It's Kegging Time!

[James Lao]

Thanks for the replies.

I feel like a first year apprentice again with this kegging lark!

 

Cheers

 

James

[Otto Von Blotto]

It's pretty much impossible to purge all the oxygen out of the headspace anyway. The only real way to minimise or exclude oxygen altogether would be to fill the keg with water and then push all the water out with CO2, take the keg to the FV and release the pressure, then connect the beer transfer hose to a disconnect on the beer out line and fill it with the lid closed.

 

In reality though it probably doesn't really need that level of work. I've filled plenty of kegs and just done the purge headspace thing and never had any problems. Most of the time they sit around at room temp for a while so maybe the yeast mops up any oxygen, or maybe there isn't enough in there to cause any problems in the first place.

[Titan8]

Just kegged up the stout i did a couple weeks ago. I think SG was 1.061 based on post on brew day thread. FG 1.014 abv 6.17% and it taste feking fab. Just kegged porter also but not taken fg reading yet. Used keg to keg method from fermentasorus to keg, worked a treat.

[Titan8]

Just sitting with the stout sample. Its green its flat its marvelous.

[RobW17]

Well I'm officially in!

 

In between Mothers Day duties yesterday I set up my Kegerator, cleaned and sanitised the two kegs I bought Saturday morning and kegged the Kolsch that I had waiting.

 

Now let's see how long I can hold off pouring my first draught

[joolbag]

RobW you managed to something for yourself on Mother's Day?! Braver man than me!

 

Good stuff on the kegs, you sounds like a schoolboy in a lollyshop

[Otto Von Blotto]

Hopefully long enough for it to be carbonated Good stuff though mate, I'm sure you'll thoroughly enjoy having your own beers on tap at home.

 

I have a short break between my halves at work today so the planned kegging of whatever batch is in the FV is postponed until tomorrow when I have a longer break. I hate feeling rushed when doing things like that because something inevitably gets mucked up.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Kegged my mystery ale earlier, but I'm thinking it is the beer I brewed with the home made malt. It tastes too bitter for the red ale and that signature Caraaroma flavor isn't there, despite its color being close to that of the red ale. In fact, it's a bit over-bittered anyway, since the OG was lower than "planned" for when I brewed it. I can't imagine 1272 yeast making THAT much difference to that red ale beer.

 

I'm sure it will mellow a bit in the time it sits in the keg while I empty these last two from the previous block of three before it goes on tap.

 

Tomorrow, the next batch of Bohemian pilsner goes into the FV to begin fermenting and kegging the next block of 3, which will feature that beer, an oaked version of the red ale, and an SNPA clone. Good times ahead

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[Scottie]

Dropped my Buccaneer's Pale Ale into keg #3 after it has sat empty for 13 months. Great seal still holding pressure, however my normal top up with hot tap water and shake vigorously didn't get it clean. Had to pull out my keg toilet brush for the first time since I bought my kegs.

Beer tasted good and for the first time in well over a year I have only 1 empty keg.

 

Cheers & Beers

Scottie

Valley Brew

[Beerlust]

It is kegging time but when I was cleaning the keg & beer lines using the C02 tank, it ran out of gas!

 

I'll have to wait until Tuesday when I have suitable time to refill the tank & then fill & carbonate the keg. The brew will stay in the FV further cold conditioning until then.

 

A PITA as I actually would have liked to sample the brew today.

 

Them's the breaks, cheers & good brewing,

 

Lusty.

[RobW17]

Kegged the cider I brewed for SWMBO yesterday. Just slow carbing as the Kolsch on the other tap is already carbonated.

 

As it happens, I had quite a few visitors over the weekend who were all very interested in the Kegerator which led to me having to pour quite a few samples

 

Very happy to say the Kolsch went down a treat - I can't believe it's only a week old. I had to cut one of my mates off as he kept wanting a refill and I'd like to have some left to see what it's like after a few more weeks!

 

I can't imagine any of my bottled brews would have been that good so early.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Yeah, they definitely improve quicker in kegs that's for sure. Plus if you carbonate it with a CO2 cylinder you don't get any potential small off flavours from a second fermentation, so that probably helps too.

[RobW17]

Plus if you carbonate it with a CO2 cylinder you don't get any potential small off flavours from a second fermentation' date=' so that probably helps too.[/quote']

 

I was wondering if that was likely the case. There were plenty of times I'd taste a brew at bottling and it would be far nicer than it was after 2 weeks or so in the bottle.

 

The CO2 has been handy for the cider as well - I cold crashed and kegged once I was happy with the amount of residual sweetness. If I'd been bottling I would have to have let it ferment out 3 or 4 points more to avoid bottle bombs.

[Otto Von Blotto]

It's possible that's the reason yeah. I noticed my beers seemed to taste cleaner being kegged and gassed rather than primed and naturally carbed.

 

Kegging is handy for things like that (cider) too, as well as lagering lagers properly without having to tie up the brew fridge. I just need a third fridge for keg storage while they await a tap. It never ends!

 

I also have a dedicated soda water keg that occupies a tap when there's a spare available. It's great for mixing up cordials to have them fizzy if desired. I have a schedule where I put three full kegs in at the same time and ferment/keg the next three during the time those are being drunk. When one runs out, the 10L "Heinz 57" keg of leftovers from batches goes in, and when it or the other front keg runs out, the soda water goes in and stays there until the last of the beer kegs runs dry, at which point the fridge is wiped out and aired out overnight, then the next three beer kegs put in, fridge turned back on and the whole cycle starts all over again.

 

I find it easier to not run out of beer doing it that way instead of simply replacing each keg as it empties, plus they all get an adequate conditioning time before being tapped, and I don't have to faff about moving kegs to replace the one at the back if it empties. I always put the beer I'll drink the slowest at the back when I put the three in, so it always empties last which also avoids that issue.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[Scottie]

......

I just need a third fridge for keg storage while they await a tap. It never ends!

........Cheers

Kelsey

 

Hey Kelsey

 

I hear ya. I've got three fridges in the garage' date=' 1 for fermenting, 1 for keg conditioning, and 1 for commercial beers, any bottles I fill, hops, and yeast. I could do with another fermenting fridge especially as I am considering another lager. Last month I had two brews on the go because I had no kegs to condition, so I used the keg conditioning fridge to ferment. Not an option now that I filled all but one of my Cornies.

 

Cheers & Beers

Scottie

[i']Valley Brew[/i]

[Otto Von Blotto]

Today is changeover day in the back deck "bar". I've got two empty kegs that need cleaning along with their respective lines and taps, and then I'll probably put the next three in straight away depending on how dirty the fridge is inside. Also top up the water reservoir for the flooded font.

 

The three kegs going in today (or tomorrow) are a Boh Pils, Ace of Spades Porter, and the pale ale brewed with home made malt and some home grown Cascade flowers. The Boh Pils was the final batch fermented with 2001 Urquell yeast before it was retired to try out 2000 Budvar yeast before it became unavailable. This batch also is the first to feature a flameout addition of Saaz (50g), which appeared at FG testing time to have worked well. The Ace of Spades brew is the original version of that recipe with the only change being fermented with 1469 instead of S-04. It has been sitting in the keg since February 20, and tasted pretty decent at FG time as well. I expect it will only have improved since. The pale ale tasted over bittered at FG time, but, I didn't hit the target OG on it so that's probably the reason. I think the grain bag muffled the boil off a bit because the SG only rose 2 points over a 75 minute boil instead of the usual 8-9 points I get. It's been in the keg for a couple of weeks so hopefully the bitterness has mellowed a bit; it is not undrinkable by any means though.

 

The pils and the pale ale will sit on 45PSI gas for about 22-24 hours, and then the gas lines will be removed and the kegs left to sit until I get home from work in the evening. They will then be re-connected to gas at serving pressure and I'll sample a glass. The porter will have its gas and beer lines connected (because it's a PITA trying to connect lines to that keg with two others in the way) but gas turned off until tomorrow evening, it will just carbonate slowly on serving pressure - another method I use to extend the time it takes to empty that rear keg. The other two have their beer lines off and they will be connected to the kegs when the gas is re-connected at serving pressure. I had an interesting mishap last year where a keg of lemon lime and bitters ended up all over the fridge because the high pressure blew the beer line off the SS tubing that leads to the tap, so I don't connect beer lines while high pressure gas is being used anymore.

 

I'm certainly looking forward to tasting these beers once suitably carbonated. In some way, they're all experimental to a degree, with the flameout Saaz in the pils, the home malted barley brew, and the porter being in a keg for the first time ever. Good times ahead!

 

The current pils is 2 weeks away from being kegged, and then I have two ales going in after it so I'd expect about 7-8 weeks before three full kegs are ready again. I think the current three plus the mini keg should last long enough to have them ready before the porter runs out.

 

Better get going on this keg cleaning!

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

 

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Can't have a day of putting kegs into the fridge without something effing up... I couldn't get the gas disconnect onto the porter keg due to pressure inside it, so the logical solution was to bleed the pressure and try again. Unfortunately this resulted in beer spewing out the PRV as I guess it got agitated from carrying it up the stairs and then trying to push it into place in the kegerator. I took it out and cleaned it up and it was all ok but still a PITA.

 

On the plus side I did get a sneak peek of the smell of the brew and it's bloody delicious, lovely notes of chocolate and coffee in there. Can't wait to try one in a week or so once it carbs up!

[James Lao]

Ay Legends,

 

Just had 3 weeks away from home and started to think last night about the beer lines clogging up.

What a disaster that would be tomorrow when I get home.

Been looking forward to those brews all this swing.

 

So my question is does anyone out there leave their kegs connected but unused for any period of time / weeks like I just have?

What is the best way to clean gummed up beer lines?

 

I cleaned my kegs with Napisan, flushed with water and Napisan before putting the new keg on about 4 days before I left for work..

Thinking I might need to get a 3rd keg specifically for cleaning purposes, as I am imagining cleaning the lines will be a PITA now with 2 x almost full kegs hooked up.

 

Cheers

 

James

[Otto Von Blotto]

When a keg of beer is hooked up to its beer line/tap and is under pressure with carbonation etc., the beer completely fills the line all the way to the tap, and as such the lines don't dry up or gum up or anything.

 

It's only when you leave it sit there for a while after emptying a keg that there could be issues... I solve this by rinsing out the bit of sediment from the empty keg then putting some hot water in it with sodium perc, rolling it around a bit to clean the keg out then hooking the keg up to its old tap and running it through to clean the line and tap. Then rinse the keg again with hot water, fill with a few litres of hot water, and run this through to rinse the line and tap. Cleans the keg, as well as the insides of its beer out post and the disconnect itself, and the line/tap without having to have a dedicated cleaning keg for it.

[James Lao]

Pheww, thanks for that!!

 

The beer was fully carbonated, cold, about 4-5 days from tapping them when I left, so there shouldn't be any issues.

 

3 weeks without a beer is a long time!!

 

Especially when I am reading about it every night!!

 

 

Cheers

 

James

 

 

[Morrie]

I just kegged 2 brews on the weekend. I'm trying Kelsey's fast carb method. I've disconnected the keg that I had on tap from gas and have applied a pressure of 45 psi to the 2 new kegs for 24 hours now. I will disconnect them tonight and let sit till the morning before putting all kegs on 11psi. I'll see how this method goes and if it works out OK I will adopt as standard procedure. The keg that is off gas is still able to be consumed from with sufficient remaining pressure to get a few schooners out quite well. I'm not sure how many I could get out but certainly enough for me in a 24 hr period.

[Morrie]

The carbonation procedure that I've used in the post above has worked very successfully for me. Both kegs have probably more that adequate carbonation and I will probably trial 40 psi next time. I'll be doing this from now on as opposed to the super fast method of rocking the kegs under pressure.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Glad it's worked for you mate. It can be a bit of trial and error I suppose getting the pressure right. 45 works for me because the kegs go in warm and are hooked up to gas straight away, plus I probably prefer most of my brews on the higher end so they don't go flat as quickly (porters and stouts excluded). This current lot of 3 I left on 45 for the full 24 hours and when I poured one from a couple of the kegs after the settling period the carbonation was very slightly under the normal level (not enough to reduce enjoyment of the beer though). Another day on serving pressure saw it topped up to normal level.

 

The porter is probably a bit overcarbonated so I've turned its gas off and will just pour without gas until it drops a bit. I have a glass now which was poured about 40 minutes ago and the carbonation level is good now, but it was too fizzy straight from the tap.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[Morrie]

Kelsey - I thought both my kegs were if anything just a little over carbonated. It may be as you implied that you do yours at room temperature and I'm doing mine at about 2ºC. I'll see how 40 psi turns out next time. By and large a very good result that I'm happy with.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Yeah, if yours were already sitting at 2C when the gas was turned on that would see it absorbed faster. Mine start at room temp and then are chilled in the kegerator at the same time while they're gassing up on high pressure. In any event, it is a method that I think works very well once you find the sweet spot of what pressure to use for your needs, and a lot harder to stuff up than the instant shaking around method.