A few questions about kegs.

[Jamesman]

Hi, I haven't been brewing long but bottling the beer is getting a bit tedious so i started thinking about kegs. There's a few things I don't know though and I find the whole thing a bit little bit daunting. Some help would be appreciated.
Do I have to put priming suger in the beer before it goes in the keg or does the co2 prime it?
Does the beer have to stay as long in a keg as it does in a bottle to condition.? I've read that some beers like stouts taste better after leaving it for months.
And last but not least do I need a fridge to keep it the right temp like when I bottle it? Sorry this is a bit long. Cheers.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Hi Jamesman, i have just gone over to corny kegs, you don't need to prime with sugar but you can if you want, i bought a fridge that will fit 3 kegs and a full size gas bottle and as of today that is the limit of my kegging knowledge, the experts will be along shortly

 

[Jamesman]

Hi Jamesman, i have just gone over to corny kegs, you don't need to prime with sugar but you can if you want, i bought a fridge that will fit 3 kegs and a full size gas bottle and as of today that is the limit of my kegging knowledge, the experts will be along shortly

OK, thanks for the quick reply. I'm keeping my eye out for a cheap fridge but havnt found a decent one yet. Cheers.

 

[Hoppyland]

You absolutely don't need to prime your kegs - but if you don't you'll need to carb them up with CO₂ from a cylinder. But you'll need to do that anyway, if you want the beer to be similarly carbed from the first to the last pint.
How long it needs to condition depends upon you. If you force carbonate from a cylinder, then it will condition very quickly indeed, if all you mean by "condition" is to become at least a bit "fizzy". If you have "cold crashed" and/or fined the beer before kegging, then it should be pretty clear from the word go. On the other hand, you might want to leave the beer in the keg for a week or two (or indeed more!) to "mature". See how the flavour changes with time, and judge for yourself how long to leave it.
The temperature at which you serve the beer is also your choice. Personally, I hate chilled beer. To me, decent beer is like red wine, best served at a cool room temperature. Only undrinkable garbage (Tennent's Lager comes to mind) should be chilled - only drinkable if you can't actually taste it!! But seriously, if you like your beer cold then you are going to have to refrigerate your kegs - at least in the summer - to achieve this. Look for "kegerator" for ways to go.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Hi, I haven't been brewing long but bottling the beer is getting a bit tedious so i started thinking about kegs. There's a few things I don't know though and I find the whole thing a bit little bit daunting. Some help would be appreciated.
Do I have to put priming suger in the beer before it goes in the keg or does the co2 prime it?
Does the beer have to stay as long in a keg as it does in a bottle to condition.? I've read that some beers like stouts taste better after leaving it for months.
And last but not least do I need a fridge to keep it the right temp like when I bottle it? Sorry this is a bit long. Cheers.

I found the thought of kegging daunting until I watched a some viedos on YouTube and read a few threads on here. Having done that, when my kit arrived, I didn't really have to think too hard to get it all up and running and it felt almost as though I had done it before. A few of the homebrew suppliers do complete starter kits with everything you'll need(except the CO2).
You don't need a fridge for them, but as @Hoppyland aleready said, that depends on what temp you like your beer served at. I mostly drink ales and the understairs cupboard is about 14C so I can serve from there. That said, I did build myself a modest keezer in the end.
I don't bother priming with sugar, and just use the 'set and forget' force carbing method. If priming in the keg, you'll need to leave at fermentation temperature while the yeast does it's work.
I was sceptical about kegging and thought it was just a novelty until I started doing it myself. I am now looking to purchase a couple more cornys as I too hate bottling. The thing with Kegging is, all the effort is upfront and laregly one-off (setting up the gas line and beer lines, familiarising yourelf with the new equipment, etc).

 

[Jamesman]

You absolutely don't need to prime your kegs - but if you don't you'll need to carb them up with CO₂ from a cylinder. But you'll need to do that anyway, if you want the beer to be similarly carbed from the first to the last pint.
How long it needs to condition depends upon you. If you force carbonate from a cylinder, then it will condition very quickly indeed, if all you mean by "condition" is to become at least a bit "fizzy". If you have "cold crashed" and/or fined the beer before kegging, then it should be pretty clear from the word go. On the other hand, you might want to leave the beer in the keg for a week or two (or indeed more!) to "mature". See how the flavour changes with time, and judge for yourself how long to leave it.
The temperature at which you serve the beer is also your choice. Personally, I hate chilled beer. To me, decent beer is like red wine, best served at a cool room temperature. Only undrinkable garbage (Tennent's Lager comes to mind) should be chilled - only drinkable if you can't actually taste it!! But seriously, if you like your beer cold then you are going to have to refrigerate your kegs - at least in the summer - to achieve this. Look for "kegerator" for ways to go.

Hi, thanks for answering my questions. It seems a lot clearer now. One of my concerns was fitting the thing in my fridge but up till now I've made stout and ipa which taste better as you say cool room temperature. I'll just keep the keg in the celler. Thanks again. Cheers.

 

[Jamesman]

I found the thought of kegging daunting until I watched a some viedos on YouTube and read a few threads on here. Having done that, when my kit arrived, I didn't really have to think too hard to get it all up and running and it felt almost as though I had done it before. A few of the homebrew suppliers do complete starter kits with everything you'll need(except the CO2).
You don't need a fridge for them, but as @Hoppyland aleready said, that depends on what temp you like your beer served at. I mostly drink ales and the understairs cupboard is about 14C so I can serve from there. That said, I did build myself a modest keezer in the end.
I don't bother priming with sugar, and just use the 'set and forget' force carbing method. If priming in the keg, you'll need to leave at fermentation temperature while the yeast does it's work.
I was sceptical about kegging and thought it was just a novelty until I started doing it myself. I am now looking to purchase a couple more cornys as I too hate bottling. The thing with Kegging is, all the effort is upfront and laregly one-off (setting up the gas line and beer lines, familiarising yourelf with the new equipment, etc).

Hi, thanks for the info. I've watched a few videos and read a few threads aswell. It seems pretty straightforward once all set up. I'm sure I'll be fine when I get to grips with it. I've seen a few starter kits online that look good. So I'll get one ordered. Cheers.

 

[hoppyscotty]

new to begging here too and built my own kegarator. Been faffing about a bit with it to get a decent draw from it and not a frothy, foamy beer where the CO2 is all in the head sat on top of a flat beer. think I've cracked it with my last modification but ran out of beer when I was testing so got a slug of froth as the keg emptied!! was looking OK up until that point though and tasted fine.

I run mine from a Sodastream bottle which seems to last well. I've a 5ltr keg and you can carb and serve a good few kegs before needing a refill. Also ideally need some way to pressure transfer from your fermenter if you really want to be oxygen free. That was my main aim.

 

[Jamesman]

new to begging here too and built my own kegarator. Been faffing about a bit with it to get a decent draw from it and not a frothy, foamy beer where the CO2 is all in the head sat on top of a flat beer. think I've cracked it with my last modification but ran out of beer when I was testing so got a slug of froth as the keg emptied!! was looking OK up until that point though and tasted fine.

I run mine from a Sodastream bottle which seems to last well. I've a 5ltr keg and you can carb and serve a good few kegs before needing a refill. Also ideally need some way to pressure transfer from your fermenter if you really want to be oxygen free. That was my main aim.

OK, thanks. I don't really know much about pressure transfer so I'll look it up. Alyways more to learn. Ha. Cheers.

 

[stripeyjoe]

You can probably get a fridge for free or up to £50, if you get one that’s about 140cm or so tall and 60cm wide you should be able to fit 4 corny kegs in, 2 on the bottom and 2 above. You can also use the fridge for fermenting or conditioning.
I managed to pick a 140cm high one up for free this weekend and my latest brew is fermenting in there with a 19l keg of my last brew now chilling in an under counter fridge I also got for nowt a while ago.

 

[Jamesman]

That sounds like a good size. I'll check ebay. Cheers.

 

[Paul Roberts]

I purchased 2 x 9.5 litre aeb kegs for space reasons and I love them. Quick to fill and I use soda stream to force carb. I dotn have a fridge so a big ice bucket or cool jacket does the job. My only upgrade I think I need is a bigger co2 as sodastream will do 2 kegs before running out. Looks daunting but simple when you go through it

 

[Jamesman]

I purchased 2 x 9.5 litre aeb kegs for space reasons and I love them. Quick to fill and I use soda stream to force carb. I dotn have a fridge so a big ice bucket or cool jacket does the job. My only upgrade I think I need is a bigger co2 as sodastream will do 2 kegs before running out. Looks daunting but simple when you go through it

Hi thanks. I'm thinking of getting a 19l and maybe a 5l that I can fill up from the big one and stick that in the fridge. Cheers.

 

[Gerryjo]

I purchased 2 x 9.5 litre aeb kegs for space reasons and I love them. Quick to fill and I use soda stream to force carb. I dotn have a fridge so a big ice bucket or cool jacket does the job. My only upgrade I think I need is a bigger co2 as sodastream will do 2 kegs before running out. Looks daunting but simple when you go through it

That's an expensive setup with the soda stream refilling after 2 kegs.I have a 6.3kg from BOC suregas £35 a fill then £3.50 a month rental and and quick carbed as in rock and roll and force quite a few kegs and although near empty it's still going over a year later which reminds me I'd need to order a refill.
Also got a soda stream setup for on the go with a 10l keg though haven't had chance to use it as I only have it a few weeks and just got a few brews on to start filling after a garage refurb and Keezer build but something to look forward to.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

I found the thought of kegging daunting until I watched a some viedos on YouTube and read a few threads on here. Having done that, when my kit arrived, I didn't really have to think too hard to get it all up and running and it felt almost as though I had done it before. A few of the homebrew suppliers do complete starter kits with everything you'll need(except the CO2).
You don't need a fridge for them, but as @Hoppyland aleready said, that depends on what temp you like your beer served at. I mostly drink ales and the understairs cupboard is about 14C so I can serve from there. That said, I did build myself a modest keezer in the end.
I don't bother priming with sugar, and just use the 'set and forget' force carbing method. If priming in the keg, you'll need to leave at fermentation temperature while the yeast does it's work.
I was sceptical about kegging and thought it was just a novelty until I started doing it myself. I am now looking to purchase a couple more cornys as I too hate bottling. The thing with Kegging is, all the effort is upfront and laregly one-off (setting up the gas line and beer lines, familiarising yourelf with the new equipment, etc).

Amen to everything said here!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

If you get a keg (or two) then you won't regret it; you'll probably still do a bottle or two to share with others though.

As other have said there is a bit of a setup cost to it - perhaps more than you might imagine. But there's no doubt it enables you to make and store the beer much more efficiently.

Despite the fact we all like to rave about our own setups (personally I LOVE my stainless steel AEB cornys) there are several different price points you can enter at.

Your basic level can be as simple as a basic plastic pressure barrel and just use priming sugar.
Next level up would be to add a lid with a valve that lets you 'burp' in more gas from one of those little disposable mini-CO2 cylinders
Next level up from that is to get a stainless keg (corny), a proper gas cylinder (which also requires a pressure regulator) and a simple serving tap ('party tap')

I'd recommend going straight to a corny and gas regulator if you can afford it - but you're probably looking at the £100-150 mark. Are you prepared to spend that much, or are you looking more at the sub £50 budget?

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

I too have just moved to kegging and remain undecided about it for ales (though I've yet to properly go through the thread that I think Jocky wrote).

Just as @Hoppyland said, you might not need a fridge for ale if you have, say, a cellar that is a constant low temperature, but if you want to make any of the excellent beer styles that absolutely SHOULD be served chilled, you'll probably need to find some way of chilling.

As for saving time over bottling, I'm not sure kegging does, over all, given everything you have to do to get beer from fermenter to keg to glass, but it does cut down on cleaning which I hate. The actual bottling was fine as I had the radio for company.

One thing I was very surprised to find was that I didn't have as many problems with fobbing as I thought I would, considering I just put everything together and poured a pint.

 

[paintingken]

That sounds like a good size. I'll check ebay. Cheers.

I found Facebook marketplace and Gumtree better. There’s more people that just want things shifted. Good luck.

 

[Jamesman]

I found Facebook marketplace and Gumtree better. There’s more people that just want things shifted. Good luck.

Cheers.

 

[Jamesman]

I too have just moved to kegging and remain undecided about it for ales (though I've yet to properly go through the thread that I think Jocky wrote).

Just as @Hoppyland said, you might not need a fridge for ale if you have, say, a cellar that is a constant low temperature, but if you want to make any of the excellent beer styles that absolutely SHOULD be served chilled, you'll probably need to find some way of chilling.

As for saving time over bottling, I'm not sure kegging does, over all, given everything you have to do to get beer from fermenter to keg to glass, but it does cut down on cleaning which I hate. The actual bottling was fine as I had the radio for company.

One thing I was very surprised to find was that I didn't have as many problems with fobbing as I thought I would, considering I just put everything together and poured a pint.

Hi, thanks. It's mainly the bottle cleaning and sanitising thats a chore. Plus I quite fancy pulling my own pints. The celler is a bit cooler than the rest of the house but Im still gonna look out for a fridge. Cheers.