Need some kegging help.

[abrewnoob]

So I've made a few batches of hard cider now and have normally transferred to secondary and then bottle conditioned or straight from primary to bottle priming. This time I wanted to try my hand at kegging a 5 gal batch. I've searched the forum on some tips but can't seem to find much.
My plan was to drop the yeast out with isinglass or finings and then sweeten with concentrate and then keg.
Should I clear the cider in primary once it's finished fermenting and then transfer to secondary? Or should I do the isinglass in the secondary and sweeten it there too?
Once that's done how do I go about kegging? Do I just siphon to a keg and fit my co2 on and that's it or is there more to the process??
Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks everyone

P.s it's a 5gal batch, Nottingham yeast, s.g of 1.070 it's sitting at 1.018 after 2 weeks in primary

 

[Maylar]

Nottingham will likely take that to 1.000 or below. My preference would be to rack to secondary somewhere around 1.006 - 8 and let it sit until it clears. Notty floculates well and makes a nice comact lees that's easy to rack off of. The only finings I use is pectic enzyme so I can't comment on the isenglass, but if you do use one it goes in secondary after fermentation is done.

I let mine clear in secondary then rack to the keg with k-meta (campden) and k-sorbate, give it a couple days and sweeten in the keg. Then purge and carbonate.

 

[MarkKF]

I let it sit in the secondary 3-6 mos. then keg. I make it dry or backsweetened with a non-fermentable so no sulfate or sorbate.

 

[mongoose33]

Here's what I do to keg:

1. Fill keg with Star-San. Use your CO2 to push the Star-San out using a Picnic Tap , which will purge the keg of virtually all the oxygen (or you can push it into a spare keg which will be the next one you use). I've made up a 2-foot tubing connector with two OUT quick disconnects to take the Star-San from the one keg and directly fills the other.

2. Make up a tubing line which will fit either your racking cane/siphon or if you have a spigot (I do), will fit that. Connect the other end of the tubing to a Liquid OUT quick disconnect--yes, the OUT side.

3. Crack open the lid of the keg or if you have a pressure release, unscrew that to allow for displaced CO2 to exit the keg. Connect the tubing in (2) above to the keg's OUT post, and to either your cane or your spigot. Open spigot or start siphon and fill the keg.

Note that since you're going into the OUT post, the beer will fill the keg from the bottom of the dip tube, which means you are not exposing it to oxygen. When the keg is fill, seat the lid (I Star-San the daylights out of mine) or reinsert the pressure relief valve (same comment about Star-San ).

Remove the filling tube, connect to CO2, and start carbonating it.

Here's a link to an exbeeriment from the Brulosophy site; there's a pic there which shows shows how Marshall Schott does this, which is where the fill to the OUT post idea comes from:

http://brulosophy.com/2016/04/25/the-gelatin-effect-pt-4-standard-vs-a-lot-exbeeriment-results/

 

[Jaybird]

I like to let mine finish in the primary. Rack to secondary, kill the yeast how ever you like. I use Campden and Sorbate-K myself. Let them sit in the secondary for a few days. I will add gelatin for fining, crash cool then transfer to keg and back sweeten there if needed. I like to carbonate mine to almost champagne like.

Cheers
Jay

 

[laredo7mm]

...Once that's done how do I go about kegging? Do I just siphon to a keg and fit my co2 on and that's it or is there more to the process??...

That about what I do. If it is a keg that is empty and has been sitting a while, I rinse it and then put about a half gallon of starsan mixture in it. Put the lid on, shake/roll it around to get starsan on all surfaces, and then hit it with a bit of CO2 and attach a picnic tap and push out some starsan. After that I open the keg and pour out and remaining sanitizer.

If I am refilling a keg that had cider in it and it just kicked, then I don't do the above sanitation of the keg. I just relieve the pressure and open it so I can rack the new cider into the keg. I am not a sanitation freak, well, at least not when I know I will be refrigerating the keg right away.

Then just hit your racking equipment with a quick starsan and siphon the new cider into the keg. Seal it and hit with CO2. Purge a few times over the next few hours to get rid of any O2 and let it chill and carbonate at 37° F and 12psi for a week.

 

[Albionwood]

I've used most of the methods described above and they all work. Cider is very susceptible to oxidation - much more so than beer - so purging the keg with CO2 before filling is a really great trick. Since I keg mine dry and don't backsweeten, I don't worry much about contamination, so like Laredo I sometimes just rack stright into a recently-emptied cider keg (which is already full of CO2). The one drawback to that method is sometimes I have a little sediment at the bottom, which gets stirred into the new cider. If that happens I just have to chill it for a while until it all settles back out, then draw off a glass until it goes clear.

 

[abrewnoob]

Thanks everyone for your feedback!! Yesterday I racked to secondary and dropped campden into it, I still havnt purchased a keg set up yet (searching for a good deal somewhere) and then I plan on following your suggestions. Sanitize, pump with co2 and then fill and pressurize the cider.
A couple things:
Will just campden kill the yeast?
Exactly what do I need for the keg set up? (Keg,liquid line, co2 tank, gas line and a tap?)
And what's the best way to sweeten a bit? I like mine dry but with dead yeast there's the chance to have a little bit of sweetness.
Thanks again everyone!!

 

[Maylar]

Thanks everyone for your feedback!! Yesterday I racked to secondary and dropped campden into it, I still havnt purchased a keg set up yet (searching for a good deal somewhere) and then I plan on following your suggestions. Sanitize, pump with co2 and then fill and pressurize the cider.
A couple things:
Will just campden kill the yeast?

No. Nothing actually kills yeast except pasteurizing. The campden will act as an antioxidant (a good thing) but you'll need potassium sorbate to stop the yeast from reproducing. After secondary is done and the cider is clear rack to your keg and add sorbate. Then you can sweeten safely.

Exactly what do I need for the keg set up? (Keg,liquid line, co2 tank, gas line and a tap?)

Yup. And a regulator and of course CO2.

And what's the best way to sweeten a bit? I like mine dry but with dead yeast there's the chance to have a little bit of sweetness.
Thanks again everyone!!

I sweeten in the keg before carbonating. Rack to the keg, add K-sorbate, wait a day then slowly add sugar (FAJC, honey, whatever) to taste. Purge the keg to remove oxygen then chill and carbonate. Works for me.

Kegging adds a whole new level of home brewing experience. Enjoy!