A bit out of practice so I followed my book. No problems, but then later read about filling the empty keg with CO2 to push the O2 out. Then racking the beer with the keg filled with CO2. I did not do this. Is this a critical step, or will racking into an oxygen filled keg cause issues. Thanks. I did purge it of oxygen after it was filled.
I do not purge my kegs prior and I think it’s fine as long as you’re careful. I clean and sanitize my keg and rack directly from secondary to keg and I try to siphon quietly… no splashing or gurgling. When the keg is full, I connect a CO2 tank and blast it to purge any O2 and to seat the hatch properly. There are many people who use the purging method and would never transfer beer into any vessel (bottle, growler, keg) unless some amount of CO2 was used first. I have never had this issue unless my tastebuds cannot pick up oxidation. I read something recently that said that oxidation was one of the biggest issues that homebrewers face and that judges can detect in homebrew. I can’t say that I’ve ever lost sleep over it but my guess is that someone else will be along any second with the opposite view. Cheers.
You’ll be fine. That is how I keg everytime and have never had oxidation issues.
Alright. I guess I’ll just wait and see. Thanks.
I agree that you’ll be fine if your careful when you rack to the keg.
I do purge out my kegs before I fill them just to play it safe, especially for my stronger ones that I know will be aging for many months. Whether really necessary to do so I’m not sure…but it takes practically no effort, and gives me peace of mind.
After filling the keg with little splashing with no pre-fill purge, I add co2, cut the gas flow, then purge, repeating 4 times and it works for me.
