Kegging Newbie Help

[Fammer]

ok guys,

Now that I have all my gear and will hopefully be getting my extinguisher back tonight, i've done a little research and tried to devise a method of how to go about kegging bourbon + coke - since i presume its a little different to beer. Here is what I have come up with - need help filling in the blanks:

(I will be using a tap connected straight onto a QD with about 2 mt. of gas line using standard hose clamps, is that ok?)


1. Clean keg with cleaner (what cleaner?)
2. Sanitise keg with sanitiser (what sanitiser?)
3. Let site for 30mins so the cleaner can do its job (close lid?)
4. Connect up QD & length of hose to the OUT post and connect the gas to the IN post and purge all of the cleaner out?
5. Disconnect both QD's and open the keg, add required bourbon + flat coke mix.
(coke will have sat for a few days going flat, will only put in 4 odd litres at the start to trial it in a 19lt keg)
6. Add CO2 headspace (how much is this?) and release oxygen via valve (for how long?)
7. Refrigerate for 1 day
8. Take out of fridge and hook up gas, carbonate the keg (what psi?)
9. Shake keg? Release oxygen?
10. Put back in fridge and leave gas hooked up?, wait a few days for the CO2 to soak in and knock the pressure back to (psi?) and then serve?
11. Unhook the gas once the pouring pressure is right?
12. Rehook up the gas when the pressure gets low?


I know i am missing something around the carbonation stage, would someone be able to explain that to me of how exactly you go about that - to carbonate bourbon and coke mix. Ie. do you let the coke go flat or not?, are you able to drink it straight away?

Obviously it needs to be a bit fizzier than beer, does this take longer/shorter?


Thanks for your help

 

[kungy]

Just a quick thought, Instead of flat coke. You could use sodastream coke syrup

Will

 

[Fammer]

Just a quick thought, Instead of flat coke. You could use sodastream coke syrup

Will

[post="57766"][/post]​

Thought about that, might experiment when I know what i am doing.

 

[sluggerdog]

I do rum and cola or vodka and rasperry (girl friend) all the time.

You will find that the coke does not loose much gas at all when you fill the keg up.

I gas my beer using the shake method, when doing brews I usually gas and shake for about 60-90 seconds.

When I do the rum and cola or any spirits with fizzy softdrink in it, I only shake for about 10-20 seconds.

hope this helps...

 

[roach]

I do rum and cola or vodka and rasperry (girl friend) all the time.

[post="57777"][/post]​

Hey Slugger,

What proportions do you mix the rum and cola and vodka and raspberry? Do you use syrup with water or soft drink for the mixer?

Have a party coming up and thinking of putting something fizzy in a keg for the girls.

Cheers
Roach

 

[sluggerdog]

roach, I used to be pretty accurate with it but now have gone lazy.

Basically I do the following:

for 18litre keg:

2 X 1.125 Bottles of RUM/BOURBON/ETC
16 Litres of Softdrink.

Works out well to my tasting.

 

[Wortgames]

Fammer - there doesn't seem to be much point in letting it all go flat just to carbonate it again. Clean and sanitize the keg, rinse well (don't bother flushing with CO2, just wash it out in the sink) and fill.

Bourbon and coke won't be quite as fickle as beer in terms of foaming, but get hold of a carbonation table and work out what temp and pressure you want to use to keep the fizziness where you want it.

 

[Fammer]

Ok help me out here a bit guys.

- I fill the keg (without letting the mix go flat)

- According to the CO2 table if i want 3.5 volumes of CO2 @ 4 deg. C, i need my reg set at 22psi.

- So i hook up the gas to 22psi and fill it, purge it, shake it and then add more gas.

- Refrigerate for 1 day and then turn the gas off, open the tap and set the desired pouring pressure?

edit: teflon between the bottle and reg? or between the host and QD? (using MFL connections).

 

[Wortgames]

Fammer, those figures look about right to me. If you have a balanced system and no leaks, then just leave the keg hooked up to the gas at that pressure and serve as you like. You won't need to shake it, that just speeds up the process of getting the gas into flat beer but your grog is already pretty fizzy, so just hook up the gas and relax - it'll reach its equilibrium soon enough.

If your serving line isn't balanced, ie it doesn't have enough resistance to 'tame' 22psi to a sensible flow, then you will need to drop the pressure when you are serving. Just remember to crank the pressure back up before you go to bed to keep the desired fizz.

If you're worried about losing gas to leaks, then just pressurize the kegs a bit on the high side and disconnect overnight. You'll need to fart around a bit to keep the carbonation and flow rate you want, which is why a balanced system (and no leaks) is the best way to go if you can.

You should probably avoid teflon tape - it is intended for use on tapered threads where the thread is the seal. Most of the fittings you are dealing with will actually have a rubber or nylon seal and the job of the threads is just to pull the two parts together, so the tape can actually become an obstacle that prevents the two parts mating properly.

 

[Fammer]

Thanks for your help wortgames, I am able to dispense correctly however i find the coke doesn't have enough fizz in it. I only had it in the fridge for like 2 hours, maybe this is the problem or that I should have gassed it a 45psi? hmm - this is what i did:

hooked up gas, set to 22psi

gassed the keg, burped it till there was no noise

re-gassed the keg, shook it up.

put in fridge for 2 hours, poured....bit sweet and not alot of fizz.

poured at 7psi and then cranked back up to 22psi.



- Now my next question is with all that gas at 22psi currently sitting in the keg dissolving and will I need to regas and re-carbonate once its dissovled and gone down to 0psi?? (as i have the gas turned off at the moment).

 

[Wortgames]

Yep, as the liquid absorbs the gas the pressure will drop (unless you keep it hooked up).

It can take several days for a balanced system to equalize, and you'll need to keep the pressure there afterwards otherwise the gas will start to come back out of the liquid. To keep the 3.5 volumes you want, you need the keg to be constantly at 4 degrees, and constantly under 22psi of pressure. If your keg is warmer than that, you need more pressure.

If it's still a bit flat, either it hasn't reached equilibrium yet or 3.5vols isn't enough for you. You don't ever want it to drop to 0psi, otherwise you'll start to lose all your fizz. Assuming you can't leave the gas on, just crank the pressure up and keep it in the fridge. Repressurize every few hours for the first couple of days - if the pressure is dropping it is because the gas is being absorbed or you have a leak.

It seems like you may be overcomplicating it a bit - it's really quite simple. There is a direct relationship between pressure, temperature and volumes of dissolved CO2, but it takes a while for all these things to equalize so we cheat by cranking the pressure for a while and shaking the keg to speed up absorption. The bottom line is if you take away the pressure or let the liquid warm, you'll start to lose volumes.

There's no difference between beer, soda water or bourbon and coke - just the desired carbonation levels and that the body of beer makes foaming a lot more inconvenient.

 

[tonydav]

Fammer, for carbonating your coke why don't you just force carbonate it? Set your reg to the 22psi you've calculated and do the rock and roll of your keg. It will carbonate in about 15-20 minutes but won't overcarbonate.

The only problem I can see with a balanced system in this instance is if you're also dispensing beer. Unless you have a reg that can handle two output pressures it won't work (cause you *won't* want your beer at 3.5x !!).

 

[Fammer]

na tony dav no beer.

I don't thint it was cold enough. Will try tonight.