10 Gallon Keg Priming

[R-J-M]

Hi All, I just have a quick question around priming/carbonating in kegs.

I have been given a 10 Gallon aluminium keg from a brewery, complete with the pickup tube, CO2 canister (but no regulator), Maxi Chiller & Tap. So far I have only ever bottled fizzy beer and stored stouts in bags for my hand pull.

At the weekend I made up 2x Wilko Cerveza 5 gallons kits, exactly the same, so these should pretty much fill the 10 gallon keg. Question is.…do I add X amount of sugar to the keg and just treat it like a giant bottle? Do I carbonate with CO2?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, please & thank you J

 

[Leon103]

Hi All, I just have a quick question around priming/carbonating in kegs.

I have been given a 10 Gallon aluminium keg from a brewery, complete with the pickup tube, CO2 canister (but no regulator), Maxi Chiller & Tap. So far I have only ever bottled fizzy beer and stored stouts in bags for my hand pull.

At the weekend I made up 2x Wilko Cerveza 5 gallons kits, exactly the same, so these should pretty much fill the 10 gallon keg. Question is.…do I add X amount of sugar to the keg and just treat it like a giant bottle? Do I carbonate with CO2?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, please & thank you J

Don't have much experience of this but I wouldn't prime those kegs, I would use co2. You don't want the keg to explode

 

[R-J-M]

Don't have much experience of this but I wouldn't prime those kegs, I would use co2. You don't want the keg to explode

so would you suggest to rack off from the fermenters, straight into the keg, without sugar, once fermentation has finished?

I thought the CO2 was used to dispense the beer from the tap, not to actually create the fizz.

 

[simon12]

Whatever you do get a regulator before you use CO2 at all. Not adding priming sugar and force carbing with CO2 makes most sense in a keg it will give you clearer beer and less crud in the keg.

 

[R-J-M]

Whatever you do get a regulator before you use CO2 at all. Not adding priming sugar and force carbing with CO2 makes most sense in a keg it will give you clearer beer and less crud in the keg.

I've just ordered the £30 regulator from The Malt Miller, along with various JG fittings.

On the day then.....I rack the beer from both fermenters straight into the keg, seal it up and turn on the CO2 at just under 1PSI? will that be carbonated and ready to drink straight away? or does it take a few days to carb up like it would in bottles?

 

[Leon103]

I think there is a particular technique to force carbing kegs.

 

[Crystal_Ball]

I've just ordered the �£30 regulator from The Malt Miller, along with various JG fittings.

On the day then.....I rack the beer from both fermenters straight into the keg, seal it up and turn on the CO2 at just under 1PSI? will that be carbonated and ready to drink straight away? or does it take a few days to carb up like it would in bottles?

I've just started kegging. I crank up to 30 psi then disconnect the gas. A week or two and it's carbonated. You can shake the keg to "force" the co2 into the beer. There are a few thread on here about it plus plenty of videos on YouTube.
You will not serve at 30 psi. I serve at around 10 psi.
I'm new to it so not sure about condition times.

 

[simon12]

There are charts to work out carbonation pressure as it depends on temperature.

 

[Soton]

10 gallons is quite a bit of beer so I would expect it to take a bit longer then carbonating a corny.
For most ales I try to keep my serving pressure as low as possible to avoid any CO2 bite, if you use a highish serving pressure and the beer sits in the keg for awhile it might well absorb a little more CO2 then you wanted and it will become noticeable in the beer

 

[james1988]

There are charts to work out carbonation pressure as it depends on temperature.

Here is the link to a chart on another brewing forum...
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=55498

Hopefully this is allowed...

James

 

[JapanBrew]

I've just ordered the £30 regulator from The Malt Miller, along with various JG fittings.

On the day then.....I rack the beer from both fermenters straight into the keg, seal it up and turn on the CO2 at just under 1PSI? will that be carbonated and ready to drink straight away? or does it take a few days to carb up like it would in bottles?

If space is hard, then do what I do. Really works and is fast.

I use small, 8 liter, wide mouth jars as secondary fermentation. So from the main FV, I transfer over to the jars. Let ferment for another 10 days at 20 c or so. Once done, those jar sizes fit well in my large cooler box. I place a lot of ice and cold crash for a good 4 days. This will drop out everything.
Once done, transfer to the kegs. Now the beer is cold and pretty clear. Seal up the keg. If you didn't add co2 to the keg before filling (which you should) the add the gas at a low psi, around 10-12. Purge the air out.
Now turn the pressure up to 40-45 psi and put the keg on the ground, on its side so you can rock it around. I rock it at that pressure for about 4 minutes per 10 liters. But I wouldn't do 8 minutes for a 19, more like 5:30 or so. Once done, you CAN drink it from then on but I like to let it condition up a bit for 2 weeks or so. But if your going to drink it, release the pressure all the way to nothing, then apply your gas at your serving pressure. My taps are using 3 mm line at 2 meters so I have to serve high, 30 psi but most lines and length is about 14-15 psi. Party taps with short hoses, under a meter, you would be around 10 psi.
Does that make sense?

 

[R-J-M]

If space is hard, then do what I do. Really works and is fast.

I use small, 8 liter, wide mouth jars as secondary fermentation. So from the main FV, I transfer over to the jars. Let ferment for another 10 days at 20 c or so. Once done, those jar sizes fit well in my large cooler box. I place a lot of ice and cold crash for a good 4 days. This will drop out everything.
Once done, transfer to the kegs. Now the beer is cold and pretty clear. Seal up the keg. If you didn't add co2 to the keg before filling (which you should) the add the gas at a low psi, around 10-12. Purge the air out.
Now turn the pressure up to 40-45 psi and put the keg on the ground, on its side so you can rock it around. I rock it at that pressure for about 4 minutes per 10 liters. But I wouldn't do 8 minutes for a 19, more like 5:30 or so. Once done, you CAN drink it from then on but I like to let it condition up a bit for 2 weeks or so. But if your going to drink it, release the pressure all the way to nothing, then apply your gas at your serving pressure. My taps are using 3 mm line at 2 meters so I have to serve high, 30 psi but most lines and length is about 14-15 psi. Party taps with short hoses, under a meter, you would be around 10 psi.
Does that make sense?

cheers! that's a lot of info to try and take in, had to read it several times lol.

 

[chewie]

I would go so far as to use beer finings before putting it into the keg to keep it as clear and clean as possible, there is no access to the inside of a pub keg unlike a corny.

You may need a cellarbuoy to cutdown fobbing or risk wasting a fair bit of beer when nearing the end of a keg and tapping a new one.