Freestyler Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Hi all, Well I've decided I need kegging in my life so I went and bought some of the equipment (the rest is arriving early next week). I do have the cornelius keg, connectors, hose and cooling plate. The gas, draught tower and tap is arriving soon. I have a batch that is ready to be bottled today, can I go right ahead and fill up the keg. Its only a 9L one, which means I can keg a case and bottle a case. I will obviously clean and sterilise it but I wont be able to flush out the connectors and all that just yet. Can I clean and sterilise the keg, bulk prime it and leave to sit for two weeks? In that time the rest of the equipment wil be set up and I should be ready to go once the brew has conditioned naturally. I'll throw the connectors, hoses and all that in a steriliser before hooking it up to use in a few weeks. Thanks guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Sure you can keg it. However, I do suggest to either wait until you get your gas so you can purge the air or you can bulk prime it and leave it sit for 2-3 weeks. If you choose to bulk prime then use THIS CALCULATOR and prime with half of what it says, so for 9L this should be about 30g Dextrose or sugar. Just remember this calculator is for bulk priming bottles. Therefore, use half for kegs. What is the cooling plate for?... they are only best for miracle/jockey boxes. I suggest getting a temp controller and a fridge or freezer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freestyler Posted November 21, 2011 Author Share Posted November 21, 2011 Thanks Bill, I was going to naturally carbonate by bulk priming. Will it be a problem having oxygen in the top of the keg? I have watched a few videos on youtube about kegging and most people do quickly add CO2 and mention that they are getting rid of the oxygen. Also in terms of the priming sugar rate, I checked online and it was roughly 5 grams of sugar per litre for priming but I didnt write it down, I'll go check some sites again. Its just the batch is ready to bottle/keg and I have things ready so I thought I could bottle and keg today and leave the keg to sit for two weeks as I do with the bottles and then connect all up when its ready to drink. The cooling plate is to connect between the keg and the tap to chill the beer. I dont have a spare fridge and apparently this chills the beer for high volume pouring... my favourite type. You just stick in in some ice, wait a few minutes and off you go... Apparently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 It is a good practice to purge the O2 with gas, but unfortunately this is something you haven't got yet. You will be ok with O2 in the head space if you are bulk priming. The yeast will love it and turn it to Co2 for you, just like a big bottle. Just use that link for the priming calculator and halve the result and it will be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 The cooling plate is to connect between the keg and the tap to chill the beer. I dont have a spare fridge and apparently this chills the beer for high volume pouring... my favourite type. You just stick in in some ice' date=' wait a few minutes and off you go... Apparently[/quote'] If it's not portable, it would have been cheaper getting a fridge or freezer as you will want to do this eventually now you have everything else. Chiller plates are good for portable jockey/miracle boxes. But to be running it full time at home it would be a PITA feeding ice to it all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freestyler Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 Thanks Bill, I havent kegged yet, still waiting for CO2 to arrive and thought a few more days in the FV cant hurt. Will it still be ok to fill the 9L keg up to 8L and add priming sugar to the keg for natural carbonation and leave for two weeks before even connecting the gas at all? Should the oxygen help the secondary fermentation and will it not go bad with the O2 in the tank? Also I may have been sold a dud, I've been watching quite a few youtube movies on kegging and all of the corny keg lids have the gas release valve... well all but mine. I see its needed to purge the O2 out and replace with CO2 and also at a few other stages of kegging. Is the keg useless without it, or do they only come on the 18L kegs? I wasnt aware that the lids needed the valve so didnt bother to ask when buying the keg online. The guy knew what I was using it for, we were pretty clear and he didnt mention anything about a valve or lack of one. I think I may also have made a mistake with the chilling plate. I dont have an extra fridge at the moment and no power supply where I will be drinking the beer outside so it seemed to be a workable solution but now I realise I have lost all the extra functionality that the fridge offers. d'oh! I suppose it is portable as you can move it around with a cooler but at 10kgs for the plate alone you're not exactly going to take it wherever you go. Thanks again, the ESB is about ready to go, 12 days now. Might just bottle though and keg a Canadian Blonde for summer. Sorry one more, I noticed that 98% of kegging videos online all force carbonate, aside from the time aspect is this better? I was planning on naturally carbing my kegs as they go. Seems this is not very popular Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 Thanks Bill, I havent kegged yet, still waiting for CO2 to arrive and thought a few more days in the FV cant hurt. Will it still be ok to fill the 9L keg up to 8L and add priming sugar to the keg for natural carbonation and leave for two weeks before even connecting the gas at all? Should the oxygen help the secondary fermentation and will it not go bad with the O2 in the tank? Fill the keg. Why would you only want to go to 8L if it is a 9L keg and you have 9L? Add the priming sugar and store for 2+ weeks then just burp the keg and gas to pour pressure when you want it. The yeast will use the O2 in the keg so no need to worry about that. Also I may have been sold a dud, I've been watching quite a few youtube movies on kegging and all of the corny keg lids have the gas release valve... well all but mine. I see its needed to purge the O2 out and replace with CO2 and also at a few other stages of kegging. Is the keg useless without it, or do they only come on the 18L kegs? I wasnt aware that the lids needed the valve so didnt bother to ask when buying the keg online. The guy knew what I was using it for, we were pretty clear and he didnt mention anything about a valve or lack of one. Maybe you have pinlock kegs?? Pinlock kegs don't usually come with a manual PRV. You can still burp the keg by depressing the gas Poppet Valve with a screwdriver or something the like. It they are Pinlocks make sure your disconnects are the same. I think I may also have made a mistake with the chilling plate. I dont have an extra fridge at the moment and no power supply where I will be drinking the beer outside so it seemed to be a workable solution but now I realise I have lost all the extra functionality that the fridge offers. d'oh! I suppose it is portable as you can move it around with a cooler but at 10kgs for the plate alone you're not exactly going to take it wherever you go. Chill plates are great for portables... they beat lugging a fridge around. Thanks again, the ESB is about ready to go, 12 days now. Might just bottle though and keg a Canadian Blonde for summer. Sorry one more, I noticed that 98% of kegging videos online all force carbonate, aside from the time aspect is this better? I was planning on naturally carbing my kegs as they go. Seems this is not very popular Naturally carbing your kegs is fine. These are just different options you have to carb. None of them are the wrong way to do it. It depends what you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freestyler Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 Thanks Bill, you're a legend!! [happy] It is a pin lock keg so I suppose I will have to purge using the in valve. I just need to make sure the beer if fill to just under the gas in tube that sticks through the bottom or get beer spraying me in the face? The problem with the pin lcks is that the locks stick out over the side and you cant fit a socket wrench over it to disconnect the valves. Oh well not the end of the world. Thanks again for all the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 If you want ball lock kegs rather than pinlock, I'd suggest changing now instead of later or it will likely cost more the longer you leave it. Having said that a lot of people prefer pinlocks.... 6 to one half dozen the other really. Also just fill your keg to a cm or so below the gas in post. [cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freestyler Posted November 23, 2011 Author Share Posted November 23, 2011 Thanks Bill, I dont think it'll be easy changing to ball locks. Coke has kept Pepsi out of SA for a good few decades so it'll be difficult to get the ball locks. Only seen the pin lock ones here in SA. What I would like to get is a lid with a release valve? I imagine they work with both types kegs, same lid size, shape etc? That way you dont need to connect and disconnect everytime you purge the keg. Otherwise its much of a muchness between the two I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB2 Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 I hope the kegs have a burst point built in - a pressure vessel can be a dangerous thing, without any means of pressure relief... Craftbrewer carry PRVs, other brew shops may do as well. It may be worth your while to buy several as the weight for freight purposes would not be prohibitive - details here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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