It's Kegging Time 2021.

[Stickers]

once a keg is filled and gassed up, do you keep the gas flow on or is the pressure retained in the keg and better to turn the gas bottle off?

[ozdevil]

1 hour ago, Stickers said:

once a keg is filled and gassed up, do you keep the gas flow on or is the pressure retained in the keg and better to turn the gas bottle off?

once keg is filled and carbed up    you can turn the gas off      

1u spring a leak  in the ines you wont lose your bottle  

but  you can leave the gas on fulltime   and you may need to as you may have a keg that is needing carbing as the one 
your pouring from as well

[Shamus O'Sean]

2 hours ago, Stickers said:

once a keg is filled and gassed up, do you keep the gas flow on or is the pressure retained in the keg and better to turn the gas bottle off?

As per @ozdevil, but you can't just leave it off.  The flow will eventually stop and you will have to turn the gas back on.  At my serving pressure (14psi), if then turned off, I can get a good three glasses out before the flow starts to reduce.  By then I usually turn the gas back on.  It only needs to be on for a few seconds to get the internal pressure back up high enough to push the beer out.

Some folks turn the gas on at the start of a session and then back off at the end of the night.  Like Ozdevil says, this will save your gas, especially if you spring a leak somewhere.

I am basically too lazy and leave mine on all the time.

Although, when fast carbing a keg (40psi for 24 hours), I turn off the gas to the other kegs via a gas manifold.  This is when I still get a night's worth of beers, without the gas going to the serving kegs.

[Stickers]

23 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

As per @ozdevil, but you can't just leave it off.  The flow will eventually stop and you will have to turn the gas back on.  At my serving pressure (14psi), if then turned off, I can get a good three glasses out before the flow starts to reduce.  By then I usually turn the gas back on.  It only needs to be on for a few seconds to get the internal pressure back up high enough to push the beer out.

Some folks turn the gas on at the start of a session and then back off at the end of the night.  Like Ozdevil says, this will save your gas, especially if you spring a leak somewhere.

I am basically too lazy and leave mine on all the time.

Although, when fast carbing a keg (40psi for 24 hours), I turn off the gas to the other kegs via a gas manifold.  This is when I still get a night's worth of beers, without the gas going to the serving kegs.

this is very helpful. at the moment i've got one i kegged today under 20psi with the manifold open and a half filled keg that came with the fridge at 8psi with the manifold off. i think i'm doing it right

[Shamus O'Sean]

1 hour ago, Stickers said:

this is very helpful. at the moment i've got one i kegged today under 20psi with the manifold open and a half filled keg that came with the fridge at 8psi with the manifold off. i think i'm doing it right

20 psi will take a couple of days.  That is fine.  Once it is done, drop to serving pressure and turn off gas or leave it on to your preference.

You could also leave it on 12 psi for a week and it would be ready too.  Depends on how quickly you would like to get stuck in.

[Pezzza]

On 5/9/2021 at 2:15 PM, ozdevil said:

once keg is filled and carbed up    you can turn the gas off   

Am now a big believer in gassing up the keg and then turning off... any tiny little leak anywhere will nail you if you leave the bottle on full time.

But obviously if your system is completely gas tight then it does not matter.

Just have had a few nasty surprises - leaks in BRAND NEW PRVs and also new disconnects and keg posts so am a believer in safety first... pump up the volume... then get outta there...

Come back and connect again when you are pouring... anyway @Stickers @ozdevil and @Shamus O'Sean Brewers you may have a better system than I started with even tho my kit was all bllllardy brand new...

I just reckon why expose yourself to risk if you are not needing the gas...  gas to carb up... gas to pour - and after that - why leave it on?

But I do have a very primitive system with just an 8 Keg Temp Controlled Keg Freezer and Pluto Guns lift the lid and pour... no festive fancy Kegerators or anything lads.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Graubart

[Stickers]

my little setup. we're going to learn a lot

[Pezzza]

@stquinto Hey the Saint... we are over here... plenty of good inf and discussion on this kegging thread mate... 

 

[stquinto]

@Graubart - thanks mate ! Will check this thread out instead 

[Shamus O'Sean]

2 hours ago, Graubart said:

just an 8 Keg Temp Controlled Keg Freezer and Pluto Guns lift the lid and pour.

Yep. That'll work.

[Shamus O'Sean]

2 hours ago, Graubart said:

Brewers you may have a better system than I started with even tho my kit was all bllllardy brand new...

Not necessarily so.  I lost a whole 6kg bottle worth of CO2 overnight.  So I understand that rage.

[Journeyman]

On 5/9/2021 at 12:35 PM, Stickers said:

once a keg is filled and gassed up, do you keep the gas flow on or is the pressure retained in the keg and better to turn the gas bottle off?

 

13 hours ago, Graubart said:

But obviously if your system is completely gas tight then it does not matter.

This is where manifolds come in. I have a 4-way (soon to become a 5-way) one inside the fridge and a 2-way one outside. I can turn off all my kegs without opening the door and any particular keg with a brief excursion inside the fridge.

I figure the gas system up to the manifolds is pretty much bulletproof once set up - nothing changes or moves until it's time to replace the gas bottle, so all the leaks that might occur are from the manifold onwards. 

So far, I have had only some minor beer leaks due to inadvertently putting side pressure on duotight connections...  

[Pezzza]

3 hours ago, Journeyman said:

This is where manifolds come in

Cheers JMan.

Yeah I think the manifold thing is probably important for some configurations and I did start with a 6 way and a 2 way.

Now I have one gas line for C02 and one for Nitro BeerGas.  They get hooked up when pressurizing kegs and for pouring. 

And everything is turned off otherwise. 

Much simpler than a 5 line manifold which has way more points for potential leakage.

For anyone starting off single line is probs a better way to go.

But there are many ways to do things.

 

Edited May 12, 2021 by Graubart

[Pezzza]

13 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Not necessarily so.  I lost a whole 6kg bottle worth of CO2 overnight.  So I understand that rage.

And think of your contribution to greenhouse gas build-up @Shamus O'Sean Shamus haha 

Yes mate I have blown one CO2 and a fair swag out of a Beergas Nitro Cylinder so have tried to simplify things.... 

I now hit the newly filled Keg to gas up and then take off - just keep topping up gas in headspace in that new keg over a few days.... and then when it is beer time I pop the gas back on to pour...

The only downside is that there are benefits I think with flow-control-taps which I don't have... just dirty old SS Pluto Guns and a Stouty fella...

Edited May 12, 2021 by Graubart

[Stickers]

once i drop my keg from carbonating pressure to serving pressure do i need to burp the keg a bit? planning on giving it 24 hours at serving pressure before i pour the first.

[MitchellScott]

39 minutes ago, Stickers said:

once i drop my keg from carbonating pressure to serving pressure do i need to burp the keg a bit? planning on giving it 24 hours at serving pressure before i pour the first.

Depends if you have a check valve in the gas line, or a manifold that has check valves built in.

I have a 3 way manifold with check valves in it, so if I quick carb at 40psi for 24 hours, after 24 hours is up, I will turn off all valves on the manifold, unwind the regulator all the way, release the pressure from the regulator using the PRV, then slowly add pressure till it hits 12PSI (serving pressure), then turn back on all of my valves on the manifold.
The check valve stops the 40psi of pressure blowing back into my regulator from the keg, or into my other keg gas lines.

If you don't have a manifold/check valve, you would be best to remove the disconnect from the keg, unwind the reg all the way, release the pressure from the reg using the PRV, then set the reg to your serving pressure. Then release all pressure from your keg, connect the disconnect and you will be good to go. If you do not release the pressure from the keg, then when you connect the disconnect, the pressure will block back through the lines, into the reg and increase the reg pressure on the gauge.

Mitch.

[Pezzza]

Should be burping earlier on @Stickers to rid any Oxygen out of the Keg Airspace/Headspace  i.e. the non beer filled gap top of the keg...   to begin with... when you fill the keg out of the FV...

unless of course you are doing Pressure Ferment and enclosed transfer...

Then later - once ready to pour - if say it is at 18PSI after having been gassed up and you want to pour at say 12 - yeah why not... just let a bit of gas out (burp the keg) and make sure your CO2 Regulator is maintaining at 12 and off you go...

But other Keg Lords like @Red devil 44 and @Shamus O'Sean and @MitchBastard might be better answering the question don't want to lead you up a dry gully

Or even better @MitchellScott (our posts crossed in flight) who has provided a nice detailed description ; )

Edited May 12, 2021 by Graubart

[Pale Man]

The longer you leave gas on a beer. The better it will taste. If you have leaks find them .

[Pale Man]

Don't be lazy.

[jamiek86]

On 5/9/2021 at 1:05 PM, Stickers said:

once a keg is filled and gassed up, do you keep the gas flow on or is the pressure retained in the keg and better to turn the gas bottle off?

the last keg I done I done 25 psi for about 28 hours then turned the line off at manifold. turned reg off and pulled pressure relief valve so only released line pressure between regulator and manifold. then turned manifold back on and wound it up to 12 psi for 2 days found it to be perfect. drank bottle beer for few days why done it so didn't have to worry about another keg being effected. If have time though and get stocks up I reckon 15psi for a week to 10 days then back to 12 to 13 psi to serve is best.

[Journeyman]

13 hours ago, MitchellScott said:

I have a 3 way manifold with check valves in it, so if I quick carb at 40psi for 24 hours, after 24 hours is up, I will turn off all valves on the manifold, unwind the regulator all the way, release the pressure from the regulator using the PRV, then slowly add pressure till it hits 12PSI (serving pressure), then turn back on all of my valves on the manifold.
The check valve stops the 40psi of pressure blowing back into my regulator from the keg, or into my other keg gas lines.

This^^ 

I don't have a PRV on the Harris reg but I do have a 2nd manifold outside the fridge, so, turn off the line that goes inside the fridge, wind out the reg to off, then open the outside line and bleed pressure from reg to 1st manifold so the gauge returns to 0, close that line, open the line into fridge and back up to serving pressure.

I am trying to train myself to leave the gas off unless in use - will see how that goes, but I haven't lost any gas so my lines are good. 

[Pezzza]

On 5/13/2021 at 3:07 AM, Pale Man said:

The longer you leave gas on a beer. The better it will taste. 

Hey there @Pale Man Paleo - I do my sequential gas additions when gassing up until they are ready to drink....  and then I leave the Gas Cylinders turned off most of the time unless pouring or wanting to change the keg pressure for some reason - and I don't seem to have any probs with beer taste and carbonation nor had any complaints from punters who slurp the Brews...   The gas in the headspace (connected to the Reg and the Cylinder at some stages -- gassing up -- and pouring) will be at a pressure that is in equilibrium with the gas in solution in the beer.... and unless you take beer out or alter the beer temp I suspect pretty much irrelevant if the gas is on or off....  or have I missed something 

[Shamus O'Sean]

Kegged my Coopers Hazy IPA on Friday.  Bottled a couple too.

[Classic Brewing Co]

1 minute ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Kegged my Coopers Hazy IPA on Friday.  Bottled a couple too.

And a sneaky one on the side Shamus, Shame on you, jeez, that's close 

[Classic Brewing Co]

Is that what they call a Cornelius keg ? as I am looking at a few on Gumtree. 19litres I presume, I think I should start & buy some if they are any good.