Kegging For The First Time

[SourLover]

Hello Everyone,

After my last bottling took way longer than expected I decided to attempt to save some time and put a beer finishing this weekend into a keg. This will be my first time kegging, so I’m hoping people can help me with a few questions. I appreciate any help offered up here as I take on the new task of kegging beer.

1.) The beer is a 5 gallon batch of Gose which was originally intended to be bottled. I was originally going to add my salt at the end with my priming sugar. Since I’m no longer using the sugar I’m assuming I can boil 8oz of water and dissolve ½ to 1 ounce of pink himalayan salt and add it to the bottom of the keg before filling the keg with beer? Is there a better way to go about getting the salt into the beer at this point?

2.) I prefer clear beer so I’m going to add gelatin finings for the first time. As long as my order shows up before this weekend I would add it over the top of the cold kegged beer before carbonating. The beer will be 35 degrees or so going from carboy to keg. Is this the best way to do it? If my gelatin doesn’t show up before kegging can I add it after a week of carbonation?

3.) For force carbonation I plan on hooking the C02 line to the liquid out post and leaving it at 20 psi for at least a week before checking. It will be carbonating at 35 degrees. Once carbonated I plan on leaving the regulator at 20 psi in order to get close to 3.5 volumes of C02. Does this seem like the best plan for force carbonation?

Thanks!

 

[Jag75]

Just curious but what kind of fermenter do you have ? How are you going to transfer , pressure ,gravity or siphon? Reason I'm asking is to see if your doing closed transfers . Filling a keg with starsan completely until foam comes out the top . Then close up and push starsan out via co2 . Then you have an o2 free keg ready for your beer . Also I dont think the gas line will fit on the liquid out post , but theres no need to do that . I'm assuming it was a mistype. If not, gas line to in post and beer line to out post.

 

[Rackrunner]

1) Seems a safe way to add the salt and get a good mixing on kegging. I haven't done a Gose before so can't speak from experience but nothing sets off any alarm bells there aside from O2 exclusion (see below)

2) I've added gelatin after carbing, doesn't seem to hamper the process from my experience, no issues there.

3) The pressure and temp are about right for 3.5 vols. If you're going to leave it for a week I don't see any real reason to leave it hooked to the liquid post though. That's typically only needed for the 'shake rattle and roll' rapid force carbing. It also may slightly hamper the gelatin fining if you have to add it post carbonation - the whole idea there is to let the crud settle to the bottom, no sense blowing bubbles through it

Oxygen Exclusion: One of the nice benefits of kegging is it's much easier to exclude oxygen. Not sure if you were planning on CO2 purging, pushing out sanitizer, etc, but adding water to the keg makes this a little harder to maximize. Can you add the salt at the same time you're adding the gelatin or does it have to be sooner? (Again, don't know squat about Gose ) If you can do that, you can at least still purge the keg as normal and keep it to a single instance of opening to add the salt and gelatin.

 

[SourLover]

Jag 75 - Due to the salt addition and the adding of gelatin I was going to push the beer from a glass carboy using CO2 and just allow the discharge hose to fill the keg from the bottom up. I have the ability to do an O2 free transfer as you indicate, but I’m not sure how to get the salt and gelatin in if I transfer that way. Could I just add a salt addition and a gelatin addition over the top of the beer after I do a closed transfer?

I was planning to connect CO2 to the liquid post by switching the quick connects, however from yours and Rackrunner’s posts it seems I should just connect the CO2 to the proper post.

 

[SourLover]

1) Seems a safe way to add the salt and get a good mixing on kegging. I haven't done a Gose before so can't speak from experience but nothing sets off any alarm bells there aside from O2 exclusion (see below)

2) I've added gelatin after carbing, doesn't seem to hamper the process from my experience, no issues there.

3) The pressure and temp are about right for 3.5 vols. If you're going to leave it for a week I don't see any real reason to leave it hooked to the liquid post though. That's typically only needed for the 'shake rattle and roll' rapid force carbing. It also may slightly hamper the gelatin fining if you have to add it post carbonation - the whole idea there is to let the crud settle to the bottom, no sense blowing bubbles through it

Oxygen Exclusion: One of the nice benefits of kegging is it's much easier to exclude oxygen. Not sure if you were planning on CO2 purging, pushing out sanitizer, etc, but adding water to the keg makes this a little harder to maximize. Can you add the salt at the same time you're adding the gelatin or does it have to be sooner? (Again, don't know squat about Gose ) If you can do that, you can at least still purge the keg as normal and keep it to a single instance of opening to add the salt and gelatin.

Rackrunner, Thanks you for the information. It is very helpful. If I can figure out how to add the salt, while keeping the O2 to a minimum I should be in good shape.

 

[Jag75]

Does gelatin need to be poured over the top of the beer? I dont know how much liquid (salt solution & gelatin) you will be adding but you could purge your transfer hose then pour your additions into the hose via funnel and hook up to the fermenter then transfer. Just did this with a tincture and it worked out well. If that's not possible then I'd just close transfer then open keg and add. Think that's the least o2 induction way.

 

[DVCNick]

If you fully C02 purge the keg, and then just crack the lid and pour in your salt solution, close it back up and do a couple quick purges, I bet you don't add any amount of oxygen that you are going to notice.

Personally I've done both: 1) completely closed transfer from a pressurized fermenter through a purged line to a purged keg, and 2) open gravity transfer from a carboy type fermenter through the open lid of a purged keg, sequentially without being able to tell in the difference in the end product. In the later case, there is air mixing into the carboy headspace as it is draining. I open the lid of a purged keg and drop a hose to the bottom, but am otherwise careful about not disturbing the air around the open top of the keg. The rising liquid level should be pushing CO2 out, and with slight outbound pressure from the keg lid in an otherwise still environment, I think O2 exposure in the keg is extremely minimal using this method. If you are not doing a style that is hyper sensitive to O2, I think you are going to be fine using this method.

Truth be told, my first few keggings, I didn't even purge the keg at all, just gravity drained into the bottom of an open, air-filled keg, and I still had good, drinkable beer.

 

[Rackrunner]

Does gelatin need to be poured over the top of the beer? I dont know how much liquid (salt solution & gelatin) you will be adding but you could purge your transfer hose then pour your additions into the hose via funnel and hook up to the fermenter then transfer. Just did this with a tincture and it worked out well. If that's not possible then I'd just close transfer then open keg and add. Think that's the least o2 induction way.

The hose/funnel is a good idea - I always just pop the lid off, but that's probably better. Maybe use the gas post to add it to the top instead of the bottom, and then purge the headspace a couple times.

The gelatin volume is relatively small... I use 2/3 of a cup with one tablespoon of gelatin powder dissolved, and sounds like the salt is another 1 cup.

 

[SourLover]

Jag 75, Rackrunner, and DVCNick,

I appreciate all of your help and insight. I'm going to do the closed transfer, and then try and add the salt through the transfer hose before transferring the beer over the top of it. This will work perfect if I have a properly sized funnel to fit my transfer hose. If I can't get the salt in this way, I will add the salt and gelatin over the top of the beer either through the gas post (if I have the correct size tubing and matching funnel) or by opening the top of the keg. From everything I've read and watched it appears the gelatin goes over the top of the beer. Once everything is added I'll purge the head space and call it good.
I should be kegging Sunday, so I will report back as to how it went.
Thanks Again!

 

[SourLover]

Does gelatin need to be poured over the top of the beer? I dont know how much liquid (salt solution & gelatin) you will be adding but you could purge your transfer hose then pour your additions into the hose via funnel and hook up to the fermenter then transfer. Just did this with a tincture and it worked out well. If that's not possible then I'd just close transfer then open keg and add. Think that's the least o2 induction way.

I kegged the beer yesterday, and the salt transfer couldn't have gone smoother. After purging the keg of Star San, I just just poured the salt solution back through the same transfer hose, then hooked it up to the pressurized carboy and transferred the beer. Thanks again for the help & insight.

 

[Rackrunner]

Nice!