Kegging this weekend?

[Justintoxicated]

Well My first brew is almost ready, it will be 2 weeks old on Saterday and I racked it to the secondary the other night. It achieved it's inal gravity several days ago, and tasts like what I would imagine good flat beer would taste like. It's an english black ale.

Is it too soon to keg it this weekend? My Regulators and Cylinder will be here friday. Any tips?

I do have one problem, and that is that my fermentation chamber is also my kegtainer, and I have some apfelwein brewing that won't be ready to keg for I guess another 2 months? Should I run out and buy another chest freezer? This hobby is getting expensive!

 

[theveganbrewer]

Yes, buying more is always a good idea. Check craigslist first. You might find a great deal, doubt it though. I was just looking around there and there are so many people selling old freezers for more than you can buy them new.

If your beer is stable at FG, you can get it into the keg and let it age in there. If your apfelwein was nearly done, I'd suggest just leaving the black ale in the carboy until the other was ready, but since it's so long out, you might as well keg it.

 

[Justintoxicated]

Yea the one I picked up at costco was only about $30 more than the going price for a 10 year old chest freezer on CL, still I'm already $500 in and just finishing my first brew!?!

 

[theveganbrewer]

Sometimes you can get an amazing deal, it rarely ever coincides with when you actually need something. $500 in is not bad, much less than a lot of us here I'm sure. But you got probably one of the most important aspects of brewing under control now, temperature. That investment will make your beers taste a lot better and be more consistent. It's a worthy investment. You'll make it back over time saving on buying beer.

 

[DGibb]

Yea the one I picked up at costco was only about $30 more than the going price for a 10 year old chest freezer on CL, still I'm already $500 in and just finishing my first brew!?!

Hey, you're the one who jumped in whole hog! I started on a shoestring budget - bottling in recycled craft beer bottles (that I drank myself, of course), conditioning in my basement, and using my fridge for a few at a time. I am only now starting to keg and get ferm chambers, et cetera, and while it is getting costly, I am buying it all a little bit at a time. That's at least manageable.

Anyway, I'm jealous; I think you have a better set up than me!

 

[Justintoxicated]

Sometimes you can get an amazing deal, it rarely ever coincides with when you actually need something. $500 in is not bad, much less than a lot of us here I'm sure. But you got probably one of the most important aspects of brewing under control now, temperature. That investment will make your beers taste a lot better and be more consistent. It's a worthy investment. You'll make it back over time saving on buying beer.

yea I think it was closer to $600 and I just spent another $350 for another temp controller, some bottling gear for the apfelwein (decided I did not want to keg this one). Another beer kit, regulator, CO2 Tank, and now I need another freezer.

I think my total will be closer to $1000 when all is said and done, and I will to spend more on the part to turn the one freezer into a real keezer with faucets.

So about $900+ in now and I'm still on my first batch. Ouch! I guess I made some poor choices somewhere along the way, at least as far as my budget goes. The chest freezer / fermentation chamber and Kegging seemed to go hand in hand, but really they do not. That was my biggest lesson learned so far.

 

[dillypo]

I'm in the same boat as you. I get all excited about something and then figure in for a penny in for a pound and buy things up really fast.

Honestly though if either of us reallllllly wanted to save money we could have stuck with the $75 brew kit, used a swam cooler for fermentation temps, and stuck with bottling and come out at less than $150 for the whole setup.

Personally I just like gadgets. Wiring up a temperature controller to a chest freezer, building a kegerator (current project), and then eventually working towards an all electric setup complete with pumps and controllers is fun for me.

Different people enjoy different aspects of this hobby, as long as you're having fun stick with it!

 

[Justintoxicated]

Actually the swamp cooler thing really won't work for me, ice melts crazy fast in 90 degree heat and I would not be there for 10-13 hours of the day to monitor it. If I only had a cool basement, this whole thing would have been much easier.... Plus I don't have enough freezer space to make large blocks of ice, so I would have to purchase daily, or buy a chest freezer to make them anyways lol.