I have had a 20 year hiatus from brewing that is about to end. I am a fan of lower alcohol beers to have on hand whenever a beer is called for, and they are always called for so I prefer them in the 3% to 4% range.
I have never done kegging before, only bottled and I do not want to spend time bottling something I am going to drink a lot of.
We can probably be really boring about what I should do, but what shouldn’t I do with kegging? What mistakes is a kegging newb most likely to make or what mistakes did you make with kegging that you would like to see me repeat but don’t have the heart to let me?
Kegging is pretty simple really. I tried the force carb route first but now I use the set it and forget it. You need a minimum of two kegs with two carbonation lines. Set it for 12 psi and leave it there , drink one while the other carbonates. Depending how fast you drink the beer you may need more kegs to keep the pipe line flowing. Good luck
Make sure everything is tight and secure. I have on more than one occasion found my co2 tank empty, or 5 gallons of beer in the bottom of my keggerator from a stuck poppet or loose ball lock connector.
Spray around all your fitting with starsan after you co2 seal,if you see bubbling it’s leaking. I imagine you could use bleach but you would need to rinse rinse and rinse some more. Starsan is odorless and tasteless and pretty much the standerd sanitizer.
Bleach pits and ruins stainless so I would avoid it. I agree with brew cat, after sealing it and connecting it spray everything with star San. If it’s leaking it will bubble.
Take good care of your kegs and they will take good care of you. Use silicon on your o-rings, clean them correctly and you’ll be fine.
Take them completely apart, even the poppit…. clean them, replace gaskets right away if you get used ones, a little lube goes a long way. I have pin locks so I bought the socket to fit them…… While I’m brewing I will take one completely apart and clean it then, and it doesn’t take much time. I do leave about a quart of star san in my stored ones, and when its time to put into use, I will shake/roll the keg, then dump the solution into a plastic jug for reuse too. I will put the CO2 on and let some blow then pull up on the lid and pick the keg off the ground, thinking it will seat better… Again, just a little lube on that main o-ring will help it last longer… Sneezles61 :blah:
All good advise. If you plan to condition in the keg with sugar, after adding it and closing the lid, give it a shot of CO2 to seal it. Might want to pull the relief valve or depress the gas in poppit to release some of the O2 first then seal it. The pressure has as much to do with sealing it as the bail IMHO.
Going to kegs was the best improvement I made to homebrewing. Let’s see, clean 50 bottles and put on 50 caps or clean one keg and snap the lid closed.
[quote=“HD4Mark”]All good advise. If you plan to condition in the keg with sugar, after adding it and closing the lid, give it a shot of CO2 to seal it. Might want to pull the relief valve or depress the gas in poppit to release some of the O2 first then seal it. The pressure has as much to do with sealing it as the bail IMHO.
Going to kegs was the best improvement I made to homebrewing. Let’s see, clean 50 bottles and put on 50 caps or clean one keg and snap the lid closed.[/quote]
Thanks. I look at the cost and think “I did bottles before and I can do it again” but I was 24 to 27 when I did my brewing back then and I do have time to consider now. I am going to do bottles still but now I am just doing them for 7% or higher that needs months rather than weeks of aging.
