First Time Kegging - What to Do?

[ultravista]

It's my first time kegging and I would like some advice to make it as smooth as possible.

Can someone walk me through the process, from fill to dispensing? Tips, tips, and troubleshooting too.

Kegs are ball lock, cylinder is 10 pounds, and the regulator is dual-gauge. The 5ft beer lines are 3/16" ID by 7/16" OD.

What carbonating, operating, and dispensing pressure do you suggest for these lines?

 

[BobBrews]

Here is what I have. I have a dual-gauge system That has four way distributer on one gage and a single hose on the other. I use the four way distributer to keep four corny kegs at 12 PSI for every day serving. The other gage has a single hose that I use to force carbonate at 30 PSI. I don't always have four beers running so I usually have three kegs at 12 psi and one (next replacement) at 30 psi.

When filling a (Clean sanitized) keg I use a input connection to fill the keg with c02 so that it forces out all the nasty oxygen. The beer that enters the keg will stay under the c02. Here is a link to a youtube presentation that will answer all questions. The opening music sucks but the guy does a good job of the presentation. He is a bit OCD but I liked it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC7MDb0IuLs

 

[PetenNewburg]

I am a newbie also to this.  I did check out the videos that I could find.  One thing I also did was mix a batch of hot PBW in one keg and push it into the other and back into the first.  This way I know even the discharge tube is sanitized.  I then push it into a bucket and flush both kegs with co2.  Sealed the keg not to be used with 20 PSI.  That way next time I keg I have one prepped.  I do not seam to use as much pressure.  I used the pressure as recommended by BeerSmith.

 

[Maine Homebrewer]

I've been working with kegs for years and I'm still figuring it out.

The most difficult part for me is finding the balance between pressure necessary for desired carbonation level and pressure for dispensing.
It's never the same.
At them moment I have a couple ales in a cooler that keeps them round 50 degrees, and 12 psi keeps the desired carbonation.
If I dispense without bleeding the kegs all I get is foam. So I must drop the pressure to 4 psi to dispense, and remember to put it back up to 12 before going to bed.

Heck! What do I know? I'm an amateur.  If I knew what I was doing it would be my job instead of my hobby!

 

[robininski]

Here are a couple of links that helped us to determine how to balance our system.

http://www.beernut.com/zen-cart/pub/kegging.pdf
http://www.kegerators.com/articles/troubleshooting-beer-keg-refrigerator.php