NOOB kegging clarifications

[natewv]

Ok so i have read through many of the stickys and need some clarification. Feel free to comment on my procedure.

haha first off it took me 30 minutes to figure out how to change the pressure on my regulator. I felt like an idiot when i finally read a regulator description. Anyway. First kegging adventure last night...cleaned/sanitized etc...am I supposed to run both the cleaner and then the sanitizer through the liquid line to sanitize that as well? I did so I hope that is ok. I filled keg to 30 psi, let it sit for a few, hit the top with some iodophor solution to check for leaks.

so I filled it with beer, hit with a few 15 psi bumps that i bled off to evacuate o2. So now what to do...

I read about force carbing and "natural carbing". I ASSUME force carbing includes the fast shaking method that is fast but wastes co2, and also includes what I understand to be 'regular carbing' (there has to be a better name for this) where I simply determine the serving pressure i want based on a chart and the fridge temp, put it there, and wait a few weeks (somewhere around 12psi). Then there's natural carbing where I would you priming sugar or something.

So anyway I just did the regular carbing and the keg is sitting in my fridge connected to gas at 12psi.

questions:

1) This IPA needs to sit for a few weeks no matter what...did i make the right choice of methods?
2) What really is the difference between fast force carbing and 'regular' force carbing?
3) (off topic) what is cold crashing?
4) Once my keg is "pressurized" ( i assume this means when I don't hear gas moving through the regulator) do I need to keep my c02 tank at pressure and feeding the keg for the next 2 weeks while it ages, or should I remove pressure and just let the co2 in there do it's thing? If so how do I know I have enough? I just didn't read anywhere whether or not the tank should always remain connected to the keg even in the conditioning stage. In keeping it connected, am i wasting co2?
5) Is there ever a need to clean/sanitize the gas line connector and gas line itself?

 

[Yooper]

"Force Carbing" means using co2 to carb the beer. This doesn't mean shaking or anything like that! Shaking and blasting it with a high c02 level to more quickly carb is more properly called "burst carbing". Anytime you use co2 to carb the beer, whether high pressure or low pressure, fast or slow, it's force carbing.

"Natural carbing" is using fermentable sugars to produce carbing in the keg, just as with bottling. This can be DME, sugar, honey, krausen (see "krausening" for the German purity way to do it), etc. Most people who natural carb use corn sugar just as with bottling. Because of the lower relative headspace in a keg vs. 53 bottles, you use 1/2 of the priming sugar you would typically use in bottling the same batch. For me, that's 2.5 ounces of corn sugar.

Cold crashing is reducing the temperature of the beer fast- generally by sticking it in the fridge.

I take apart my kegs every batch- just take off the posts and pull out the diptubes and clean and sanitize and put them back and clean and sanitize the keg also. Some people will push cleaners and sanitizers through the keg with co2, but once you take off a diptube, hold it up to the light and look through it, you'll want to take it off all the time! I had some serious crud chunks stuck in there- ewwww! But yours are probably just fine, and I'm more of the "overkill" type!

Once I fill the kegs, I give it a blast of co2 to make sure the lid is seated and then spray with some star-san to check for leaks. I purge, and blast again, to make sure the 02 is purged. Then I place it in the kegerator at 12 psi. Wait 10 days, and then pour 1/2 glass. It'll be a yeasty sludgy goop, so dump that and pour a glass. It should be nearly perfectly carbed by then, and pretty clear as well. Once you set it up, you'll not want to move the keg in the kegerator because you'll restir up any sediment. You will notice that when the keg is empty, there is still quite a bit of yeast sediment in the bottom, but not around the diptube as that area came out with the first pour.

No critters can live in 100% co2, so no need to sanitize the gas lines!

 

[PantherCity]

1)Yes, bc you have the time
2) One is fast and one is slow. By shaking the keg you are agitation the liquid which makes it absorb CO2 faster. There are 2 reasons why people will tell you not to "Crank and Shake" A) possible over carbonation B) by shaking you theoretically use up some of the head forming proteins which can only be used once. (we call the slow method "set it and forget it")
3) Cold crashing is when you put the beer in the fridge and quickly bring the temp down to near freezing. This make the yeast and some other haze particles fall to the bottom.
4)Yes, always keep the keg pressurized. One you have reached equilibrium (the beer cannot absorb any more co2 based on temp and PSI) and you have achieved desired carbonation, you can remove the gas if you want. As long as you are pouring you need it hooked up.
5) They should be clean, yes, but no bugs can live in an all co2 environment. If for some reason beer gets backed up into your gas lines you should clean them.

Yooper keeps beating me to it!

 

[Homercidal]

What she said.

1. If you are not in a hurry, I highly recommend setting the pressure and leaving it alone. You *can* carb burst your keg, but if you go over, you have to mess with fixing it or have foam issues.

2. Carb Bursting is setting a high pressure, like 25 lbs and shaking the keg to ram that CO2 into solution. Some folks do this regularly, but unless I had to have a beer carbed in like 3 days or less, I prefer the set and forget method, which generally has your beer fully carbed in 10 days to 2 weeks.

3. Cold crashing is placing your fermenter in a fridge or similar to drop it's temperature before bottling. It is one method of helping to clarify a beer before bottling/kegging.

4. You need to keep the gas on until the beer is fully carbed at least. As the CO2 is absorbed, it will need to be replaced by more, and at the proper pressure. If you have no leaks in your system, you can keep your gas connected all the time for best results.

5. Only clean the gas line if you somehow get beer to back up into it (like when you forget to disconnect the gas line while shaking a keg to carb burst it. oops!)

 

[natewv]

Thanks you guys! So when/why does cold crashing happen?

4)Yes, always keep the keg pressurized. One you have reached equilibrium (the beer cannot absorb any more co2 based on temp and PSI) and you have achieved desired carbonation, you can remove the gas if you want. As long as you are pouring you need it hooked up.

So how do I know my keg has reached equilibrium and I can remove the gas line? Is there any real need to even remove the gas line? I'm not using any more co2 over the next 2 weeks once it's reached equilibrium with it connected and on or not connected, or is more co2 being used?

 

[Yooper]

Thanks you guys! So when/why does cold crashing happen?



So how do I know my keg has reached equilibrium and I can remove the gas line? Is there any real need to even remove the gas line? I'm not using any more co2 over the next 2 weeks once it's reached equilibrium with it connected and on or not connected, or is more co2 being used?

Cold crashing works to clear the beer, as a sudden drop in temperature causes yeast and other particles to fall out of the beer.

You never have to remove the gas- I don't. But I have room in my kegerator for 5 kegs so I just keep all 5 on the gas all the time. If you don't have a leak, and you're not pouring any beer, you won't use any gas on that keg.

 

[Homercidal]

I only have 1 gas line and 2 kegs. It's just because I'm lazy and haven't added the "T" to my gas line. Actually, the plan is to place the tank outside the kegerator and install a through-wall fitting and run a manifold inside with a line to each keg. Each line would have a shutoff and a check valve.

But I kind of want to have each line on it's own regulator, so I can have a keg of soda and a beer, or a regular beer and a low carbed beer.

Anyway, for now, I just swap the gas line whenever one of them is a little low.

Keeping the gas on all the time is the way to go once you get the system balanced and stop all of your leaks.