Beer Forum

I got two kegs, the picnic taps, o-ring lube and the fittings and a distributor thing. I am going in to town today to get a 20# CO2 tank and a dual gauge regulator. I have two batches of beer that are ready to go. I moved them into the garage, where it stays about fifty degrees right now. I read that makes the yeast stop and drop out of the beer. If I keg those today or tonight and get them on the co2 right away will we be able to serve that for Thanksgiving? That would be really great to have home made beer to go with all the Thanksgiving food.

Mort

Depending on the yeast and style, it could work. Ice those kegs down rather than keeping them at 50F and they will carbonate faster.

There are lots of procedures for how to get carbonation in that beer quickly.

One way is to set your pressure at serving pressure (say 12psi) and shake or rock the keg with that pressure until you can't hear the gas hissing into the keg any more. Let it sit overnight with the gas on, then do it again the next morning. Let it sit one more night with the gas on and you are ready to serve. By not using high pressure you won't overcarbonate, but you may hurt your beers head and you will certainly tire yourself out because it takes a LOT of shaking that way.

Maybe strap the kegs to a rocking chair! If you do that WE WANT PICTURES!

Another common way is to hit it with high pressure - maybe 35psi - and shake for (1? 3? 5?) minutes. Everyone has their favorite number. Let it sit with the gas off, and you will probably have carbonated beer the next day, but it might be over or under carbonated.

Another possibility is to hit it with 35psi but don't shake. Leave it 2 days that way, then take off the gas. By the 3rd day, you (should/might) be able to serve at regular pressure.

If I had to pick I'd do the first one and take the low head as a trade off.

My suggestion....
Get that beer COLD put it in a fridge or probably outside up there.... under 40 degrees would be best.... put it in the keg.... keep it cold... set the regulator at 12psi attach it to the keg... shake it like a redheaded stepchild. Leave the gas on and the keg COLD... 40 is a good number, use Ice and an old garbage can if you have to.... it will be ready by Turkey Day.

NOTE CHECK ALL YOUR CONNECTIONS WITH SOAPY WATER IF YOU LEAVE THE GAS ON... actually it isn't a bad Idea to do that anyway.
BUB

I'm going to put the kegs in my beer refrigerator. I pulled the shelves out and I can get two kegs in there easy. If I make a shelf for the hump in the back I think I can get four. I moved the fermenters to the garage so the yeast will drop before I siphon into the kegs. Milt is coming over tonight and we will probably clean and sanitize one keg and try it out. I will try the forcing carbonation on this keg and see how it goes after it is cold. Thank you!

Mort

You said

NumbSkull wrote: lube

Good luck with kegging! If I know Mort and Milt, you will probably decide that you need to make a kegerator within a week...

I do not know about keggerator, but I do have a beer refrigerator that the shelves are taken out and the kegs are going in. I got my co2 tank and regulator today from my friend Jeff. He gave me a pretty good deal on those. I hooked it up to both of the kegs and they hold air. I still need to clean them out, but Milt is coming out later and I will get him to help me. I can get the co2 tank inside the refrigerator but it takes up too much room. Can I drill a hole in it and leave the tank outside? I don't think there are refrigerant lines on the side are there?

Mort

WAHOOOOO! I did it! I couldn't wait. I cleaned out the keg and mixed up some sanitizer. Then I dumped it in and pumped it out into the other keg, then back. I could not wait for Milt to get here so I siphoned the nut brown into the keg. It was easy! I'm getting the siphoning thing down pat. I put the lid on and pressurized the keg and put the keg in the refrigerator. The nut brown tastes really good. I can not wait for that to be ready. When Milt gets here this evening, we may try shaking the crap out of that keg like you said. I really want to be drinking that Thursday.

I have to get busy. It's almost dark and I still have a few chores.

Mort the kegger

Mort be careful with drilling in the side... most do not have refer lines in the side but some do... my advice...start from the inside with a holesaw and just get the inside layer then dig around in the insulation with a screwdriver or something to see if there are any obsticals... then finish the job if all is clear.
BUB