Keg Gassing & Drinking

[gybrid]

Hi Folks,

I've searched and i can only find limited articles on this...

Recently I purchased a keg system, the instructions the hbs gave me were to chill the beer overnight, then apply 400kpa for about 20 seconds, turn off then rock the keg until the kpa on the dial stops moving.. if it stops at 180 that's ideal, reduce pressure to 80kpa and serve. if it stops lower then 180 go back to 400 for a few seconds the rock until it stops at 180.

Sounds good in theory.. but, when i pored my first beer (Tooheys Old Receipe) it was all head, and i had to wait for a few minutes before i could drink it.

Then it started to taste worse and worse (although drinkable).

I made another brew of a different kind, i put it in a keg, and after it was cold gassed it up (following above procedure), and left it in the fridge.

After the Old went bad, i connected up the other one and it tasted like bourbon! (but it was suppose to be a draught). I did taste it before it was gassed... and it was nothing like bourbon.

I read in the forums another way to gas is up the pressure to 400kpa then leave for 24 hours, that i haven't tried yet.

I didn't want to waste another brew.

Ideas?

Thanks,

Jase

 

[nic0]

I bought a keging system a few weeks ago and I am going to try and gas a keg in the next couple of weeks, beer is in the secondary at the moment, I have done a bit of reading and spoken to some brewers and this is what I am going to try.

Fill the keg with beer that is at room temp.
Connect the gas line and dial up 300Kpa.
Burp the keg, pick up the keg with both hands and tip it on its side making sure the gas port is on the bottom.
Shake the keg from side to side, you should also hear the gas run throught the reg
When you arms get sore or you stop hearing the gas pass through the reg, put it down disconnect the gas line and leave the keg in the fridge for 48 hours.
Burp the keg, Dispense at approx 45Kpa.

From what I read every kegging system is different so you will have to have a bit of a play and work out what works for you.


EDIT: Added the burping.

 

[jgriffin]

I don't do the shake trick anymore, it's too easy to stuff it. My LHB guy told me to chill it, leave it at 250kpa for 24 hours, reduce to serving pressure and serve. Works pretty damn well.

A failsafe way to gas it is to just leave it for a week at service pressure, so say 60kpa or so depending on your system.

But it shouldn't change the taste of the beer - if it is you might have an infection somewhere.

 

[sluggerdog]

What about if you want to gas it now but then store it hot until you have room in your fridge to drink it. How would you go about this? In the same way? or have I read somewhere that it is different to gas beer hot to cold?

 

[dicko]

Hi Sluggerdog,

If you want to store the beer just "burp" or purge the air off the top of the brew with CO2 then gas it later by your preffered method.
The CO2 will help to preserve or protect the beer.
Beer absorbs CO2 a lot easier if it is cold. This is why each kegger uses a slightly different method, because each persons fridge is at a slightly different temperature and so each beer absorbs a different amount of CO2.
If you are going to store your beer hot then you can if you wish, add the same amount of priming sugar to the keg as you would in a bulk prime situation, and then after two weeks your beer will be gassed and you wont have used any CO2 except for serving.
If you do this it is better if you cut about 20mm off the dip tube in the keg so as not to get the sediment, and also burp and pressurise the keg at priming so the keg is sealed tha same as if it were in a bottle.

Cheers

 

[Snow]

Gybrid, the only way I can think of that you beer gets worse from gassing, is that you haven't purged the air out of it before shaking the keg. This would cause oxidation, which can spoil your beer. Otherwise, it may be an infection or just plain old bad beer.

My opinion on the whole gassing thing is that beer was not made to be abused by rocking and shaking. We went through 3 or more weeks of patient fermentation and maturation with love and care, why would we then abuse it by shaking the crap out of it just so we can drink it 24 hours quicker? Jgriffin's method is spot on. Chill the keg for 24 hours, then gas it at 250kpa for another 24 hours and you will have perfectly carbonated beer (for my tastes anyway). If you want VB/XXXX levels of carbonation, then set it at 300kpa.

Cheers - Snow.

 

[quincy]

I'm with jgiffin and snow.
I CC my brews for about a week (or two if I can wait). When its time to fill the keg, the beer is already cold so I put the empty keg in the fridge while I prepare and sanitise racking tube etc.
Then rack the cold beer into the now slightly chilled keg. Put full keg in fridge, burp, and crank it up to around 280 for 24 hours, reduce to pouring pressure and away ya go!!!!

Cheers

 

[gybrid]

Hi Folks,

The answer is probably that I didn't burp the keg first, damn instructions never said to do that.

Gybrid

 

[Bobby]

you cant stuff the beer by rocking it. using the rocking method the carbonation wont immediatly be perfect but it will settle and after a day or two. it wont be any different to using the other methods.
if you add too much gas you can fix it. if you add to little you can fix it.

for me rocking is best. quick and effective. that and my lines have a leak in them and cant be bothered/too busy to fix it, so i dont use the other method.

i dont have a problem with large coke style bubbles either. although i dont really drink alot so the beer stays in the keg for a while (the apa i have on tap atm has been in there for near 2 months)

snow can you explain what you meant by this - "My opinion on the whole gassing thing is that beer was not made to be abused by rocking and shaking."

 

[sluggerdog]

I'm trying to get my head around this whole thing so I decided to write out some notes for myself before I keg for the first time.

I'll post below, can someone confirm with me that I have it right, if so I will give it a crack tomorrow...

I'm sure once I have done it a few times it will be second nature but at the moment am a little unsure on the whole thing.


Kegging Basics

Filling a Keg

-Clean the keg with a suitable cleaning agent
-Connect the gas and tap to the keg
-Turn on the gas and fill the bottom of the keg with gas (Co2)
-Rack the beer into the keg up til the weld mark
-Close the lid and place a small amount more of gas into the keg, now turn the gas off.
-Wait 10-15 minutes for the oxygen within the keg to rise to the top (the gas will push this up)
-Pull the release valve on the top of the keg to remove all the oxygen out of the keg.
-Now you are ready to gas the keg


Gassing a Keg

-Turn the gas on and keep turning the regulator until you get up to about 250kpa
-Once you reach this stage, leave the gas going for 24 hours if cold if not leave it for longer
-You should find at the end of the time the beer with now be carbonated and you can drink it.


Dispensing from a Keg

-Every keg system is different so you will have to work this out for your self, it is very much trial and error but once you have worked out the correct pressure you will be on your way to drinking HB in no time

 

[quincy]

SD

Thats pretty much what I do. One extra thing I do is when I have filled the keg, I attach the gas line and turn on ther gas to "burp" the keg. This will displace any oxygen that may be sitting on top of the beer.
To do this just pull the relief valve for two or three short bursts.
Then crank it up to 250 or so, wait 24hrs and enjoy.

Cheers

 

[Snow]

Bobby, I have no scientific reasoning behind that opinion, other than the risk of oxidation if you didn't burp the keg properly. I guess it's just counter-intuitive to shake the crap out of my beer after I've had it settling and conditioning for so long.

>>>Bobby wrote: using the rocking method the carbonation wont immediatly be perfect but it will settle and after a day or two>>>>

If this comment is true, Bobby, then why go to the effort of rocking the keg at all? 24 hour force carbonation takes just that - 24 hours. No couple of days settling to get optimal carbonation/pouring.

- Snow

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Jgriffin's method is spot on. Chill the keg for 24 hours, then gas it at 250kpa for another 24 hours and you will have perfectly carbonated beer (for my tastes anyway). If you want VB/XXXX levels of carbonation, then set it at 300kpa.

Cheers - Snow.

I just emptied my fire extinguisher carbing up my keg this way :angry:

Reckon I must have a leaky keg. Hasn't happened b4 in 30 months of kegging!

And just B4 Xmas, wonderful .

C&B
TDA

 

[Bobby]

why go to the effort of rocking the keg at all? 24 hour force carbonation takes just that - 24 hours. No couple of days settling to get optimal carbonation/pouring.

to avoid this

I just emptied my fire extinguisher carbing up my keg this way

as i said

my lines have a leak in them and cant be bothered/too busy to fix it, so i dont use the other method.

also if i racked the beer and it has cleared there is very little yeast floating around anyway so rocking it wont cloud it up again.

cheers

 

[sluggerdog]

SD

Thats pretty much what I do. One extra thing I do is when I have filled the keg, I attach the gas line and turn on ther gas to "burp" the keg. This will displace any oxygen that may be sitting on top of the beer.
To do this just pull the relief valve for two or three short bursts.
Then crank it up to 250 or so, wait 24hrs and enjoy.

Cheers

quincy - To burp a keg as you have said isn't that the same as I have said in my instructions or is that wrong?

"-Pull the release valve on the top of the keg to remove all the oxygen out of the keg."

Thanks

 

[quincy]

SD

Yes you have it right. I miss read your post. I thought you were "burpnig" BEFORE you filled the keg.
Sorry next time I'll read things properly.
How good am I going - stone cold sober and still can't read!!!
Maybe that's why I don't log on after dark!?!?
Anything could happen then. h34r:

Cheers

 

[WesWeasel]

I don't have much experience with kegging, but I do know that when I bought a 50L keg from the pub (Tooheys New) I dispensed at around 180KPa.

Is the reason for the lower serving pressures mentioned earlier ("dispense at approx 45KPa") because the keg is smaller?

Just curious.

 

[jgriffin]

It depends on the restrictions in the system. The type of beer line, and it's length restrict the flow of beer. In a properly balanced system, the pressure in the beer equals the headspace pressure, equals the line pressure minus enough to pour.

 

[mandaloril]

Hey, great info guys! My gram has hinted that I'm getting a kegging setup for Xmas (she's so great) so I'm kinda wondering what to do with it. One question on sanitation: should I fill with a sanitizer, presurize, and then run it through the lines or is a simple rinse enough?

 

[Doc]

HOne question on sanitation: should I fill with a sanitizer, presurize, and then run it through the lines ?

That is how I do it and it works great.

Beers,
Doc