Mini Keg

bsomppi

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My lovely wife bought me a mini keg (64oz) system for Father’s Day. Now I’m still very green in brewing, I’ve only done 3. But I have questions on how this works.

Do I have to do any priming sugars in the keg? I assume no.

If forcing carbonation, I think I’ve read to pump it up to 20 psi and then do you bring it down to recommend psi for the brew and let it sit for a couple days?

I guess it doubles as a growler as well. If I were to fill it up, and tap it, what should the psi be?
 
My lovely wife bought me a mini keg (64oz) system for Father’s Day. Now I’m still very green in brewing, I’ve only done 3. But I have questions on how this works.

Do I have to do any priming sugars in the keg? I assume no.

If forcing carbonation, I think I’ve read to pump it up to 20 psi and then do you bring it down to recommend psi for the brew and let it sit for a couple days?

I guess it doubles as a growler as well. If I were to fill it up, and tap it, what should the psi be?
What do they say ask two brewers get three answers:confused:.

I force carbonate 24hrs @ 30psi. Then purge keg (let all gas out) then I set at serving preassure of around 10psi.

There is a carbonation chart on this site.
20190618_121221.jpg

You can prime with sugar in your keg just like in the bottle but why when you can force carbonate using co2;).

Any more questions fire away.
 
I have used the 5 liter mini-kegs in the past. I never really trusted the pressure rating on them. Unless you have something on the keg that specifically says it's rated for 35 psig, I would be inclined to naturally carbonate. You can use around 0.5 oz of priming sugar. If you don't have a scale, that equates to 4 Domino Dots sugar cubes. My kegs usually take about a week to naturally carbonate.
 
I live at 6,000 ft elevation so the Carbonation Charts require that I add 3 PSI. Most of my beers are 2.5 to 3 Volumes. That works out to 15 PSI at 38 Deg. Normally takes about 5 days.
I switched to Kegs after 5 Fischer swing top bottles full of Oatmeal Milk Stout exploded & sprayed beer all over the cellar. The Fischer Swing tops are very thick. The bottles which did not burst blew out the rubber gaskets & sprayed about 25% each. When the Queen came down, of course stepped on a sliver of glass & left a blood trail on the concrete floor. The only good news in this story is she was all for moving to Kegs.
Pump it up to 15/18 PSI come back in 2/3 days & enjoy.
 
I live at 6,000 ft elevation so the Carbonation Charts require that I add 3 PSI. Most of my beers are 2.5 to 3 Volumes. That works out to 15 PSI at 38 Deg. Normally takes about 5 days.
I switched to Kegs after 5 Fischer swing top bottles full of Oatmeal Milk Stout exploded & sprayed beer all over the cellar. The Fischer Swing tops are very thick. The bottles which did not burst blew out the rubber gaskets & sprayed about 25% each. When the Queen came down, of course stepped on a sliver of glass & left a blood trail on the concrete floor. The only good news in this story is she was all for moving to Kegs.
Pump it up to 15/18 PSI come back in 2/3 days & enjoy.
I took some of my beer from home (6,000') to Conifer (8,500') this weekend. Quite the difference in the liveliness of the beer!
 
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I took some of my beer from home (6,000') to Conifer (8,500') this weekend. Quite the difference in the liveliness of the beer!
Cool so the higher you go the more preassure you need on your co2 for carbonation?
They lacked carbonation?
 
Cool so the higher you go the more preassure you need on your co2 for carbonation?
They lacked carbonation?
No, they were highly carbonated. Less atmosphere to keep the gas in solution.
 
You have the right idea, or just set it to your pressure and wait a while. I usually do around 30psi for 24 hours too and then dial it down but ymmv.
 

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