General Questions

[Beerlabelman]

Cheers Beer Brothers & Sisters! Just a couple of Kegging Questions.
Do you normally let your beer sit in the keg for awhile before you add the gas? If so, how long, why, reasons, etc.
Is it better to carb in the fridge or at room temp?
Can you re-carb a beer that's gone flat?
I've been brewing for a few years, but I've always bottle conditioned. This will be my first time force carbonating.

[Beer-lord]

Beer will carbonate faster/better when it's below 38-40 degrees. I sit my keg in my 39 degree kegerator overnight without gas. Then, I add gas as 10-12 psi for 5-7 days. I normally can't wait more than 4 days to test.
Sometimes I've set my PSI to 30 for 1 day, 20 for 2 days and 10 for 2 days and have had good luck with the beer being ready Of course, different beers need different times of setting before they are ready.

But, after I keg my beer, I hit it with 30 PSI while it waits for a place in the kegerator. I release some C02 to remove any dead air while it sits waiting for space.

I've never tried recarbing beer that's gone flat so I can't give you a guess as to how to do that.

[Beerlabelman]

Thanks Beer Lord. That makes sense. Purge the air out of the keg if I want it to sit & condition a little. Then chill before carbing. I'm leaning towards 15psi for 4 days then taste test.
Now, after I've reached my desired carb level, I should pull the tab, take the pressure down to 8-10 lbs & serve as needed. Correct?

[Beer-lord]

That's pretty much how I do it. When I first keg it, I fill it to 30 psi and release a few times adding more gas to make sure I purge it good. Then, after it's been gassed for a week or 10 days, and I'm testing it, I pull a few pints to get all the sediment out. Then after that, its all good, clean brew. Ahhhhh, nothing beats pulling the tap.

[FrozenInTime]

What works for me: Transfer to keg, seal up good and connect to bottle. Hit with bout 30 psi to seal/check seals, then release co2. This purges the oxygen out. Then I lay on it's side, run up to desired pressure for desired carb level and gently roll the keg around on the floor for about 10 minutes. Once I hear no more gas going into the tank I put it in the basement until I'm ready to drink, usually about 2 weeks unless I have a healthy pipeline, then it gets tapped as needed. I think they call this set n forget it. They come out perfect for me every time.

When I use the keg, I put in fridge for 3-4 days then release all pressure. Connect to the tank and turn the pressure up slowly until I get the pour rate I want, usually around 8 psi.

I use this chart to select the psi per carb level per temp I store the kegs in (usually round 60 degrees for me): Chart

[Gymrat]

Cheers Beer Brothers & Sisters! Just a couple of Kegging Questions.
Do you normally let your beer sit in the keg for awhile before you add the gas? If so, how long, why, reasons, etc.
Is it better to carb in the fridge or at room temp?
Can you re-carb a beer that's gone flat?
I've been brewing for a few years, but I've always bottle conditioned. This will be my first time force carbonating.

#1 I have 4 kegs and a double tapper kegerator. When I keg a beer it is going to be a while before I tap it. I naturally carb my kegs so that when I start getting low on one of the beers in my kegorator I can put a new one in there to chill. That way as soon as I blow a keg I can just move the lines over to the new keg and it is carbed and ready to serve. So my beer sits in the keg for 4 to 6 weeks before I tap into it.

#2 That depends on if you are natural carbing or force carbing. If force carbing it is better to carb in the fridge.

#3 Yes

[Gymrat]

I've never tried recarbing beer that's gone flat so I can't give you a guess as to how to do that.

You do it the same way you carbed it in the first place.

[russki]

My process is a lot simpler - I rack to keg, put the keg in the keezer, connect liquid and gas lines, purge O2 by pulling on the release a few times, and leave it connected at serving pressure (about 12 psi). It's fully carbed in a week or so, but certainly benefits from a few weeks cold conditioning.

This is the "set and forget" method.

Many ways to skin a cat.

[Inkleg]

My process is a lot simpler - I rack to keg, put the keg in the keezer, connect liquid and gas lines, purge O2 by pulling on the release a few times, and leave it connected at serving pressure (about 12 psi). It's fully carbed in a week or so, but certainly benefits from a few weeks cold conditioning.

This is the "set and forget" method.

Many ways to skin a cat.

This is how I skin my cat also. And boy do I know about cat skinning.

DSC00875.JPG (60.29 KiB) Viewed 683 times

[Kealia]

Steve, in terms of warm conditioning in a keg or not, just treat it like a giant bottle. If you think the beer needs to condition for a while before chilling do the same thing you would for your bottles.

Whether or not mine chill right away depends on whether I have room in the kegerator or not.

[Beerlabelman]

Thanks fellas for all the great answers. I see there's alot of options.
So Kealia can I leave a keg at room temp for say 2 weeks (a little conditioning) then chill, then force carb? Or, do you force carb first then let it sit?
Here's a fun pic from the GABF 2013 as a thank you to all That's my partner Jim applying a tatoo with skill.

[packerduf]

My process is a lot simpler - I rack to keg, put the keg in the keezer, connect liquid and gas lines, purge O2 by pulling on the release a few times, and leave it connected at serving pressure (about 12 psi). It's fully carbed in a week or so, but certainly benefits from a few weeks cold conditioning.

This is the "set and forget" method.

Many ways to skin a cat.

+1 to the "set and forget" method. This is exactly how I do it, and it has served me well.

[Beer-lord]

I've had some kegs condition at room temperature for 3 to 3 1/2 weeks with no problems. But, I like to get IPA's in the kegerator in about a week.

Is she smiling at you Steve?

[haerbob3]

I have been naturally carbing my last few kegs. I am not drinking as much right now so letting them sit like giant bottle is what works best for me now. Before I was doing the set & forget like Russki.

[FrozenInTime]

Hmmm, gonna have to find another fridge so I can try your set and forget method.