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Razorback_Jack

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Hello all. I’ve been brewing for a number of years, but have always bottled simply because I have a paranoia about gas canisters.... yes, seriously. I decided to bite the Co2 tank (like Jaws) and get into kegging. I have no idea what I’m doing. I just put the beer into primary fermenter so I’ve got about a month to figure it out, and I would love all the tips you can throw at me. I’m an educator and can learn well if I have good instruction. I have all the equipment needed, and getting a kegerator (will hold 3 1/6’s, double tap, quick chill, etc...) but I don’t know the first thing about kegging or how to operate canister/regulator. Any good, thorough videos or websites you’d recommend? I’ll watch/read them all. Like I said, I’m an educator and love learning so I’ll take whatever advice you give me. I like videos and/or written instructions that include what to do if unforeseen circumstances arise, just for you to know. “This shouldn’t happen, but in case it does... do THIS real quick” stuff like that.

Thanks for hearing me out, and thanks for any instruction and/or advice you can offer. And remember, I don’t know the first thing about operating a tank because I’m a little afraid of them, haha!

Jackson
 
Jackson, from one educator to another kegging isn't brain surgery. Sixtel will be slightly more difficult to fill IMO when you can easily go with corny kegs. A quick YouTube search of kegging homebrew will bring up a ton of quality videos to help you out.
 
Thanks so much, I’ll get on it! I was given three 1/6 kegs, and might be acquiring another, for free which is why I’m now into kegging in the first place. Appreciate the info,

Jackson
 
I'm sure there are a lot of good videos and blogs about this, but I'll give my input here anyway. haha.

Sanitation is just as important, think of the keg as one big bottle. Since you are using sixtels with I'm assuming sankey valves, you will want a method of being able to clean them out with confidence. What that means to me, is a way of removing the spear, and being able to get in there - you will probably start with just a flashlight and carboy brush, but will want to look into building a keg cleaner (think of a subersible pump in a bucket with solution and shooting the solution into the keg which will be inverted on top of it - lot's of examples online, I built one myself).

To remove the spear, there are two main types of valves, one held in with a flat spring, and the other is threaded in. Anytime you are going to remove the spear, ensure that you have completely degassed the keg first! There are good tutorials you can find online on how to remove the spear held in with the spring, and if yours is threaded, there is a special tool that I'd recommend for you to get (I have both types, so I bought the special tool for the threaded ones).

Now, as far as kegging itself. You will want to pressure test your kegs to make sure they don't have any leaks (sankey kegs have a great advantage here in that they tend to be much more leak resistant and predictable). You also want to make sure that your CO2 tank, regulator, tubing, and sankey couplers are leak free. If you are going to use clamps, I'd recommend the appropriate sized oetiker clamp rather than the worm drive clamps you get at homedepot.

If your kegerator has a thermostat that you can set, I'd recommend setting it between 35F-40F. If it has an analog scale, you will want to run it for a few days with buckets of water inside to get an idea of what the exact temperature is inside at a particular setting. This is important when deciding on the pressure for the volumes of CO2 you want.

Look up a CO2 volume table, and find the temperature that your kegerator is set at, and find the volumes of CO2 you desire (most average beers will be in the 2.4-2.8 range, most people seem to be around 2.5 for most beers, myself included). That will tell you what pressure to set your regulator to.

Now that you have the pressure, you can find an online beerline length calculator (I always forget the one preferred here, I'm sure someone will link it), and calculate how much beerline you will want to have. You also need to choose what kind of beerline you want. I use bevseal ultra 235, there is a relatively new EVA kegland line that has some great reviews, and a whole slew of other kinds. If you are using a tower, that can physically restrict you from being able to use the more rigid line like the bevseal ultra that I use, so you will need to figure out what can physically work for you. Once you've decided on the beerline, you can plug the dimensions into the calculator to figure out how much you will need. I always get extra, just in case. You can do some reading about plastic taint and line oxidation if you think that may be of concern for you (it is for many here, myself included).

If your kegerator comes with rear sealing taps, I'd recommend replacing them with forward sealing taps. Intertaps are fairly popular and inexpensive. I am partial to Perlick, and have a whole bunch of 650ss faucets. whatever you get, I'd recommend sticking to stainless all the way (to include the shanks as well).

If your kegerator is with a tower, you may also want to look into tower cooling setups to reduce initial foaming when you pour your beer due to warm faucets. There are kits you can buy that use a computer fan and some tubing with a power supply to circulate cold air up there that I've heard can work well.

You will need to decide how to carbonate your beer in the keg. By far the most common is to force carb with your CO2 tank. I do a quick method where I hook up the CO2 and roll the keg around, and if you set your regulator at the correct psi for the temperature the beer is at, you won't overcarb the beer.

Other general recommendations:
-I'd recommend getting a spare CO2 tank (I personally have five 20# tanks and two 50# tanks). You always seem to run out of CO2 at the most inopportune times, but having a spare will save you from an emergency.
-For a regulator, I'd recommend starting with a taprite and staying away from cheaper ones if you can afford it.
-For a sankey coupler, I'd recommend an all stainless one. I've bought multiple of one particular one off amazon for around $36 that I like, I can find a link for you if you want it.
-I personally never leave the CO2 connected to my kegs, as I'm paranoid about leaks. I just gas up when needed, and then disconnect again.
-Keep a spare regulator gasket seal to the CO2, as you may lose one when disconnecting the regulator from the CO2 tank
-search around, read as much as you can, and ask questions when you have them!
 
I feel you on the fear of the pressurized canister of imminent danger innocently sitting there waiting to explode taking the entire zip code with it. I have had the same thought about this too. However, this fear has plenty of company with every other ticking time bomb that lives in my house. A 55 gallon drum of pressurized scalding water, highly flammable gasses barely being held back by archaic valves and fittings, several amps of electricity only millimeters away from everything flammable, radon, lead, carbon monoxide, mesothelioma, oh my. At the end of the day, I try not to worry about it. I'm probably much more likely to be taken out by a pencil or a vending machine than a malfunctioning CO2 tank.

That said, I found lots of value in these two resources when I first started kegging.

https://www.morebeer.com/themes/morewinepro/kegging.pdf
http://thebeginnersbrew.com/how-to-keg/
 
Knockers, thanks for the links, especially the morebeer link, that is super helpful.

I've only ever bottled and I promised myself that I would start kegging this year. Been watching online marketplaces for the right posting and I found it this weekend. Last night I picked up a full keezer set-up. Seller looked very sad to be parting with this, but after we talked for a while I think he felt better knowing that it would be used and hopefully loved.

This looks to me to be a nice set-up, complete with 3 corny kegs, CO2, two valve regulator, temp control, stainless taps, all lines, etc...

Any words of advice or caution are greatly appreciated. I know I will be a nervous wreck until I successfully keg and pour my first couple brews. I've got nothing in the fermenter at the moment, so it will be a little while before I can make my trial run. I may post some more questions here since I'm sure others may be in the same place.

Keezer.jpg
 
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