Purge Keg Before Transfer from Fermenter?

[ListerH]

I always try to purge my kegs with CO2 before filling them but I'm never super confident that I actually am efficient in terms of minimizing oxygen contact. I always think that I'm probably leaving a mixture of CO2 and air in the keg.
Having said that I haven't yet (as far as I can tell) had any oxidation problems.

But I always wonder how necessary this step is... I'll explain.

After racking post fermentation, there is always CO2 release out of solution so to a certain degree, the beer will protect itself from the air during the transfer process...
So... If I were to simply do my transfer, hook up the keg and purge the headspace, would I be doing enough in terms of minimizing air contact?

Any thoughts very welcome!

 

[Dgallo]

I always try to purge my kegs with CO2 before filling them but I'm never super confident that I actually am efficient in terms of minimizing oxygen contact. I always think that I'm probably leaving a mixture of CO2 and air in the keg.
Having said that I haven't yet (as far as I can tell) had any oxidation problems.

But I always wonder how necessary this step is... I'll explain.

After racking post fermentation, there is always CO2 release out of solution so to a certain degree, the beer will protect itself from the air during the transfer process...
So... If I were to simply do my transfer, hook up the keg and purge the headspace, would I be doing enough in terms of minimizing air contact?

Any thoughts very welcome!

So what you’re doing is definitely better than nothing but your correct when you say the co2 is mixing with the air in the keg. For very hoppy beers this can be detrimental overtime since they are very susceptible to oxidation.

Idk what equipment you have but you can eliminate all the air in the keg and fill it with co2 by filling the keg completely with starsan and then hook up gas and then empty the starsan solution. When it’s completely empty all that will be left is co2 in the keg. Then you would need the capability to do a close pressure transfer from the fermenter into the keg.

If you the ability to hook your fermentation up to a close transfer, you can do the same thing with the starsan but you can use the co2 produced by the fermentation to expel the starsan from the keg and fill it with free co2