Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

As some of you have read, a few of us (John, Jason and myself) have made a jump to kegging (well we will tonight) we are getting pre keg jitters and have some questions.

We are kegging for a fundraiser that we will be pouring at on Oct 27th.

Here is what we have to keg:
Furious IPA Clone (FG~1.015), Pumpkin Ale (FG~1.011), and a Java Stout (FG~1.011)

We would like to allow it to continue to age while in the keg but question how exactly this should be done (in the fridge or in the cellar) and when we should start prepping it to be served. Bottles always say cellar not on the floor but we seem to get virtually every type of answer when it come to kegging and what temp the keg should be stored at.

So in order for us to have the best available beer with the amount of time we have left - what is the best way to proceed?

Rack in to the keg just like you would to a secondary. DO NOT add sugar or anything. Put all the kegs in the fridge and hook up the gas. Set it at 12 PSI. Your beer will be carbonated and ready to drink in 7-10 days.

Matt F wrote:Rack in to the keg just like you would to a secondary. DO NOT add sugar or anything. Put all the kegs in the fridge and hook up the gas. Set it at 12 PSI. Your beer will be carbonated and ready to drink in 7-10 days.

With all kegging we need to make sure we purge the oxygen right regardless of how we are doing it?

Here is a short quick guide to kegging that has some good basic info too.

Reebekili wrote:With all kegging we need to make sure we purge the oxygen right regardless of how we are doing it?

Yes. All I do is fill the keg, hook up the gas, pull the relief valve to purge the O2. Some people go a step further and hook up the gas to the empty keg quick to purge the O2 out with CO2 before filling too. Then you are racking in to an environment that should have CO2 to futher reduce oxidation. People will also crank up the gas to 30 psi to "set" the lid. I haven't found this to be necessary but it doesn't hurt.

You can speed up the process by cranking up the gas and shaking. If I want beer carbonated faster I put the kegs in the fridge, hook up the gas at 30 psi and let it go for a couple days. Then I turn down the gas to 10-12 psi and bleed out the pressure in the kegs and check the carbonation. I don't like to add the shake method for fear of overcarbonating.

With the amount of time you have to get your beer ready I would keep it simpe and hook them all up at 12 psi and try it in a week. Should be ready or close to it.

Oh I forgot to mention if anyone would like to help "manage" the process so we don't screw it up we are doing it tonight at John's place 1118 clifton st ne, Cedar Rapids. A little after 7 pm.

Thanks for the help!!

If you want to play with the shake method you can have a beer carbonated in a few minutes. If beer is warm use 20 to 30 psi. If it is cold you can shake it too but turn down the gas to 12 psi. Warm beer takes higher pressure to carbonate because the gas is less soluble in warm beer.

Like I mentioned before, I find the best and simplest method is to not rush it, rack the beer to the keg, put in the fridge and let sit for a week at 12 psi. No need to rush when not necessary.

Also, if you want to do a quick carbonation, you can use these. They screw onto a two-liter bottle, and Joe has them in stock at BIY.






On Thu, Oct 11, 2012 at 11:48 AM, Matt F <brew-tech@crbeernuts.org (brew-tech@crbeernuts.org)> wrote:

If you want to play with the shake method you can have a beer carbonated in a few minutes. If beer is warm use 20 to 30 psi. If it is cold you can shake it too but turn down the gas to 12 psi. Warm beer takes higher pressure to carbonate because the gas is less soluble in warm beer.

Like I mentioned before, I find the best and simplest method is to not rush it, rack the beer to the keg, put in the fridge and let sit for a week at 12 psi. No need to rush when not necessary.

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That's what I use when I am racking from my carboy to the keg and there is more than will fit in the keg. In to a 2 liter, screw on carbonator cap, squeeze out air, fill with CO2 and shake. Works well. Austin Hombrew Supplies just came out with a stainless steel version too. Not really necessary though. My plastic one like this one works great and was much cheaper.

I have one, but often use an el cheapo version. A tire valve through a pop bottle lid. It's nice if you want several things carbonating at once, or are taking some somewhere they might get lost/forgotten. Of course you need to have a way to hook up an air chuck to your CO2.

So I got everything transferred to keg. One of the two kegs when I first turned on the gas to 10 psi I could hear a hissing of co2 escaping. I messed with the cap a bit and was thinking about the next step and after about a min it sealed itself and was no longer leaking co2. I thought great it just needed a bit to pressurize itself. I put the kegs and the c02 tank and regulator into the fridge and went to bed. When I checked it this morning the psi was at 5 and I could hear the c02 escaping again from the same keg. I didn't have time to mess with it I had to head to work so I just turned off the co2.

It seems to me that once it got cold that changed the pressure and started leaking again. I am leaving town for the weekend and don't have a lot of time to mess with it today. Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I turn up the PSI higher to try to get it to seal in cold temperature? It is brand new refurbished keg from Midwest and supposedly they test they are pressuized and assert the seals are new. Has anyone used Keg lube does that help at all and if so anyone have some or do they sell it at BIY?

It is tough to fix without knowing exactly where the gas is leaking from. Make sure the posts are screwed on tight. If not those will leak. You can also play with pushing the poppet slightly to reset it. is the gas coming from the in or the out post? You don't want to mix those two up because while they look the same size they are different sizes.