Carbonating a new keg

[dcave270]

I have a converted chest freezer with 4 taps and a 4-way regulator, I can fit a 5th 5 gallon keg in just to condition - I dropped a recently brewed keg of IPA in the keezer Saturday.

My question is -- can I take the gas off an already carbonated keg to carbonate my IPA or am I putting the beer in jeopardy by temporarily taking the gas off of it?
Thanks,
BD

[BOB357]

No problem if it's fully carbonated. The concerns are that if you are drawing from the disconnected keg and it's fairly full. the serving pressure will drop quickly and the carbonation level to a lesser degree. The less that's in the keg, the slower these effects will manifest. If the disconnected keg isn't served from there should be no ill affects.

If I'm serving from a disconnected keg I just give it a shot of CO2 if the flow slows noticeably.

[jtoots]

A lesson learned:
On my setup, the pressure equalizes between all the kegs.  So the instant you plug in your uncarbonated keg to the system, pressure will come from every keg and the tank.  Sooo, if you have any kegs filled really high, up beyond the gas line dip tube, you'll suck beer back into the gas lines. 

Long story short, make sure you don't fill your kegs too high if you're going to be tinkering with pressures, disconnecting, etc.

[BOB357]

A lesson learned:
On my setup, the pressure equalizes between all the kegs.  So the instant you plug in your uncarbonated keg to the system, pressure will come from every keg and the tank.  Sooo, if you have any kegs filled really high, up beyond the gas line dip tube, you'll suck beer back into the gas lines. 

Long story short, make sure you don't fill your kegs too high if you're going to be tinkering with pressures, disconnecting, etc.

A very good reason to have a gas manifold with check valves.

[jtoots]

A lesson learned:
On my setup, the pressure equalizes between all the kegs.  So the instant you plug in your uncarbonated keg to the system, pressure will come from every keg and the tank.  Sooo, if you have any kegs filled really high, up beyond the gas line dip tube, you'll suck beer back into the gas lines. 

Long story short, make sure you don't fill your kegs too high if you're going to be tinkering with pressures, disconnecting, etc.

A very good reason to have a gas manifold with check valves.

Indeed, no check valves here.  I plan on not needing them by following my own advice because I hear they're pretty leaky... do you agree with this or do you find they're pretty reliable?

[BOB357]

I bought a 4 way gas manifold a few years back with the check valves shown here: https://www.morebeer.com/products/gas-manifold-14-aluminum.html  Within a couple of months I had to replace 2 of them. A few weeks later I had to replace one of the replacements.

I had an old regulator with a splitter and 2 check valves that came with my original tower which I bought from Keg Cowboy many years ago. I robbed the check valves off of that and haven't had a problem since. Definitely would recommend staying away from the ones I linked.

[dcave270]

BOB357 - thanks for the reply, I pulled gas off one of my kegs and put it on the new one last night. I appreciate the response/insight.