First time kegging??

[bhaslip]

Just bought a corney keg and was wondering about the process for dispensing draft beer. I have always bottled and I am sick of it. Where can I get a cheap co2 tank and regulator? How difficult is it to keg your first beer?

[Hawkeye]

I reccomend getting a co2 tank/regulator from morebeer, midwestsupplies or northernbrewer. Kegging your first beer will astound you in its simplicity.

1. Ensure the fermentor is higher than the keg (like on a table)
2. Ensure the keg is cleaned and sanitized...purge with co2 if possible
3. Remove the airlock/blowoff tube
4. Place a SANATIZED autosiphon into the fermenter with the tubing going to the bottom of the keg, pump, and watch the beer flow
5. Replace the gasket on the corny keg, crank up the co2 to ensure a good seal (~30 PSI). Pull the relief ring after a few minutes to blow off excess oxygen that may be on the top.
6. Reduce the CO2 level to the appropriate level for carbonation (depends on style and temp)...set and forget for 1-2 weeks.
7. As the BN would say ...drink mutha fucka drink

Rinse and repeat.

PS...look up chrisknight000 on youtube.com. He has some videos of the process that really helped me visualize when i was getting started
Also, GOOD NOON!

[gbob]

How hard?

Compared to bottling?

Oh, my friend. Welcome to a wonderful world. I just started kegging in May, and holy shit does it make my life better. Not just a little bit, either. It's night and day.

Think about all you do when you're bottling. Cleaning all the bottles, filling each bottle, capping each bottle. About an hour or so on to your brewday, right? In just a short time, all you're going to be doing is to stick in an auto siphon from your fermenter to your keg, and walk away. That's it. Then just cap the keg, put it under pressure and you got yourself some cold draft beer.

Now, as a cheap bastard I had some problems getting a good co2 tank and regulator. The prices are going to vary by a wide amount, so you want to shop around.

Stage one is to get a co2 tank. A 5 pound tank is fine (it'll last a few months or so). Call around to various welding supply stores for prices on a refurbished co2 tank, filled. I was quoted between 140 dollars and 45 dollars. The dirty secret is that those places get their co2 for 11 cents a pound. Filling a tank costs them under a dollar. It's a hell of a scam. The co2 tank itself is just an old fire extinguisher that's been welded a bit. Not to brag, but I found out last week that my neighbor fills co2 tanks. He took mine and filled it for free. Also said he's going to get me a 20 pound tank. Woot!

The regulator itself is another funny thing. After shopping everywhere, I found the cheapest dual gauge regulator I could find was at my homebrew shop the whole time. Expect to spend between 45-95 dollars on a simple model.

Then it's a matter of a few lines. I think I spent about 15 bucks on those.

So set aside about 160 bucks. It’ll be the best money you ever spent. Now you need to get more kegs. You will never have enough after you start.

Best thing? You can still bottle out of your keg. I like to bottle about 6-10 beers per keg and put them away.

You can also bottle out of the keg into an empty water bottle. Imagine going into the park with a few bottles of your homebrew. It’ll stay carbonated for the evening in those things. Excellent when out on a bike ride. Screw Gatorade. I carry beer.

[bhaslip]

Thanks for the input. My buddy is the brewmaster at my local micro and said that if I get the co2 tank he can hook me up with the regulator and lines. I will call around to some local welding supply shops to see what a 5# tank is running. I can't wait to get my first beer kegged! Thanks.

[bcmaui]

See this thread and Bug's links at the bottom of Page 1:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8715

Morebeer has a nice info sheet PDF at the bottom of this page:

https://morebeer.com/search/103680/beer ... oreManuals!

[San_Diego_Matt]

Here in San Diego, there are often cheapish CO2 tanks on Craigslist too.

[bhaslip]

I have a Bock beer that has been lagering for a long time and is ready to be bottled or kegged. My question is can I store beer in the corny keg or does it have to be drank right away? I don't have a tank or regulator yet, so I was wondering if I can just use priming sugar, fill the keg and set it in a corner for a while. Thanks.

[gbob]

Not a great idea.

Think on it this way. What's left in the keg when you fill it with beer?

Air.

You don't want your beer to be sitting with air on top of it for weeks.

When you keg, after filling the keg you hook CO2 up to it and vent out the excess O2. In the end you've replaced all that air with the CO2, and you can let the beer sit for however long you want, not hooked up.

In the short term, they make some mini co2 keg chargers.

http://morebeer.com/view_product/18305/ ... r_Pin_Lock

They're cool to have (I use one for taking a keg on a camping trip or a party where I don't want to haul a CO2 tank or risk damaging my regulator (biggest fear is some drunk yahoo smashing the guages) but obviously you gotta wonder if they're worth the price as a stop gap.