New to kegging

Kegging
1

Finally got my keezer setup and put an IPA in the keg last night. First time doing this, and have a few questions.

I bought a new 3-gallon keg, and disassembled it completely. Filled it halfway with PBW and hot water, brushed out the dip tube, and soaked all parts. Put it all back together and shook it for a minute or so and then hooked up to the gas and ran it through my lines. Rinsed with hot water and repeated the process. Same with sanitizer. In my haste/excitement I did not physically scrub the keg inside with anything. It is a brand new keg, but do you think I’ll get any off-flavors? There was sort of a “new keg smell” when I first opened it.

Also, is it normal when you have all lines connected and turn on the gas that some of the liquid in the keg is sent into the liquid out line? Even with the tap closed? I’m nervous that one of my taps is not closing all the way. It’s a perlick 525SS. Nothing leaked out, but I only had it at 5PSI to run cleaner, 7ft 3/16" lines. The liquid did not fill the whole line, just a foot or so out of the keg. If I lift the line, it ran back into the keg.

When I carbonate, do I just hook up the gas in and not liquid out? I think this is fine, but will I need to shut off the CO2 when I do connect the liquid line?

Thanks. Hope I’m doing this right! It’s on the gas right now at 12PSI. Can’t wait to try it.

2

[quote=“ccyr”]Finally got my keezer setup and put an IPA in the keg last night. First time doing this, and have a few questions.

I bought a new 3-gallon keg, and disassembled it completely. Filled it halfway with PBW and hot water, brushed out the dip tube, and soaked all parts. Put it all back together and shook it for a minute or so and then hooked up to the gas and ran it through my lines. Rinsed with hot water and repeated the process. Same with sanitizer. In my haste/excitement I did not physically scrub the keg inside with anything. It is a brand new keg, but do you think I’ll get any off-flavors? There was sort of a “new keg smell” when I first opened it.

You should be fine. I soak used kegs overnight in oxyclean or pbw. You should be fine if it’s a new keg.

Also, is it normal when you have all lines connected and turn on the gas that some of the liquid in the keg is sent into the liquid out line? Even with the tap closed? I’m nervous that one of my taps is not closing all the way. It’s a perlick 525SS. Nothing leaked out, but I only had it at 5PSI to run cleaner, 7ft 3/16" lines. The liquid did not fill the whole line, just a foot or so out of the keg. If I lift the line, it ran back into the keg.

This is fine too. Some of the kegs contents will push up into the line when you first hook it up due to the pressure change. There’s more pressure in the keg than in the line so some liquid will push up into the line. No biggie.

When I carbonate, do I just hook up the gas in and not liquid out? I think this is fine, but will I need to shut off the CO2 when I do connect the liquid line?

You can hook up the liquid out at the same time too, or not… either way. You don’t have to shut the gas off when the liquid out is hooked up. You’ll actually need the gas on to push the beer through. Once carbonated, I turn the gas down to about 5psi for serving where it stays for the duration of the keg.

Thanks. Hope I’m doing this right! It’s on the gas right now at 12PSI. Can’t wait to try it.[/quote]

Lots of methods of carbing. You’re using the set it and forget it method. Low and slow. Will take you a week or longer to get the beer carbed with that method. What I do is hook up the keg and set it to 30psi for 24hrs or so. Then release the pressure and turn it down to 20psi for another 24hrs or so. Then release the pressure and turn it down to 10psi or so. At this point I start tasting the beer. When it’s good, I turn it down to 5psi for serving. There are other methods as well, but this works for me.

3

Thanks for the quick reply! And I hope to get the whole thing ‘balanced’ so I won’t have to reduce the pressure when I serve. We’ll see how that goes. I’ve read all the calculation sites, length of line, diameter, temp, etc. But I also read that it varies from system to system, so who knows. Wish me luck.

4

Just a few quick tips that I learned after I started (and wasted a few tanks of gas). When you close up the keg, put the lid on while the pressure is up… like around 25-30psi. This will help seal it tight. Also, be sure to replace the little plastic washer that goes between the regulator and tank with every new tank.

If you do suspect a leak, spray down all your connections with starsan solution and check for bubbles.

One last tip… if/when you put your tank in a fridge (that’s where I keep mine, some people keep them outside the fridge) your CO2 gas level will drop when the tank gets cold. For a while I thought I was loosing gas and driving myself nuts looking for leaks. Over time I realized the level dropped do to the tank getting cold. Eventually it will level off and then drop only very slowly over time and many kegs.

5

I think that the reason you are seeing liquid in the line out line without the tap open is that it is compressing the unpressurized air in the line until it equals the pressure of the the regulator of c02. This is normal

6

To add to this, if you keep the CO2 tank in the fridge, the tank pressure gauge is basically worthless. Mine will sit at 500psi tank pressure for the duration and then just drop to zero when empty.

7

Same will happen with the tank on the outside of the fridge. Just the pressure reading will be higher.

The CO2 inside the tank is liquid. It tuns to gas and pushes the beer out. The pressure will stay the same until there is no more liquid inside.

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dobe12 - “Also, be sure to replace the little plastic washer that goes between the regulator and tank with every new tank.”

I have a TapRite regulator and it says there is no plastic washer on those, it’s a built-in gasket. Does that ever need replacing?