Kegging Questions

[Trev]

Folks,

I've got my new kegs all running happily, indeed we've already knocked off two of them.

A couple of things have come to mind though:-

1/ Do you allow your beer to condition in the keg for quite a few weeks, as we do for bottles? I just have a feeling that one of my brews tasted fairly green (a kit Cerveza).

2/ I have been told to release the pressure once I stopped serving for the night, but elsewhere I'v read about keeping some pressure in the keg when stored?

3/ I'm using caustic soda to clean the kegs. I just add the caustic soda (about 100g) to a couple of litres of water in the keg, seal it, shake the bejusus out of it and then drain and rinse. Should I be letting it soak - I thought that caustic would eventually pit the stainless steel interior?

4/ Damn though it's a lot easier than bottles


Trev

 

[kook]

1. Just leave it in secondary for an extra week. Alternatively, burp the keg after racking it, then just store it for a month before using it. I personally just leave it in secondary an extra week then keg it.

2. I leave head pressure in there or the CO2 from the beer escapes and fills the headspace again.

3. I use "Tank-Klen" to clean mine. I have a suspicion its just caustic soda. I soak it for about 15 mins, then rinse, and santise with pink stain.

4. **** yeah

 

[JWB]

Jesus your game Trev....putting caustic soda near your kegs...I can assure you that it will pit them.....I speak from experience.. nowdays I just use dishwashing detergent to soak for an hour or so then sterlize with baby bottle sterlizer. I keep the pouring pressure in the keg all the time. Getting the beer gassed up and storing for a month or two will improve it out of sight ..but I have trouble with freeloaders visiting and wanting to watch the footy...they bring 4 stubbies and go home tanked.... One day I will say the pubs got no beer
Cheers JWB

 

[Gout]

so once you rack to 2nd fermenter, you then burp keg and gas, store for 1-2 months and ready?

I have been doing similar, but wasn't sure if its better to store then gassed or just burped

?????

also i guess storing them cold in the fridge will Lager them ??? and be better than storing in the "warmer" shed

although at this time of yr in melbourne maybe not

 

[badbillys]

now the weather is getting warmer is it better to store in fridge or some cool place??? im making ale so are they ok to CC??

also how do i clean the lines to the tap? one of mine has mould in it
thanks
:chug:
billy

 

[jayse]

cold is good for ale as well.
cellar mate is a brand of line cleaner.pretty well the standard for kegs etc.

 

[big d]

cellarman beer line cleaner and ortho phosphoric acid
the ducks guts

 

[fingers]

I just rinse with cold water to get all the gunk out then put about 3 litres of clean water in the keg and put it on the bbq and cook it untill steam comes out for 3 minutes, No chemicals.

 

[Doc]

I used to use a line cleaner product but don't anymore.
When I clean a keg (using PSR) I pump about 5 litres to the tap and therefore the beer line also. When I fill the keg with water after the PSR to rinse the keg I also pump about 5 litres through the line to rinse that too.
Therefore I'm cleaning the keg, the pickup tube in the keg, the beer line and the parts of the tap in contact with the beer.

Works for me.

Beers,
Doc

 

[BrentonSpear]

Doc,

Do you just use CO2 to pump it through to the tap?

 

[Doc]

Yes.

Cheers,
Doc

 

[Nearly]

Hello fellow keggers,

I have noticed that if I pour two beers, one after the other, the second beer allways has less head. Its not a problem.... it is still ok... its just noticably less foam/head in the second beer. If I drink by myself the head is almost too much. So it seems that the first pour after a rest of a few minutes or more is more foamy. Does anyone else notice this? Any idea why? :huh:

BTW my employers security dept has decided to block beer related sites... so my normal morning noon and late arvo check of this site has stopped... only sporadic posting from home these days... :angry:

 

[Nearly]

No takers? Nobody else experienced this?

 

[Andrew Clark]

yes I have experienced this, It is caused by a drop in pressure in the keg, when this happens gas is released from suspension forming bubbles in your lines, the solution is to always pour from your keg under pressure. When you have finished drinking just turn of the gas and disconnect gas line to maintan the pressure within the keg.
It can also be caused by the beer warming in the line usually around the tap if it is connected to the outside of the fridge, hence the first beer frothy but the second less so
Hope this helps
Andrew

 

[jayse]

yes i have that happen quite often when the beer has first been carbonated.if other people are going to be pouring the beer straight after i carbonate it i run at idiot pouring pressure ie. slow. even my five year old can pour a perfect beer that way.if there is no problems with bubbles in the line then i crank it back to normal pressure.
i actually find when it does happen the first one isn't a nice foamy stable head but more larger bubbles.the foam ussually comes out the tap from a line with bubbles in it.

 

[Nearly]

In my situation I think Andrew maybe has it right.... I think now that it is caused by the tap being warmer than the beer. The second beer goes through a much colder tap.

I dont loose pressure when dispensing because I never change my regulator pressure... it is always the same for carbonating and for pouring because it is a 'balanced' system. I carbonate slowly (about a week it takes) at just under 100KPA and pour at the same pressure. There is never any foam in the beer line.

The first spurt might also be caused by the regulator... a mate at work is a top quality amateur spraypainter and he told me this. He said that he had a problem where the first use of the gun sprayed out at too high a pressure then settled immediately for further usage. He replaced his regulator and the problem stopped.