Transfering Carbonated beer into Corny

[bmcwood]

I have a friend who purchased a full keg of Hofbrau hefeweizen for a party and only finished half. He is now having to return the keg and is willing to give me as much as I can take... for free! I am going to take over a corny or 2 and fill them, but am I going to have any problems filling a corny with pre-carbonated beer? Is it going to be too foamy and Ill loose space due to all the head? Should I shake the beer in the corny to release the carbonation, purge it and apply my own pressure to the flat beer to save space? Thanks for any advice!

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

Don't shake anything!

Try to have the full and the empty kegs as cold as possible, use a minimal amount of pressure, and hope for the best.

Once you fill the corny, apply CO2 and purge a few times, like you normally do with homebrew.

I sure hope he used CO2 and not a manual air pump for this keg! Otherwise it'll probably be stale.

M_C

I have a friend who purchased a full keg of Hofbrau hefeweizen for a party and only finished half. He is now having to return the keg and is willing to give me as much as I can take... for free! I am going to take over a corny or 2 and fill them, but am I going to have any problems filling a corny with pre-carbonated beer? Is it going to be too foamy and Ill loose space due to all the head? Should I shake the beer in the corny to release the carbonation, then vent it and apply my own pressure to the flat beer to save space? Thanks for any advice!

 

[Warped04]

What you need is a pop check valve and hook it up to the gas in. What we used to do at the brewery is fill into the beverage out and then vent out the gas. So you hook up the co2 to the sankey, hook the sanke up to the corney and then vent the corney. The pop check valve allows you to control the pressure inside the corney so it doesn't burst. When the pop check vents foam, it's full enough.

But be careful you could really hurt yourself.

 

[kpr121]

Best solution is if you can connect a ball or pin lock disconnect to a sanke beer-out line. That way you can transfer under a small negative pressure to avoid foaming. You basically keep the corny sealed up, and relieve some pressure from the pressure relief valve every so often. This keeps the pressure balanced, and the CO2 will stay in solution.

If you don’t feel like cutting up a beer line for that, I would think that your idea of shaking to relieve some of the carbonation in the commercial keg would be a good bet. Let it warm up, shake the crap out of it, relieve pressure, and then let it sit for a while before you start to transfer. You will want to try to fill from the bottom of the corny, and purge the keg with CO2 before you start.

This is all hinged upon the assumption that your buddy was using CO2 to push the beer. If he was using a hand pump, you might as well go over there and drink as much as you can tonight. Tomorrow it will be liquid cardboard (if its not already).

 

[ChrisS68]

What you need is a pop check valve and hook it up to the gas in. What we used to do at the brewery is fill into the beverage out and then vent out the gas. So you hook up the co2 to the sankey, hook the sanke up to the corney and then vent the corney. The pop check valve allows you to control the pressure inside the corney so it doesn't burst. When the pop check vents foam, it's full enough.

But be careful you could really hurt yourself.

Burst?
The trick is to use as little pressure as possible to transfer the beer (a couple PSI). Worst case scenario is that the beer simply stops flowing as the pressures equalize. Regardless, corneys are good for far more pressure than what we're dealing with. Just keep it under 100 PSI and you'll be ok.

 

[Bobby_M]

It has been said already but repeating for emphasis: If the beer was served with a pump-style tap for any time whatsoever, forget it. It's not even worth the trouble. I'm going to bet that it was.

 

[Warped04]

It has been said already but repeating for emphasis: If the beer was served with a pump-style tap for any time whatsoever, forget it. It's not even worth the trouble. I'm going to bet that it was.

Sorry Bobby_M. I <3 you to death, but I disagree. I think the experience of transferring from sanke to corny is worth it, especially for when it really matters. If he gets 5 pints from it, I think it's a success.

 

[bmcwood]

Well I know that co2 was used, so I do have that going for me! The current sankey has a cobra tap and I was thinking I might be able to remove the cobra and replace it with a beer-in ball valve. If I pressurize the corny keg, and purge the oxygen, then attach the ball valve, I should be able to draw the beer from the sankey to the corny filling it from the bottom just by releasing some of the pressure through the purge valve. This could potentially solve the issue of massive amounts of head. Does this sound correct?

 

[kpr121]

Well I know that co2 was used, so I do have that going for me! The current sankey has a cobra tap and I was thinking I might be able to remove the cobra and replace it with a beer-in ball valve. If I pressurize the corny keg, and purge the oxygen, then attach the ball valve, I should be able to draw the beer from the sankey to the corny filling it from the bottom just by releasing some of the pressure through the purge valve. This could potentially solve the issue of massive amounts of head. Does this sound correct?

Absolutely correct and it is your best bet at getting that sweet nectar into your keg and into your mouth as soon as possible.