Need help. Kegging for the first time

[gr84x4]

I am about to keg for the first time and I need some advice on how to carb it. I am kegging a Belgian Wit. What temp should set my fridge to? What pressure should I set my regulator to force carb? What pressure to serve? How long will it take to carb?

I have a carb chart, but do not know how many volumes to target or the correct temp.

Sorry for all of the questions. Just don't want to mess up 5 gallons of goodness!

Thanks in advance.

 

[Golddiggie]

Force Carbonation Chart

Solid method for force carbonating.

Figure out the CO2 volume level that's your target, and use the above items to get it done. The PSI level is effected by the brew temp in keg. I use stick-on thermometer strips on my kegs, so that I can see what the brew inside them is at (at a glance). Since my brew fridge has two levels, they're usually a couple of degrees different. With a dual body regulator, I can feed two different PSI sets to each manifold, which then feeds the kegs. This lets me better hit my desired carbonation level for the brews on tap.

 

[Slipgate]

When I need to put on a new keg, I take the filled keg at room temp out of the closet, put it in the kegerator (kegerator temp around 36 degrees), hook up the gas and set it to 30PSI where I leave it for 36 hours. After 36 hours, I reduce it to 10-12 PSI where it remains. In 2-3 days it is carb'd and ready to drink.

 

[gr84x4]

Once I transfer my beer from the carboy (room temp) to the keg, can I stick it in the fridge right away, or does it need to "rest" in the keg?

 

[Golddiggie]

Once the keg is filled with beer, purged and sealed, put it into the fridge overnight then connect it to the gas line. You can, if you wish, connect it to the gas as you're putting it into the fridge too. I prefer to start the clock when the beer in the keg is down to the desired temperature. That's where having thermometer strips on the kegs comes in handy.

I'm also doing the 24-48 hours at 30psi then purge pressure and set on serving pressure. If you have more than one keg in the fridge, on gas, at a time, then you might want to just go for the ~2 weeks at serving pressure, and at serving temperature model.

Since I have more than one regulator (the one feeding the brew fridge is a dual body, but I also have my original single body as well as one for paintball CO2 bottles) I have options. I can use the one on a paintball CO2 bottle to hit the new keg with 30psi for ~36 hours before purging and putting it onto a line from the manifold (at serving pressure).

 

[gr84x4]

Golddiggie, thanks for the tips. I am going to pick up some extra thermometer strips. At this time I only have one keg and a single regulator. I did not know if I would like kegging, so I did not go crazy.

This appears to be easy, so I am going to have to pick up another keg and manifold so I can have two kegs at different pressure. Where is the best place to order kegging stuff?

 

[bcfzx2]

Kegconnection.com IMO.