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Kegging

Rjezowski75

Rjezowski75

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I'm keg conditioning for the first time. Does anyone have any tips/tricks/warnings or a good web page I can reference in hopes of not killing my batch?
 
Conditioning?  Are you letting it carbonate in the keg with added corn sugar?  I have a CO2 tanks for dispensing and for force carbonating.  I can help with that.  As far as I know "conditioning" means letting it rest for some time ad some temperature.
 
Always gas the keg immediately after filling to prevent any possibility of oxidation from remaining head space. I also purge some of the gas to make sure I've got mostly Co2 sitting on the beer for conditioning. The method of gassing I've found that works best for me is applying 30psi for 17 minutes while gently rolling the keg back and forth on the floor.
 
if i may add a follow up question concerning the CO2 blanket when first racking ot the keg:
has anyone tried adding small amounts of dry ice to kegs and occasionally venting so that the keg is stored with a higher CO2% to start?
or adding a small piece of dry ice 5-10 minutes before racking and letting the sublimation drive out some of the atmospheric gasses?
thanks and sorry to hijack the thread.
 
Maybe I am missing the point of the dry ice?

What I generally do is the flush the empty keg with CO2 before I start to siphon the beer in, then once filled and I put the lid on, I pressurize the keg and pop the relief valve a few times to make double sure any  air is out.

If CO2 is heavier than air,  it seems to me there shouldn't be any air in the keg at this point,  so I'm not sure there is any advantage to doing anything more.  Like I say, maybe I am missing something?

Brian.




 
I'm paranoid about oxidation. I scrub my kegs, fill them with StarSan, then push the StarSan out with CO2. I drain my fermenter into the clean, depressurized keg through a liquid-out fitting so the fermented beer isn't exposed to oxygen - release the gas-in fitting frequently so the pressure doesn't stop the flow. (I once hooked a pressurized keg to the fermenter. When I connected the drain hose to the keg, the pressure blew the lid across the room, showered me with beer, and thoroughly roused the sediment.) Once the keg is filled I pressurize and release the pressure a couple of times to dilute the small amount of oxygen remaining. After some additional aging I cold crash for a few days and rack to another cleaned-sanitized-purged keg using a liquid-out - liquid-out jumper and drink.

I carbonate with about 30 PSI for 48 hours, then adjust by bleeding off or additional time at 30 PSI.

The beer is exposed to very little oxygen and the small amount of sediment transferred settles out nicely. By the time I've finished the keg the beer is beautifully clear.

Dry ice should accomplish the same thing, maybe more effectively, but I have the CO2 so I use it. If you're going to use dry ice, do the arithmetic carefully so you don't over-pressurize the keg (don't trust the pressure relief valve) or over-carbonate the beer.
 
durrettd said:
I'm paranoid about oxidation. I scrub my kegs, fill them with StarSan, then push the StarSan out with CO2. I drain my fermenter into the clean, depressurized keg through a liquid-out fitting so the fermented beer isn't exposed to oxygen - release the gas-in fitting frequently so the pressure doesn't stop the flow. (I once hooked a pressurized keg to the fermenter. When I connected the drain hose to the keg, the pressure blew the lid across the room, showered me with beer, and thoroughly roused the sediment.) Once the keg is filled I pressurize and release the pressure a couple of times to dilute the small amount of oxygen remaining. After some additional aging I cold crash for a few days and rack to another cleaned-sanitized-purged keg using a liquid-out - liquid-out jumper and drink.

I carbonate with about 30 PSI for 48 hours, then adjust by bleeding off or additional time at 30 PSI.

The beer is exposed to very little oxygen and the small amount of sediment transferred settles out nicely. By the time I've finished the keg the beer is beautifully clear.

Dry ice should accomplish the same thing, maybe more effectively, but I have the CO2 so I use it. If you're going to use dry ice, do the arithmetic carefully so you don't over-pressurize the keg (don't trust the pressure relief valve) or over-carbonate the beer.
Click to expand...

+100

I think you are my twin!

The only difference, is that I force carb @30psi by rolling the keg back and forth on the floor until the gas bubbles start to subside.  I've gotten used to the sound of the flow rate, and can tell when I'm Juuuust undercarbed.  Put it down to serving pressure, and 24 hours later voila. 


To the dry ice question....1.94 g of dry-ice per liter of beer per volume of CO2 desired.  5 gallons = 19 liters. That's 37 grams of dry-ice per volume of CO2, or 1.3 oz.  So, normal carbonation values would range between 2.6 and 3.9 ounces...a range of 1.3 ounces from low to high.  That's doable, but handling dry ice in order to measure it accurate to 1/3rd ounce (9 grams)...seems questionable. 

 
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