Newby With Kegging Questions

[milob40]

hi all , well i've bit the bullet and set up a kegging system, i'm brewing mostly coopers blonde or lager.
i have set up a filtering system but not sure if i'm doing things in the right order.
i decant the fermenter into a clean keg then age for a few days warm (expelling any 02 through relief walve.
i then chill the keg down and then use a 1mic. filter and transfer to another keg.
i then put it in the fridge and force carbonate for 24 hours(i give it a shake every so often to abbsorb the gas faster)
i have found chill filtering removes sediment better and it is quite drinkable without standing to mature :icon_drunk:
just wondering if i'm better off refridgerating straight away (conditioning in the fridge) or am i better of conditioning at room temp (around 28 degrees)
regs, milo

 

[ledgenko]

hey Milo ... welcome aboard ...

Ok I am reasonably new to kegging .. been doing it for about a year now and have had success'es and well .. I cant say Epic Fails ... but learnt how I like ot do business..;-) I am a fan of the cold conditioning ... and it is gold star standard if have the room in your fridge / cold room .. but keeping beer in kegs with a head space filled with the 'good beer gas' at a reasonable temp without temp fluctuations of greater than 3 - 4 degrees should be all good.

In as far as force carb'ing your beer .. do a search in this site .. there are a couple of very well written briefs on how to do it .. particularly one written on the "Ross" method .. which is what I use with very good effect..

in as much as your "do it now or later" refridgeration question .. me I do it now ... but I am also a fan of cold beer in the fridge that is drinkable too

my advice all up is keep reading from this site and check out John Palmer's website for "how to brew" instructions

 

[JWB]

:icon_cheers:


For what its worth I dont filter my beer. never have and its as clear as any beer poured this side of the Southern ocean.

My method is:

Brew beer as you normally do and ferment for 5 or 6 days. then rack into a second fermenter leaving all sediment behind . leave the 2nd fermenter in a cool place or in a beer fridge if I you room for a minium of 10 days or longer.
Clean and sanitize keg and fill. purge O2 and pressure to 100kpa. Turn keg upside down and shake then pressure again to 100kpa. do this 4 times then leave in fridge at 100kpa pressure for 4 days. reduce pressure after 4 days to pouring pressure and drink.
I pour at 50kpa but I know from experience that the length of the hose and the degree of coldness is what regulates the pouring pressure.

Cheers

:beerbang:

 

[Bubba]

Hi and welcome to the wonderland of kegging.

I keep it very simple, I have 4 kegs and they are always full.

I ferment as normal (usually 14 days) letting it sit to clear and settle.
Siphon into keg.
Purge airspace on keg (or Burp it) as others call it
If I have fridge room it goes in the fridge and I force carbonate at 280 KPA for 36 hours (this assumes the keg is warm when put in, so the first 12 hours as it chills and the next 24 hours at drinking temp of about 2 degrees). If I dont have fridge room it sits in the coolest part of my shed untill I need it.
If I am in a hurry I use the Ross method, but having 4 kegs I dont need to do this.
I then release the excess gas and pour at about 60-70KPA.

I dont filter, it doesnt alter the taste at all, and I find that leaving your keg for 4 or 5 days in the fridge it ends up "pub Bright" anyway!

Find the method that works for you as I have, then stick to it...easy as !

Bubba

 

[flano]

gellatine works for me...no racking ..

 

[milob40]

thanks for the info, sounds like i'm on the right track.
i think i will stick with filtering as i am very impressed with the clarity of my last brew and only takes 10 mins plus
i can move kegs around withiut stirring up any sediment (put on ice for parties)
is there a very noticeable improvement by leaving for a week or is this only when you second ferment in keg?
i think 10 kegs would be an ideal qty to mature the brews. i have 5 kegs so far and 3 fermenters.
what do you guys do with the other 4 ltrs leftover in the fermenter? i bottle mine but i am trying to avoid this alltogether.
bring on the mini keg!

 

[shina]

Hi, when i keg my beer in the fridge it goes for a week under 12 - 10 psi then pull it out and leave next to fridge and stick the next keg in do the same, have five kegs and fridge holds 2 so by the time i come to changing the kegs over when one emptys the other three could be 2-3 months old and carbed up just right and they taste spot on being extract beers, i reckon they need time to mature so as soon as one empty's time to make anther beer just keep the production line going.

 

[bignath]

i decant the fermenter into a clean keg

Definitely don't do this.

Transferring to keg carefully is one thing, but decanting would be a fast track to oxidised beer. You don't want any splashing (or minimal splashing) when transferring fermented beer. Splashing, swirling, stirring etc, is fine pre-fermentation (actually it's quite a good thing) but not once fermentation is underway..

Welcome to the awesome world of kegging, but go buy a siphon or length of tube to use for transferring. Happy brewing!

 

[Hatchy]

what do you guys do with the other 4 ltrs leftover in the fermenter? i bottle mine but i am trying to avoid this alltogether.
bring on the mini keg!

Jayse & I were looking at the 4L I had left in the fermenter from an ESB, trying to work out whether to bottle it or tip it. We had had a few & had brewed that day so couldn't be bothered bottling but didn't want to waste beer. One of us figured that if we drank 4 pints each then we could top the keg up.

I'd like to keep a few bottles from each batch for nostalgic reasons but I did buy kegs so I wouldn't have to bottle.

 

[Bubba]

thanks for the info, sounds like i'm on the right track.
i think i will stick with filtering as i am very impressed with the clarity of my last brew and only takes 10 mins plus
i can move kegs around withiut stirring up any sediment (put on ice for parties)
is there a very noticeable improvement by leaving for a week or is this only when you second ferment in keg?
i think 10 kegs would be an ideal qty to mature the brews. i have 5 kegs so far and 3 fermenters.
what do you guys do with the other 4 ltrs leftover in the fermenter? i bottle mine but i am trying to avoid this alltogether.
bring on the mini keg!

I bottle mine in grolsch swingtops to take to BBQs etc. It also gives you an appreciation for the difference a matured bottle can make compared to a keg...nice to compare.

 

[milob40]

Hi, when i keg my beer in the fridge it goes for a week under 12 - 10 psi then pull it out and leave next to fridge and stick the next keg in do the same, have five kegs and fridge holds 2 so by the time i come to changing the kegs over when one emptys the other three could be 2-3 months old and carbed up just right and they taste spot on being extract beers, i reckon they need time to mature so as soon as one empty's time to make anther beer just keep the production line going.

so you refrigerate at 10-12psi then remove from fridge to mature? won't this send your beer off?

 

[Bribie G]

so you refrigerate at 10-12psi then remove from fridge to mature? won't this send your beer off?

No, think of the keg as a giant sealed pressurised bottle, beer will keep for months just like your old bottle o Coopers.

 

[milob40]

No, think of the keg as a giant sealed pressurised bottle, beer will keep for months just like your old bottle o Coopers.

my idea was to let the beer mature warm in the keg but burp it to get rid of oxygen and then put in the fridge after a week,
surely going from cold to hot to cold again wouldn't do it any good. (it gets pretty warm in nth qld )
sorry for tha nit picking but i just wanna get this right with the minimum of fuss.

 

[Housecat]

In regards to the extra 4L, I only brew enough to fill up a keg. For me its about 20.5L in the fermenter.

 

[basement_brewer]

G'day Milob,

I have been kegging for about 9 months now.

My usual method for ales is:

Ferment 22l out in primary at controlled fermentation temp in fridge;
Lower controlled temp to 1C;
Leave for 2-3 days depending on supply and demand;
Sanitise keg and equipment with Star San
Pour into keg 1.5l boiling water
Seal keg and shake
Pour out hot water through bronco tap
Open keg bleed valve
Attach gas to 'gas in' post and purge (CO2 will sink to bottom of keg)
From the fermenter tap I connect a short piece of Silicone Hose to the Straight Adapter then to Beer/Gas line then to Female Adapter and finally to the Quick Disconnect Barb (Beer) which obviously connects to the 'Beer Out' post.
Before I attach the barb I run about 100mls of beer through the pipes to rinse Star San off
Connect barb and attach to keg.
Let gravity pull the beer into the keg (purge valve is open) down to the fermenter tap
Open keg, and pour 100mls of prepared gelatin, close keg
Re attach gas to 'gas in' post and purge again
Close purge valve
Carbonate via the Ross method
Put in fridge at 3C for about a week
Pour off first pint of brown stuff
Enjoy!

 

[shina]

so you refrigerate at 10-12psi then remove from fridge to mature? won't this send your beer off?

no the beer won't go off, once it has the gas in it no poblems. With the filtering why don't you try putting it in the fridge for a day when you rack it after fermentation before kegging it, cold filtering, all the sediment will drop to bottom when chilled doesn't bother me but just a thought for you.

 

[InCider]

I never filter - for the same reason as racking - I'm not willing to add unnecessary steps to the process. Go easy and simple:

1) 14 day ferment minimum, then crash chill to 2-4 degrees. This drops a lot of stuff out of suspension in the wort and packs the yeast cake.

2) Fill kegs and force carb.

3) If the keg is not to be stored and aged, put straight into the fridge.

4) Wait 24hrs to settle (sediment amount is very small) and pour. First glass may be a tiny bit cloudy due to settling in the concave base of the keg, but will end up as clear as filtered beer.

The key things are ferment time and crash chilling. If I even have to move a keg it never disturbs the yeast in the keg as it is always compacted, and the keg doesn't 'slosh' like a bottle.

Cheers,

InCider.