kegging questions

[griz]

Greetings. Will be jumping into the kegging vs bottling shortly. I have a few ? Will be converting a chest freezer into a Keezer, which will hold 4 corny kegs and 10lb co2 bottle. I brew ales and lagers. Not much on stouts so not worried about having separate tap. I have read and watched a ton of videos on what to do (and not to do): upgrade to quality regulator, 10ft beer lines are better then 5ft, cleaning/sanitizing and so on.

That being said, I still have some questions.

1. Once I get my system up and running, is it OK to store fermented beer inside an extra keg that is not in use? And if so, should the keg be carbonated while it's waiting its turn?
2. If it's OK to carbonate the beer in the keg while it's waiting to be hooked up, what should the resting psi be in the keg. I know you carbonate at around 30 psi, but should the keg be left at that psi while it's waiting its turn? Is it OK for a carbonated keg to sit in the basement for a couple of weeks that is not hooked up?
3. I have seen a couple of videos that show the brewer carbonating his batch right after the fermented beer is siphoned into the keg. I've seen some where the brewer cools the keg after the siphon of beer for 24 hrs, then carbonates the keg. Any input on this process?

And if you have any other input on your pro/con experiences, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time!!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Ive carbonated and conditioned several different ways and have found my best practice is
first I cut the long dip tube 1 inch from the end to keep settled hops and yeast from being drank
I ferment normally then transfer to a keg, add co2 to the head space then purge the oxygen out, fill with what ever poundage you want , normally 3 pulls. set it somewhere cooler than 60 and let that condition for 7 days, purge and hook up the co2 at 12psi for 7 more days

you can combined the 2 and add it to the keezer after fermenting and slow carb while conditioning since the dip tube is cut and just drink after 7 days, this is my preferred way

you can force carb by rocking while adding 30psi for 30 minutes but warning it will cloud the beer, no way around that

if you can wait the 2 weeks you will have a better tasting beer and fully carbed

 

[UgliestLemming]

Question 1 - I do, with CO2 on it, just so it's ready when I'm ready
Question 2 - Again, I do, but I don't carbonate at 30 psi, I carbonate at the pressure level that will supply the correct amount of CO2 in volumes, by temp Carbonation Chart.
Question 3 - I carbonate directly out of the fermentor. If I cold crash it's prior to kegging.

 

[bilhelm96]

+1 on everything UgliestLemming said.

Not sure about the comment "10ft beer lines are better then 5ft". Line length is about pressure balance. There is a half of psi of loss for each foot the faucet is above the center of the keg and 1.8 psi of loss per foot of 3/16" ID beer line. You want about 1 psi at the faucet. For a keezer set at 38 degrees F and 2.4 volumes of CO2 (12psi) you will probably be at 5.5' of beer line.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

oh as far as the lines, 1/4" foams more then 3/16, 1/2 a glass sometimes, I see no difference in the length as far as foaming, I have 10 and 5 for both 1/4 and 3/16 all I can say is the 3/16 pours a lot slower but has the correct head

 

[griz]

Thanks for the info folks!!! The issue with the hoses came from a guy who cut his beer lines to "clean up" the inside of his Keezer. What he discovered was by having a very short beer line, the beer coming out was very messy/foamy. I read several articles that stated having 10ft lines almost always created better pours vs. 5ft lines....

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I just did a second test and the 10' - 3/16" line won for a clear pour and the perfect head but no foam.
issues can also be with cold lines running into a warm tap, thats a common problem, instant foam