Keg Conditioning Pressure

[GDoucet]

I have a brew that’s just about done clearing up in secondary and I’m about to transfer it to a keg. With my system, I can only have one keg on tap at a time so I won’t be drinking from this keg for a couple weeks. Just wondering what I should be doing in terms of gas in the keg I’m about to fill. Obviously I want to purge all the air from the keg once it’s filled, so I’ll pressurize it to about 10psi then vent the keg but after that I’m not sure what’s the best way to do this. I usually force carb my beer but I don’t know if this will affect the beer’s ability to condition in the keg. Is it going to kill off any yeast left over in the keg? Should I just put a little bit of pressure in the keg to keep the air off the beer or force carb it and leave it to my serving pressure until I put it on tap? Any advice about this is greatly appreciated.

[RubberToe]

Do you have enough room in your serving unit to have the new keg on the CO2 and chilled while you keep your other one on the gas and serving?

Also, having your new keg carbed won't effect its ability to condition or kill the yeast because of the CO2.

If you can't have the new keg on the gas at the same time you can purge it with CO2, seal the lid, and let it sit outside your fridge no problem (provided it's not too too warm for a long period I guess). You could also prime your keg with sugar and naturally carbonate it while your old one is on but I'm guesing that would take 3 weeks or so.

[BrooklandBrewer]

Do you have enough room in your serving unit to have the new keg on the CO2 and chilled while you keep your other one on the gas and serving?

Also, having your new keg carbed won't effect its ability to condition or kill the yeast because of the CO2.

If you can't have the new keg on the gas at the same time you can purge it with CO2, seal the lid, and let it sit outside your fridge no problem (provided it's not too too warm for a long period I guess). You could also prime your keg with sugar and naturally carbonate it while your old one is on but I'm guesing that would take 3 weeks or so.

I second this. Also, be aware that if you do not have the keg continually hooked up to your CO2 supply, you'll have to re-pressurize that keg periodically until the void above the liquid and the beer itself are equalized in pressure. Otherwise (I learned this the hard way) the keg will lose it's seal and oxygen/other things could possibly enter the keg and ruin the beer. This was at 10 psi so maybe priming it with 40 psi or something would remedy this situation. Maybe some others can speak more to this?

[LeafMan66_67]

I usually carb the keg naturally with priming sugar - pressurize to 20psi or so to seat the gaskets, and let it sit in storage to carbonate. That way, the extra kegs are always carbed and ready to chill.

[Sobeys]

I usually carb the keg naturally with priming sugar - pressurize to 20psi or so to seat the gaskets, and let it sit in storage to carbonate. That way, the extra kegs are always carbed and ready to chill.

Do you shorten the length of the stem on your kegs so the sediment from the natural carbonation stays at the bottom of the keg?

[LeafMan66_67]

Do you shorten the length of the stem on your kegs so the sediment from the natural carbonation stays at the bottom of the keg?

No, haven't had the issue. You may get a cloudy first pour or two, but once it is settled, all is fine.

[GDoucet]

Thanks for all the replies. Once the keg is carbed, would leaving it at room temperature for say a month cause any problems? If it was left at room temperature for any longer what could be the possible problems?

Also, it seems like a few of you guys like to carb with priming sugar. What's the advantages/disadvantages of doing it this way?

[RubberToe]

Thanks for all the replies. Once the keg is carbed, would leaving it at room temperature for say a month cause any problems? If it was left at room temperature for any longer what could be the possible problems?

Besides that room temp (20 degrees?) isn't an ideal storage temperature for beer, I don't see a big problem. Just keep in mind that beer carbed at say 12 psi at 20 degrees will have less carbonation than beer carbed at the same psi at 4 degrees or whatever temp you serve at.

[mr x]

I like priming sugar as I can leave the keg in many more places, and I find my carb level to be more repeatable.