I've been home brewing and bottling for 14+ years and I just recently upgraded to a kegging system. I bought the package deal with a 5lb C02 tank, corny keg, hoses, tap, etc. I have my first batch in the keg now. I've been doing some reading and I'm pretty sure I'm doing everything correctly
- I transferred to the sanitized keg from my secondary
- Applied 30lbs of pressure and left it hooked up to the tank for 48 hours while in the refrigerator.
- After 48 hours I reduced the pressure on the keg to about 7psi and hooked up the tap. I was happy to see there was a nice head and fizz after only 2 days.
- I thought I would try to let the beer "age" a little since I'm saving the beer for a party 3 months from now. I read that the keg can be removed from the cold refrigerator and stored at room temp by applying 30PSI to the keg again, but then disconnecting from the tank. It's been sitting in my 60 degree basement for about 3 weeks.
- Before the party, I plan to chill the keg in the refrigerator, then release the 30PSI to serving pressure (5-7 PSI), then hook up the tap and enjoy. Please correct me if I am missing some steps.
However, my primary question here is this: Once I have it hooked up to the tank with a good serving pressure, do I just leave it hooked up to the tank until the beer is gone? There may be periods of time where I won't touch the tap for a week. Within that period of non-usage, should I disconnect from the tap and zap it with 30PSI and disconnect the tank again? My primary reasoning for this is KIDS! I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old that like to push buttons and pull levers. My refrigerator is in the garage and they have easy access to the tap handle if I wasn't looking. That could equal lots of wasted home brew. That would be very bad! Maybe it's as simple as turning off the line to the tap instead of disconnecting the entire keg. If I did do that, would the 5-7PSI in the keg be okay for a week's long of non-use?
- I transferred to the sanitized keg from my secondary
- Applied 30lbs of pressure and left it hooked up to the tank for 48 hours while in the refrigerator.
- After 48 hours I reduced the pressure on the keg to about 7psi and hooked up the tap. I was happy to see there was a nice head and fizz after only 2 days.
- I thought I would try to let the beer "age" a little since I'm saving the beer for a party 3 months from now. I read that the keg can be removed from the cold refrigerator and stored at room temp by applying 30PSI to the keg again, but then disconnecting from the tank. It's been sitting in my 60 degree basement for about 3 weeks.
- Before the party, I plan to chill the keg in the refrigerator, then release the 30PSI to serving pressure (5-7 PSI), then hook up the tap and enjoy. Please correct me if I am missing some steps.
However, my primary question here is this: Once I have it hooked up to the tank with a good serving pressure, do I just leave it hooked up to the tank until the beer is gone? There may be periods of time where I won't touch the tap for a week. Within that period of non-usage, should I disconnect from the tap and zap it with 30PSI and disconnect the tank again? My primary reasoning for this is KIDS! I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old that like to push buttons and pull levers. My refrigerator is in the garage and they have easy access to the tap handle if I wasn't looking. That could equal lots of wasted home brew. That would be very bad! Maybe it's as simple as turning off the line to the tap instead of disconnecting the entire keg. If I did do that, would the 5-7PSI in the keg be okay for a week's long of non-use?