First kegging

[jaymack]

Hey all, finally got the draft lines set up and ready to keg my first batch and had a quick question on starting the carbonation process.


I've been reading lots and feel pretty comfortable that I'm heading in the right direction .Seems like everyone does things a little different but I'm going to set my regulator to 30 psi, leave it for 2 days then take it back down to roughly 6psi for serving.

Question is, do I need to purge the keg over the next couple of days or can I wait till I'm actually ready to serve? Based on what Ive read and video I've seen there is no problem with purging at serving time.

Open to opinions.

Cheers,
Jay

[Tapsucker]

I have followed "The Bottler's Guide to Kegging" found at the bottom of this page:

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/p ... -downloads

The lessons learned worked perfectly.

[Lager Bore]

I have followed "The Bottler's Guide to Kegging" found at the bottom of this page:

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/p ... -downloads

The lessons learned worked perfectly.

That is a great article. The one above it in the link, Brew By the Numbers, came out in the same issue of Zymurgy and is also worth a look. But the Bottler's Guide to Kegging answered all my questions.
Cheers

[jaymack]

Great article. Thanks.

I didn't purge the keg prior to transferring my beer from the Secondary.

I was thinking more of now that the beer is in the keg and I'm feeding it CO2 do I need to worry about releasing the excessive gas out as I wait to serve, or is it safe as is.

[cannondale]

Great article. Thanks.

I didn't purge the keg prior to transferring my beer from the Secondary.

I was thinking more of now that the beer is in the keg and I'm feeding it CO2 do I need to worry about releasing the excessive gas out as I wait to serve, or is it safe as is.

Did you 'burp it' a few times? Just open up the pressure relief valve to purge any air, then allow it to pressurize again. Do this about 3 times. Then you should have a nearly 100% CO2 filled headspace. Easy peasy, 2 minute endeavour.

[jaymack]

Ok, so I managed to avoid blowing up the house and things are working well.

2 thoughts:

1 - sure there's a few opinions but how long can i keep the kegged beer in a good state before it's tapped too long. I'm sure it will be drank long before then, just curious.

2 - I made a dry irish stout and find it a bit thin. I sampled a little prior to keggging and was quite please but now I'm wondering if the beer could be over-carbonated resulting in this side effect.

Thoughts?

[markaberrant]

1 - sure there's a few opinions but how long can i keep the kegged beer in a good state before it's tapped too long. I'm sure it will be drank long before then, just curious.

2 - I made a dry irish stout and find it a bit thin. I sampled a little prior to keggging and was quite please but now I'm wondering if the beer could be over-carbonated resulting in this side effect.

1. There is no answer to this. Beer goes downhill whenever it feels like it. However, there is nothing about kegging that would shorten this process. In fact it will likely stay fresher longer as the keg should have no O2 in it, and you are likely keeping it cold, both of which will extend shelf life of any beer.

2. How long has it been kegged and carbed? I find it takes about 2-3 weeks on gas to get proper carbonation, head retention and mouthfeel. How many volumes of CO2 are you shooting for?

[Tapsucker]

In theory, a keg with forced CO2 (as opposed to a cask with air entering) should last as long as a bottle or even better with no light entering, but, the seals better be good. You may also get contamination in the line and the tap that will spoil the beer during service.

Keep in mind, however, not all styles of beer take to aging in a bottle. Unpasteurized beer is still alive and will do it's own thing no matter how you store it.

So, the short answer is that you will probably drink a 5 gallon keg before it will spoil.

With Irish or dry stouts, it's too easy to over carbonate. The mouth feel is hard to get right. Did you use any oats in the stout? They can help with the body, but I find too much carbonation gets a little acrid with oatmeal stouts. Not sure why.

[jaymack]

Its' been carb'd Since Sunday at 6psi.

No oats in the recipe.