1st time kegging, looking for advice

Hamner Brewhouse

Hamner Brewhouse

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I just received my Flex leg system from Midwest. I'm thinking of cold crashing overnight in the fermenter to aid clearing up the beer some more before kegging. Is this step needed?

I read the force carbing chart, is there another way to carb it up in a shorter period of time? Any links to articles, posts, or videos are much appreciated.
 
Cold crashing is great for clearing beer and can either be done before or after kegging. I would suggest that overnight clarity isn't going to happen except in a possible rare case. Depending on temperature, I find 2 to 5 days is pretty normal for a beer that is fermented out and begun to clear.
As for carbonation, If I have an empty tap I'll keg and set the CO2 to 30psi for about 36 hours and then drop it back down to serving pressure (usually about 11psi) for another 3 or 4 days. There are other methods, but I've found this works best for me.
 
Ditto above.
You definitely need to allow at least three days to get some clarification. And 36 hours at 30 PSI is what I do to force carb. You will never look back once you start kegging!
 
You're effectively cold crashing when you put the keg in the fridge/freezer to carb. So doing it in the fermenter is redundant. But that assumes that you've got a process that doesn't transfer any sediment that's going to clog up your beer post. If you don't then a cold crash in the fermenter can help with clearing the sediment.

Even with a cold crash I find my hoppy batches have enough sediment to clog up the beer post, so I'll be putting a simple mesh filter in the transfer process going forward and not doing the cold crash.

One reason to avoid the cold crash in the fermenter is that it will drag atmosphere into your fermenter as it cools and that will contain the purest evil currently in home brewing, oxygen. Personally I'm far more frustrated by a clogged beer post than the effects of oxidation.
 
I have used a very short method in the past. Basically, after the beer is cold, pressurize the keg to 30 psig, pick up the keg and shake the hell out of it. The CO2 will dissolve more quickly. Recharge the CO2 after shaking. Repeat until carbonation level reached.

Now this is a brute force method that I don't readily endorse, but you can carbonate up a keg quickly, sometimes in 30 minutes. However, it's a bit unpredictable. But if you need quick beer for a party.....
 
Bubba Wade said:
I have used a very short method in the past. Basically, after the beer is cold, pressurize the keg to 30 psig, pick up the keg and shake the hell out of it. The CO2 will dissolve more quickly. Recharge the CO2 after shaking. Repeat until carbonation level reached.

Now this is a brute force method that I don't readily endorse, but you can carbonate up a keg quickly, sometimes in 30 minutes. However, it's a bit unpredictable. But if you need quick beer for a party.....
Click to expand...
yes and roll on the floor works too, just set it at your feet when watching a show and rock it back and fourth for an hour
 
Make sure you don't do it third for an hour, or fifth.
 
Bubba Wade said:
I have used a very short method in the past. Basically, after the beer is cold, pressurize the keg to 30 psig, pick up the keg and shake the hell out of it. The CO2 will dissolve more quickly. Recharge the CO2 after shaking. Repeat until carbonation level reached.

Now this is a brute force method that I don't readily endorse, but you can carbonate up a keg quickly, sometimes in 30 minutes. However, it's a bit unpredictable. But if you need quick beer for a party.....
Click to expand...

I tried that a few times in the past. You're right, it is unpredictable. Over carbonated beer can be very time consuming to correct.
 
Thank you for the info. I had heard of shaking the keg while carbing the beer, but it seems odd to do, since at any other time it is bad because of oxygenating the beer resulting in off flavors.
 
The first thing you do once the beer is in the keg is hook up CO2 and purge the head space. This is done by by momentarily pulling the PRV several times, waiting for a few seconds between pulls. This will force out most of the oxygen. Even after purging, I don't recommend shaking to carbonate.
 
You should also purge the keg with CO2 before racking to the keg. You do this by hooking up the gas line to the liquid post. Theoretically, the beer will then go in under a blanket of C02, and push any oxygen left out as it fills. I use to rack with a syphon, but have been doing a pressure transfer for some time now. You can google that and find numerous videos about how to do a pressure transfer.
 
All of my gas and liquid connectors have the male flare thread, and I have a number of hoses with the swivels, makes it real easy to gas to the liquid post for purging.
 
You can purge it, I've been using kegs for more than 2 years and haven't tried it yet.
 
I've purged prior to filling kegs and have never found any improvement. As long as you transfer without excessive splashing you should be just fine. As you transfer, off gassing will occur and the CO2 coming out of solution should do the same as what some refer to as a blanket of CO2.
Scientific, maybe not. Empirical, definitely..
 
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Maybe I'm being a little over cautious with the purging :)
 
I purged but that was a function of sanitizing the beer line and getting the StarSan out of the keg.
 
In your original post you asked for links, so here's one.
http://brulosophy.com/methods/carbonation-methods/

The carbonation methods posted in Marshals chart I use time and time again with no failures to date. My last bitter I brewed I hit with 50 psi for 10 hours and had carb'd, drinkable beer basically over night. It's much better than the shake method imo. Of course after sitting for 2-3 days + it will be much better and the carbonation will have had time to settle out a bit.
I typically use the 35# for about 34-35 hours listed on the chart, like others have mentioned above. It's tried and true. It'll be ready to drink if you want to pull a few off, but like always is better if you can let it settle out for a few days.
 
Craigerrr said:
Maybe I'm being a little over cautious with the purging :)
Click to expand...

Just stating what's worked well for me. If you're comfortable with your process and it works for you, fine. Don't let me discourage you from anything that may prove to be of benefit. If I brewed NEIPAs, I would do closed transfers after everything I've read about how prone to oxidation they are. Would I do the same for the rest of my beers? Probably, because I was set up for it and comfortable doing it.

If you only knew how many practices have been touted as absolutely necessary over past 10 years, only to be dismissed as BS when it was discovered that they weren't beneficial at all. Not too long ago I never packaged a beer until it had been in the fermenter(s) for a minimum of 21 days. Now I often go from grain to glass in 14 days or less. If we all brewed the same we'd still be doing lots of things that don't help and not doing lots of things that do.
 
I must admit... I'm a purger. There I said it. JK
I have my co2 tank and regulator set up outside the keezer with a spare line tagged in just for that. And if I feel like shaking with 20#s hooked up to hurry carbonation, I do it, which is my plan for the Tangerine Wheat this afternoon (7 days in fermenter).:D I wouldn't shake the Rasberry Porter when transferred next week, it will need to condition for a few days anyway. As stated you will do what works best for you.
 
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