Sanke coupler question...

[Hastein]

I want to keg a batch this weekend and allow it to age so I can get started on another brew. My kegerator only has 1 tap at the moment and I haven't gotten a distributor or another coupler yet, either.

Can I just disconnect the coupler from the beer I currently have on tap, then reconnect it to the new keg and purge the gas with CO2 without the beer in the line running out? The "new" batch is a tripel so would like to age it a while without risking oxidation, but I also need to free up my carboy for another batch.

Thanks

 

[zachattack]

Personally I like to rinse out my couplers really well between kegs, and clean them with oxy or PBW every few kegs. If you don't drain the beer and clean everything out, there's a good chance you'll get a little bit of the current beer mixing in with the tripel. Lots of nooks and crannies for beer to hide in a coupler. So if it were me, I'd drain the beer line and rinse everything really well before coupling the new keg. If the tripel is going to age for a while at room temperature, I'd probably sanitize the coupler as well.

But otherwise I guess it sounds OK to me as long as the beer line is still hooked up to the faucet and you have the check valve in place. Any backflow should be minimal, though you might get a little bit of mixed beer in the line itself.

 

[Hastein]

I definitely plan to clean/sanitize everything thoroughly when I switch the kegs out, but I didn't want to go through all the work just to purge a keg of any other than CO2. Would putting a pack of priming sugar in the keg and releasing the gas every couple of days be a better way to do this?

Edit: After posting this I realized that I cant release the gas without a coupler lol.

 

[zachattack]

Why would you need to release the gas every couple days? If you add priming sugar then purge the keg a couple times it should carb up just fine on its own. I've never naturally carbed a keg, but I believe it takes much less sugar vs. a bottle and most people use 1/2 the normal amount or even less.

 

[Hastein]

I just want to keg it and fill it with enough CO2 to protect it from oxidation. I don't think I can release the gas without hooking it up to a coupler anyway. I suppose I could carbonate it with sugar. That wouldn't purge out the other gases, but at least it would have a layer of CO2 between the beer and harmful stuff.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

I don't think I can release the gas without hooking it up to a coupler anyway.


???????......No pressure relief valve in the keg lid, Or not so equipped, ( as in most "pin-lock" kegs)?

 

[Hastein]

I don't think I can release the gas without hooking it up to a coupler anyway.


???????......No pressure relief valve in the keg lid, Or not so equipped, ( as in most "pin-lock" kegs)?

It's a sanke keg. The only 2 ways I know to release the pressure are to use the relief on the coupler or to push the ball down and spray beer everywhere.

 

[zachattack]

If you naturally prime, you'll just need to purge the keg initially, then let it go. No need to purge every few days.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Can I just disconnect the coupler from the beer I currently have on tap, then reconnect it to the new keg and purge the gas with CO2 without the beer in the line running out?

Typically Sanke couplers have a check valve to prevent beer running back out of the beer line out. Unless someone has removed yours, you should be fine.

 

[Hastein]

Typically Sanke couplers have a check valve to prevent beer running back out of the beer line out. Unless someone has removed yours, you should be fine.

Thanks! The coupler was new when I got it, so I think I will just do it this way. I thought there was probably some type of check valve, but I didn't want to find out the hard way that there wasn't. lol