Making the move to Corny kegs - few questions

[BrewzLee]

Hi,

I recently decided to make the move to cornelius kegs from bottling and over the last few weeks I've been busy reading up on kegging and gathering the bits and pieces that I need for the setup.

I have 3 corny kegs, full co2 cylinder, dual guage regulator, disconnects, beer line/gas line, taps, new seals and keg lubricant.

I have cleaned the outside of the kegs and I am planning to strip them all down and give them a thorough clean, fit the new o-rings and sanitise them before connecting everything up for a trial run.

The questions I have are:

- If I have 3 kegs do I need to have a co2 manifold to connect up 2/3 kegs to the gas at the same time or is it OK to use Y splitters?

- Can I fill a keg from the FV, add co2 to purge air etc. then disconnect it from the gas until I am ready to connect it up to the taps?

I am planning to try system out with water first to test for leaks and practice force carbonation rather than risking putting an AG batch straight in.

I'm sure I will have more questions as I set the system up and any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks :thumb:

 

[Godsdog]

Hi I have 3 cornies and a gas management board from norm with 6 outlets.what I do is fill the cornie and force carb with around 25 psi purging the air once or twice with the valve in the lid,I then tend to leave it sit for up to 3 weeks then connect to the gas management board with around 10 psi for serving but then it all depends if you have a kegerator as the Co2 will dissolve into the beer better at a low tempature rather than room temperature.I haven't the room for a kegerator so went down the flash cooler route which I'm very pleased with

 

[BrewzLee]

Hi Godsdog,
Thanks for your reply.

So after force carbing you disconnect from the gas and leave it to condition before connecting it back to the gas via the gas management board to serve? If so that would solve my issue of having more kegs than gas outlets.

I haven't got a kegerator...yet, so I am going to be storing the kegs in a cupboard in the coolest place in the house for now, just got to figure out how best to mount the taps.

 

[Godsdog]

Hi Godsdog,
Thanks for your reply.

So after force carbing you disconnect from the gas and leave it to condition before connecting it back to the gas via the gas management board to serve? If so that would solve my issue of having more kegs than gas outlets.

I haven't got a kegerator...yet, so I am going to be storing the kegs in a cupboard in the coolest place in the house for now, just got to figure out how best to mount the taps.

The problem is storing a cornie of beer at room temperatures is always gonna be hit and miss adding in bore and length of serving line,its a more exact science if you have the keg chilled as there are CO2 volume charts available for the beer at set chilled temperatures

 

[Dads_Ale]

Godsdog has covered most of it ( I also have one of the six point manifolds).
During force carbing I tend not to leave the gas on continuous, but instead just turn it on a couple of times a day until the required equilibrium pressure is maintained. It may take a bit longer to carb up but this way you won't lose a whole cylinder of CO2 due to leaks.

You will find that the more beer you draw off the less the keg pressure will drop. You may not have to add much extra CO2 at all once the keg is half empty.

It is however handy having some extra outlets as these can be used for cleaning etc. without disturbing any full kegs.

 

[Smileyr8]

Hi,

I recently decided to make the move to cornelius kegs from bottling and over the last few weeks I've been busy reading up on kegging and gathering the bits and pieces that I need for the setup.

I have 3 corny kegs, full co2 cylinder, dual guage regulator, disconnects, beer line/gas line, taps, new seals and keg lubricant.

I have cleaned the outside of the kegs and I am planning to strip them all down and give them a thorough clean, fit the new o-rings and sanitise them before connecting everything up for a trial run.

The questions I have are:

- If I have 3 kegs do I need to have a co2 manifold to connect up 2/3 kegs to the gas at the same time or is it OK to use Y splitters?

- Can I fill a keg from the FV, add co2 to purge air etc. then disconnect it from the gas until I am ready to connect it up to the taps?

I am planning to try system out with water first to test for leaks and practice force carbonation rather than risking putting an AG batch straight in.

I'm sure I will have more questions as I set the system up and any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks :thumb:

I use Y splitters onto 3 cornies without an issue the only problem I foresee and this different carbonation rates this not a problem for me as I carbonate everything the same.

 

[BrewzLee]

OK that's great, thanks guys. Sounds like it'll be a bit of trial and error as far as beer line lengths are concerned then with me not having a kegerator/cooler.

Also looks like I'll be adding a manifold/ management board to my equipment list. :whistle:

 

[Dads_Ale]

For the beer line look at getting some 3/16 in order to drop the serving pressure. You may need a few joiners to connect to standard 3/8 line from the corny and whatever size your taps require.
Start off long and reduce length as required.
Good luck....:)

 

[Godsdog]

I use 10 mm O/D 5mm I/D silicon milk hose myself for serving ,like the flexibility of it and not expensive

 

[machin05]

Bit of a newb question, but if you've got a 3 way splitter but only 2 kegs on the go, can you shut off the empty outlet of the splitter?

 

[Godsdog]

Bit of a newb question, but if you've got a 3 way splitter but only 2 kegs on the go, can you shut off the empty outlet of the splitter?

Not aware of splitters having shut offs on each stem if you find one link me

 

[machin05]

Well, no, that's what I'm asking. What happens if there is a splitter outlet with nothing connected to it...

 

[Dads_Ale]

Well, no, that's what I'm asking. What happens if there is a splitter outlet with nothing connected to it...

Essentially the gas will come out.

You would either need to fit blanking plugs to the lines that are not being used or have a shut off valve on each leg.