One month till party....Advice on my keg beer needed.

The ins and outs of putting your beer into kegs.

One month till party....Advice on my keg beer needed.

Postby chadjaja » Tuesday Mar 03, 2009 8:04 am

Ok here is the deal. Party is about 4 weeks away.

I currently have.

First tap-An easy brewcraft munich lager kit and bits that was kegged and sat at room temp purged for two weeks then has been chilled and currently gassing at pouring pressure since this saturday. So it will be 2 weeks room temp/4 weeks cold carbed by the time I need it. 6 weeks in keg party time.

Second tap- Boonies LCPA. Spent one week in primary/one in secondary dry hopped and has been in keg since Friday. Chilled and gassing also. One month in keg party time.

Third tap- another simple kit and bits Coopers green. Due to be kegged this Thursday and added to the system. 3 weeks or so party time.

Some advice on how to get the best flavour and maturation time if needed would be good as my bottle beer is great and I'm sure everyone expects the keg beer to be up to scratch as well.

Would the beers do better after a week of chilling and fully gassed to be brought out and sat at room temp and simply just chilled a few days before I need them? I assume they will mature slower at the fridge temps. But its also my understanding that the APA is best drunk fresh and after a month even at fridge temp it will good to go... I only want to slow car so a week doing that doesnt' bother me.

How would you more experienced guys go about it as i'm a kegging virgin and yet to even pour the first pint. :oops: :oops: Any other tips on the dispensing for the night too.

Cheers guys..
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Re: One month till party....Advice on my keg beer needed.

Postby drsmurto » Tuesday Mar 03, 2009 9:11 am

Sounds like you are very organised!

Beer matures faster in kegs than it does in bottles. Cold temperatures dont seem to slow down this conditioning but there is plenty of debate on this subject.

Before the party you MUST pour a few pints to discover what pressure is right for YOUR system. Do it sooner rather than later as even slow carbing at 'pouring' pressure can result in overcarbed beer if your pouring pressure is to high for your system.

Have a read of this excellent post and download the excel file at the bottom of the page - Link

You need to know what temp your fridge is at (accurately) and the pressure on your reg dial. This will determine the volume of CO2 in your beer.

Then you need to know how long your beer lines are (from keg to tap) and what the internal diameter is.

Once you have those plug them into the excel file.

After that its a matter of trial and error which you dont want to have to be doing on the night of your party!

By going down the route of slowly carbing to pouring pressure over the course of a few weeks you have minimised the problems you could encounter. I use the Ross method but i tend to slightly undercarb the beer to start with and then let it get to pouring pressure slowly.

Cheers
DrSmurto
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Re: One month till party....Advice on my keg beer needed.

Postby chadjaja » Tuesday Mar 03, 2009 9:46 am

Thanks Dr. As always you are quick to help and add advice.

I plan on pouring a few glasses as you said a few weeks before to pour the sediment and get the pressure and pouring speed up to scratch. I've gone over all the charts and FAQ's too to the point where nearly everything is conflicting LOL

To start with I have run my keezer with stubbies in it to judge the temp and how my freezer reacts to temp change etc etc. Everyones is different. I also have a glass of water with a thermometer in it and its about 3 degrees stable. Beers out of the bottle are fine if not a little cold.

I've got 4mm beer lines on all three taps and all are at 2.4mts to start with. And I"m carbing up at a constant 100kpa and see how I go.

The plan is IF the carbonation is to my liking and it pours great....Great.

If the carbonation is good but the pour rate too slow I'll shorten my lines by a bit till I get there.

If the carbonation is no good I'll bump it up a little and see how it pours etc.

I have plastic beer nozzles that came with my taps as well. Normally the taps come with 5mm line and I'm thinking I may not need them on. I can at least experiment with one on and one off at the same CO2 pressure and get an answer in seconds.

At the moment I've found the keezer keeps a stable temp more if the fan inside if off. But if I turn it on after only a short while the area around the taps drops in temp and they are cold to touch on the outside as well. So I'll run the fan for the party all night and not mind the keezer may run just that slightly bit more. I have a temp gauge on the inside of the collar so I can see the difference. Most of the beer line is coiled on the keg and then runs up about a foot to the tap so the beer in the lines should stay keezer temp as well.

I think I'm doing it pretty right.
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Re: One month till party....Advice on my keg beer needed.

Postby drsmurto » Tuesday Mar 03, 2009 12:39 pm

Sounds like you have it sorted.

My only added advice is to not run the fridge so low in temp. 3C is the perfect temp for VB so you cant taste it.

Mine runs at 9C. :twisted:

At this temp i can taste a lot more of the flavours in the beer.
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Re: One month till party....Advice on my keg beer needed.

Postby chadjaja » Tuesday Mar 03, 2009 2:16 pm

Yeah I said the stubbies I had in there were pretty cold. With the tempmate there is a 1 degree bounce of sorts when its set to the low temp.

Still i was under the assumption if it was warmer I'd have problems with CO2 breaking out of the beer and causing foaming problems?? And the CO2 is absorbed better with colder beer. So I went with the it must be better to store it cold and let it warm up as it goes thru the tap and in your glass a little.

After this I'll mainly be putting on ales and yeh 3 degrees is a bit cold for them as we know.

What do most people especially those with freezers have their Hi temp and low temp set at? Anyone care to share?
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Re: One month till party....Advice on my keg beer needed.

Postby drsmurto » Tuesday Mar 03, 2009 3:17 pm

Mine is set to 9C with a 1C diff either way and a 9 minute delay.

CO2 dissolves more readily at lower temps but for that reason i carb my beer lower than aussie megaswill. I dont have probelms with foaming beer as long as the system is BALANCED.

What does your setup look like? Do you have beer line outside of the fridge/freezer or are you running taps mounted to the fridge/freezer? If all the line is inside the fridge then the beer will remain at the fridge temp so you wont get CO2 coming out of solution as you pour it.

If you store the beer cold then your mates will be drinking cold beer and missing out on the real taste of your beer.
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Re: One month till party....Advice on my keg beer needed.

Postby chadjaja » Tuesday Mar 03, 2009 3:32 pm

Yeah its all inside the keezer and taps whilst not beer temp are a lot colder with the fan on pushing cold air over the shanks inside. Beer lines sit on the kegs coiled and should keep the beer inside them cold too.

The aim is for a balanced system so when I add new kegs to the system they just get connected to the gas and left for a week to carb up whilst not constantly having to adjust the regulator. If I turn the temp up a little I take it I'll have to adjust the kpa down a little too. I'm sure it will be much clearer once I pour that first glass but I'm just trying to give myself the best start and limit the stuffing around I may have to do.

Here it is Dr.

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