Kegging

[bwible]

Once you start kegging your not going to bottle your beer, you think you will but you won’t. I had a plan to keg half and bottle half, I bought more kegs…..20 now and half from Craigslist for super cheap to free.

I keg and bottle. I have a real kegerator with 2 taps. It can hold 3 kegs. Two on tap and one lagering or on deck.

After that if I brew more it has to go in bottles.

Right now I have a lager and a bb ris on the taps. I regret putting the bb ris on tap. It has been taking up one of my 2 taps for almost a year. It just doesn’t get drank. Though I’m making more of an effort.

I have some odds & ends in bottles, leftovers from various cases. Pale ale, IPA, and barleywines from the past couple years. I just brewed what was supposed to be a Scottish 70 but it looks very red. Still in primary. That will get bottled. Then i want to use that yeast for this year’s barleywine, which will also see bottles.

 

[franknbeans]

I keep telling myself I'll bottle more to clear out the keezer, but It doesn't happen unless someone asks to try my brews. I haven't made a batch yet that has needed to age, but I'll get to that eventually. I got my kegs and a ton of flip top bottles from a guy last year that was moving out of state for next to nothing. If you are dead set on buying a preassembled kit, then knock yourself out. It is cheaper to put these setups together yourself though, just saying.

 

[UdonPete]

Just bought my first new Corny and it arrived full of gas so should I dump the gas, open it up and clean with (say) Sodium Percarbonate then fill with StarSan?

 

[IslandLizard]

Just bought my first new Corny and it arrived full of gas so should I dump the gas, open it up and clean with (say) Sodium Percarbonate then fill with StarSan?

Congrats!
Is it brand new, or refurbished?

But, yes, release the pressure and clean it with a warm Sodium Percarbonate solution. BTW, Oxiclean (fragrant) "Free" or a generic is a Sodium Percarbonate/Sodium Carbonate mixture.
Also clean the the dip tubes (inside and out), PRV, o-rings, poppets, QD posts, lid, etc. with the same "Oxiclean."

It seems to hold pressure, so that's a good sign.

Use keg lube on all o-rings before reassembling.

 

[franknbeans]

Just bought my first new Corny and it arrived full of gas so should I dump the gas, open it up and clean with (say) Sodium Percarbonate then fill with StarSan?

definitely dump the gas and strip it down and clean it all up. Make sure to use keg lube on all the orings and seal it back up and pressurize to make sure it's sealed

 

[UdonPete]

Congrats!
Is it brand new, or refurbished?

But, yes, release the pressure and clean it with a warm Sodium Percarbonate solution. BTW, Oxiclean (fragrant) "Free" or a generic is a Sodium Percarbonate/Sodium Carbonate mixture.
Also clean the the dip tubes (inside and out), PRV, o-rings, poppets, QD posts, lid, etc. with the same "Oxiclean."

It seems to hold pressure, so that's a good sign.

Use keg lube on all o-rings before reassembling.

Yep brand spankers - have not told 'er indoors yet.
Many thanks for the full info, I shall clean as you suggested

 

[UdonPete]

definitely dump the gas and strip it down and clean it all up. Make sure to use keg lube on all the orings and seal it back up and pressurize to make sure it's sealed

Will do - thank you

 

[Newtobrewing85]

Like you're planning, I don't have a keezer and just sit my kegs in the fridge. I have a dedicated mini fridge for them, but I haven't run any gas lines in there, so they don't sit connected to my tank the way that kegs in a keezer do. I've been surprised how well it works! I had intended to run gas lines in, so I bought a manifold that would let me have two gas lines off one regulator. But honestly, I don't really need it. It's just more hosing to hang up now. I wish I had gone very simple and gotten the basic regulator with a single gas line. It's very easy to just top up the kegs when I pull a beer. You have to do it a bit more frequently when you're carbonating a fresh beer, because the excess Co2 goes into solution. But once it's carbed, it will stay at serving pressure for a few beers. So yeah, with that setup, just get a keg, a regulator, and one gas line with quick disconnect. Then you can go grab a co2 tank at a brew shop or airgas, and you're good!

I got my stuff from MoreBeer and AIH because they both have a variety of setups you can customize. And the tubing comes pre-clamped. Super simple. I've been very happy with the quality.

ETA: The folks above predicting you'll stop bottling are totally right. But I also agree bottling for parties is useful. I've found bottling from the keg to be infinitely easier than bottling the tradition way. Check out this thread for tips on that: We no need no stinking beer gun...

Also check this thread for how to cheaply make a fermenter that will let you easily keg beer without introducing oxygen: Turning your Fermonster into a complete closed transfer system for cheap!

That last one is cool, I have a catalyst though so I don’t use a secondary. Thanks for all the info! My fridge just broke the other day lol. I had to go and i had to go and get a new one for my garage which is the one I’d use for beer. Annoying. I might drill down homes and put the CO2 outside the fridge, we’ll see. I like that beer gun hack, that’s easy enough.

 

[Newtobrewing85]

I keep telling myself I'll bottle more to clear out the keezer, but It doesn't happen unless someone asks to try my brews. I haven't made a batch yet that has needed to age, but I'll get to that eventually. I got my kegs and a ton of flip top bottles from a guy last year that was moving out of state for next to nothing. If you are dead set on buying a preassembled kit, then knock yourself out. It is cheaper to put these setups together yourself though, just saying.

Is it? I’ll have to look around than. Outside some of the used kegs the newer kegs are like $80-$100 or more and the regulators are about $50-60. 5 gallon CO2 tanks are like $70-90. The kits don’t seem like a bad value for $230 with all the tubing included.

There’s come conditioned CO2 tanks I’ve seen for like $57 but the cost savings isn’t massive unfortunately.

 

[UdonPete]

Seems most have their CO2 botles outside the Keezer - is there any reason not to have the CO2 bottle inside the keezer next to the Keg ?

 

[franknbeans]

Seems most have their CO2 botles outside the Keezer - is there any reason not to have the CO2 bottle inside the keezer next to the Keg ?

It's just depending on space. I have mine inside to keep it all together and not have extra stuff outside.

 

[UdonPete]

It's just depending on space. I have mine inside to keep it all together and not have extra stuff outside.

Thank you for that