Purging

[Cttrible]

Hey friends,

This is my first time kegging and I will be using a ball lock 5 gal corny and a co2 tank.

I keep reading about purging but have no idea how to do it.

Anyone have a straightforward answer?

Thanks!

:rockin:

 

[Hello]

Fill your keg with beer, put the lid on and lock it. Hook it up to your CO2 tank (gas side and usually a red tube). Turn the gas on to something like 20 PSI, just for this…
Then let it fill. turn the gas off. Pull the pressure relief valve (if you have one and if you do not, I don't know what to do) which is a valve on the top of the lid. It could be a ring or a lever type thing.

Let out all that gas. repeat the process a few times. the last time, don't let the gas out. Put the keg in the cooler, let it cool then turn the gas back on to whatever PSI you need and leave it there until carbonated.

 

[Cttrible]

Simple and to the point. Thanks!!

 

[Callacave]

I would also add that before you even fill the keg with beer you should purge the oxygen from it. Same process as described by Hello. Just fill up the empty keg with co2, pull the vent valve a few times to allow oxygen to be removed.

 

[JonM]

Pro tip - put some starsan in the keg while you're purging it before filling. Then, while the keg is still under pressure, let the starsan out through a liquid tap, and hold your racking cane (with tubing attached) to the output of the liquid line, letting the starsan flow through it while you drain the keg. That way, you purge your keg, sanitize it, and sanitize your racking cane and tubing all in one step.

 

[Cttrible]

Love this forum, thanks for the help. Honey IPA here we come!!!

 

[DrunkleJon]

Fill your keg with beer, put the lid on and lock it. Hook it up to your CO2 tank (gas side and usually a red tube). Turn the gas on to something like 20 PSI, just for this…
Then let it fill. turn the gas off. Pull the pressure relief valve (if you have one and if you do not, I don't know what to do) which is a valve on the top of the lid. It could be a ring or a lever type thing.

Let out all that gas. repeat the process a few times. the last time, don't let the gas out. Put the keg in the cooler, let it cool then turn the gas back on to whatever PSI you need and leave it there until carbonated.

To add to what Hello said.

If you have a pin lock keg or pin lock modified to a ball lock without a pressure relief valve on the lid, you can purge the gas off with a spare gas in QD, or use a screw driver wrapped in a sanatized rag to press down the gas in poppit to flush the CO2.

When I purge my kegs prior to filling with beer, I push the gas in through the beer out side. That way it fills from the bottom, vents from the top and might possibly mix with the oxygen that is in the keg less. Additionally, when force carbonating I send the gas in the out side to speed it along a little. Just be sure that you do not back beer up into your gas lines.

 

[LovesIPA]

I just went through a months-long ordeal where kegged beers weren't tasting right. It turned out to be caused by not purging the keg adequately before filling it. IPAs were the most affected by this.

What I do now is fill the keg with sterilized water (I guess star-san would work too but I haven't tried it) and use CO2 to push all the water out. This fills the keg completely with CO2 and leaves very little beer-destroying oxygen behind. Once the keg is full of beer I vent it a few times again.

 

[JonM]

That's a really good idea.

 

[Doctor_M]

To purge oxygen out of a keg before filling attach your gas line (use a black beer quickconnect on your gas line)to the out post and turn on the co2. Pull your pressure relief valve every few seconds. By using the beer out post the co2 gets pushed down through the dip tube and pushes oxygen from the bottom up and eventually out.

 

[kombat]

I would also add that before you even fill the keg with beer you should purge the oxygen from it. Same process as described by Hello. Just fill up the empty keg with co2, pull the vent valve a few times to allow oxygen to be removed.

I used to do that, but have stopped as I think it's just a waste of expensive CO2. After all, the folks who bottle their beer don't "purge" their bottling bucket before adding their priming sugar solution and racking their beer into it, and they still somehow seem to make award-winning beer.

In the case of kegging, how much oxidation is really likely to occur during the 5 minutes it takes to rack the beer into the keg, seal it, and purge it?

I've stopped doing this step and haven't noticed any difference in my beer.

 

[kombat]

What I do now is fill the keg with sterilized water and use CO2 to push all the water out.

Good grief, where do you guys get your CO2? If I were to adopt such practices, I'd be filling my 5 lb tank every month, at a cost of $35! And where do you get 5 gallons of sterilized water? Do you actually boil and cool a huge 5 gallon pot of water, just to purge oxygen from your keg for the 5 minutes it takes you to fill it with beer?

 

[peterj]

I feel like purging your kegs before you fill them is a huge waste of time and CO2. You're putting 5 gallons of CO2 in there that's just going to be pushed out by all of the beer you're putting in. I guess it helps the beer to come into contact with less air when you're racking into the keg, but as long as you're using good racking technique there's no problem with the beer being exposed to a little bit of air for the 5 minutes or so it takes to rack to the keg. 5 minutes is not going to cause oxidation issues.

Once it's in the keg, you should definitely purge it a few times though. But then it takes so much less CO2 to fill the little bit of headspace above the 5 gallons of beer. Then if you purge it like 3 or 4 times at 30 psi you get rid of like 96%-99% of the air in that small amount of headspace.

 

[peterj]

Wow, kombat beat me to it with a remarkably similar post!

 

[Callacave]

I used to do that, but have stopped as I think it's just a waste of expensive CO2. After all, the folks who bottle their beer don't "purge" their bottling bucket before adding their priming sugar solution and racking their beer into it, and they still somehow seem to make award-winning beer.

In the case of kegging, how much oxidation is really likely to occur during the 5 minutes it takes to rack the beer into the keg, seal it, and purge it?

I've stopped doing this step and haven't noticed any difference in my beer.

I'm lucky to get my co2 fills for $12.

I thought bottle conditioning helps to scavenge some oxygen due to refermentation?

I feel every opportunity to minimize oxidation is good practice. Beers will be brighter and taste better for longer periods of time. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with not purging your kegs pre-racking.

Every little thing you do to maximize the potential for your beer adds up in the long run.

I make good beer, but not too far from me is Hill Farmstead, and they make awesome beer. Shaun is very meticulous about every aspect of his process, and it shows up in the final product, and that's what I'd like to strive for someday.

 

[LovesIPA]

Good grief, where do you guys get your CO2? If I were to adopt such practices, I'd be filling my 5 lb tank every month, at a cost of $35! And where do you get 5 gallons of sterilized water? Do you actually boil and cool a huge 5 gallon pot of water, just to purge oxygen from your keg for the 5 minutes it takes you to fill it with beer?

My CO2 runs about $12 or $13 a refill. $35? Have you tried going across the border?

The reverse osmosis water vending machines also sterilize the water so I use 5 gallons of that.

I need to do some more experimenting, but this batch that I just kegged has been the first one in a long time that wasn't oxidized to some degree.