself was self-explanatory and kind of idiot-proof. Kegging isn't "hard," but it's a bit more complicated than bottling and I hear stories of experienced brewers doing things I could never imagine happening with bottling (such as transferring beer into a keg without realizing that the StarSan solution is still in there, etc. etc.).

But if "harder" refers to effort, then bottling is definitely way harder. It would typically take me hours to bottle an entire 5-6 gallon batch. The closed transfer from my fermenter to my keg took, what, 10 minutes? CO2 purge it, hook it up to the CO2 tank, give it a few days for conditioning and carbonation, and it's ready.

Plus, with bottles, the priming sugar results in there being a bit of trub at the bottom of every single bottle, but with kegging, only the first 100ml or so was trub and after that, there is zero trub. Plus, it's the clearest beer I've ever brewed, which comes down to it being a single container that I've removed all the trub from. And in the first place, I only transferred maybe 2% of the trub that was in the fermenter to begin with since I cold crashed beforehand and didn't tilt the fermenter to get everything in there.
I use a floating dip tube so that first 100ml will be great too.
 
I use a floating dip tube so that first 100ml will be great too.
I think a floating dip tube is definitely the way to go if you do put all the beer in the keg. It also seems like a better option if you're doing stuff like dry hopping loose in the keg without using a hop tube or something like that. In a standard way, though, it seems more like whether your first 100ml will have trub in it or your last 100ml will have trub in it (assuming the amount of trub in the keg is the same).
 
I both bottle and keg. Some batches just favor bottling, others you’ll prefer the keg.

It is great pouring a full pint of crisp, clear, kegged beer. Unless the first or last pours, generally you get full pints of clean, delicious, trub-free beer!

Some styles are better to store or age out in bottles. Some you just don’t drink as often and don’t want to tie up a keg. Bottles are great for that, but you always have that last ounce of the pour that has debris. That’s a bummer, who wants to waste beer!
 
I both bottle and keg. Some batches just favor bottling, others you’ll prefer the keg.

It is great pouring a full pint of crisp, clear, kegged beer. Unless the first or last pours, generally you get full pints of clean, delicious, trub-free beer!

Some styles are better to store or age out in bottles. Some you just don’t drink as often and don’t want to tie up a keg. Bottles are great for that, but you always have that last ounce of the pour that has debris. That’s a bummer, who wants to waste beer!
That's a good point too. When I go out to drink, I generally only pick from what's on tap. The one exception is if they have bottles of beers that really benefit from aging that you wouldn't have on tap anyway such as lambic-style sours or certain kinds of high-ABV beers that are less likely to be on tap.

I used to brew "traditional" sours and high ABV beers and I was really satisfied with them, but they did take a decent amount of time. If I decided to make them again, I wouldn't keg them. I'd bottle them for sure. I definitely think kegs are way better for most beers, though. But when you have both options, there are certainly cases where you'd pick bottling over kegging.
 
Thank you for everyone's response. I spoke too soon, beer was carbed after a few days and cleared up pretty good. Didn't have to wait to long at all (compared to bottling). I bought some spigots to go on the bottom of my fermonsters so I can avoid using the auto siphon and plan to buy the piece that will keep the quick disconnect open so I can prime the line. Thanks for the help. (I use glass carboy sometimes and I will just accept getting a little oxygen in the beer when transferring from them)
IMG_0542.jpg
 
I use glass carboy sometimes and I will just accept getting a little oxygen in the beer when transferring from them

https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Closed_Transfer_Kegging

Have a look, it'll give you an idea how you can set up to have a closed system. Your own version may vary depending on how your lid / stoppers are set up but you'll get the idea. For me I drilled a small hole in my Fermonster and / or BMB lids and put in a small bulkhead with the 1/4" flare fitting similar to a keg post connector. Then just the correct fittings in each end of a small tube. Ta-Da, return line for the CO2 used to purge the keg and no O2 going into the top.
 
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OP mentioned glass carboy, which would be unsafe (IMO) to pressurize for a closed transfer.
There is at least one member here who's been doing it without issue for quite some time. You don't actually pressurize the glass carboy since it has a wide open racking cane feeding beer to a keg that is vented through a wide open gas post (not pictured in that post). You're just displacing beer with CO2. Not sure I would use a hose clamp on the carboy though - I'd rather set it up so that the bung would fail long before the glass if something happened to get clogged. Or just start a siphon with ~1 PSI and then connect gas out of the keg to gas into the carboy and let gravity do the rest. Make sure to pull the PRV on the keg before you start of course.

OTOH, I don't own any glass carboys so I don't really have to worry about it.;)
 
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There is at least one member here who's been doing it without issue for quite some time. You don't actually pressurize the glass carboy since it has a wide open racking cane feeding beer to a keg that is vented through a wide open gas post (not pictured in that post). You're just displacing beer with CO2. Not sure I would use a hose clamp on the carboy though - I'd rather set it up so that the bung would fail long before the gas if something happened to get clogged. Or just start a siphon with ~1 PSI and then connect gas out of the keg to gas into the carboy and let gravity do the rest. Make sure to pull the PRV on the keg before you start of course.

OTOH, I don't own any glass carboys so I don't really have to worry about it.;)
I did the same thing with glass carboys when I started kegging..I'd start with the racking cane raised just like @day_trippr s pic in this other thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/how-full-weight-do-you-fill-your-kegs.733747/#post-10400884 and lower it as it drained, keeping it just below the surface. I also have a screen-fliter 'sock' clamped over the end of the diptube and it never clogged..as to the hose clamp; the cap has an inner rim that only needs gentle pressure to keep it sealed under the carboy mouth rim..just go easy.
 
OP mentioned glass carboy, which would be unsafe (IMO) to pressurize for a closed transfer. Closed transfer from plastic (or SS) fermenter yes, from glass fermenter no.

Kind of as mentioned, no pressure needed. Beer goes from fermenter to keg, CO2 goes from keg to fermenter. 100% safe.

As a note, after I've purged my keg of liquid, and it's full of CO2, I bleed off that pressure before closing the loop. It's probably 1/2 a psi or something only but I bleed it off as it's not needed at all. Tends to happen on its own when the connections are made but perhaps worth mentioning if it was confusing.

You certainly have a point about pressurizing a glass carboy, I wont' argue that. I'm just saying that no pressure is needed in this scenario.
 

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