My first Kegging attempt. Set and Forget question

[BmoreBrewer]

Hi All,

I've been a long term lurker on these forums and finally getting into kegging. Once I siphon my beer from the fermentor to the keg at roughly 66 degrees. I'm then going to apply a quick burst of CO2 to provide a good seal on the keg. This is where I get confused.

Do I put the keg in the kegerator and let it get to serving temp before applying any C02 or do I just set the regulator to 10psi, burp a couple of times and let it carbonate for about a week? Kegerator temperature is set around 38 degrees.

Thanks all.

 

[Fordmi]

I don't wait for it to get down to serving temp. As soon as it's in the keg, I put it on co2, purge a bit to get any remaining air out, then put it in the kegerator at the desired psi. Let it sit for a week or so and then start serving.

 

[b-boy]

First, after you've applied CO2, purge the keg and re-apply CO2 3-4 times. This helps get all the O2 out of your headspace. It may help prevent oxidation.

There are a few options for carbonating.

The safest is what you described. Hook it up to serving pressure, walk away and come back in 2 weeks. It should be perfect. You can't overcarb, but it does take a little longer. Since this is your first time, I'd highly recommend doing it this way. After you've done a few you can come up with your own process.

There are other variations in which you force carb a cold keg at higher pressures (like 30PSI) for a day or so to speed things up. I've done this and I've overcarbed a few kegs. Other times it's worked. It's kinda hit and miss.

My favorite variation is to hook up a warm keg at 30 PSI for 24 hours and shake it a few times during this period. Then I put it in the kegerator at serving pressure. It is usually ready to drink in 4-5 days. It cuts the set-and-forget lag time in half, and it's hard to overcarbonate using this method.

Of course you can also use sugar and carbonate naturally. I've had mixed results doing this. I'm not a huge fan.

 

[SphnxRnch]

The colder the liquid, the more gas it absorbs, so don't wait to start chilling. You may also find that some of your recipes just don't taste quite right after a week, but "magically" come together at two weeks (or more) of cold carbonation. Of course, by then, you and your friends have sampled half the keg. I've used the various acceleration techniques, and will use them if needed in time for a party or something, but after a couple of years of this, I almost always just leave it at serving pressure for two weeks, and then start sampling.

 

[UglyDude]

I have only 1 keg under my belt. I used your method, except I had room in the keezer (since thisd was my first keg) and cold crashed my fermentation bucket in there for a few days. It took about 4 or 5 days and it was pretty good, but at a week it was awesome!