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Step 11Using the Kegerator
Once you transfer the beer into the keg you'll want to make sure to get all the oxygen out of the top of the keg. If you don't the beer will Oxidize and taste nasty and skunky in less than a day. To do this grab your CO2 tank and set it to around 30-40 PSI. Hook the tank up to the keg's gas in post and open up the valve. You'll hear the gas moving into the keg easily, when it stops close the valve, and pull the pressure release valve on the top of the keg. Close the pressure release valve and re-fill the top of the keg with CO2 again, repeat this process 4-5 times to get all of the oxygen out. CO2 is a denser gas than O2 and will push it all out of the valve with no problem. We're using the 30-40 PSI range on the regulator for 2 reasons: 1) This will fill up the top of the tank faster and I'm lazy and don't like waiting a long time. And 2) The higher pressure will also force the lid of the corny keg up and give it a nice tight seal. If your still hearing gas escape after it gets a blast of CO2 at that pressure then you'll have to release the pressure in the keg and re-close the lid to try and get a better seal on it.
After the keg is sealed, and the O2 is out of the system stick it in the fridge. To cool down to serving temp (I use the warmest setting on my fridge which is about right for most ales). Now there's only one problem and that's that our beer isn't carbonated yet. When bottling home brew, brewers normally add some sugar for the yeast to eat up in the bottle, since the bottle is capped the CO2 the yeast produce can't escpae or do anything but get absorbed into the beer, presto you've got foamy beer. With this keg system we've expressly NOT done this. The priming sugar process is often inconsistent, so we'll be "Force Carbonating" the beer.
There's 2 methods for this. One is fast and a big cheat (That I highly support). And the other is much more correct, but takes almost as long as bottle conditioning.
The slow method is simply finding out what how many volumes of CO2 you need (Depends on the style of beer, though for most it's 2.5) and setting the Pressure of the keg correctly. For instance 2.5 volumes of CO2 at 40 degrees F is a pressure setting of bout 11 PSI there's all sorts of charts and calculators for this online, I use this one. Once the pressure is set just set the kegs in the fridge and leave them alone for a week or so, the beer will naturally absorb the gas with no problem.
The fast method is to first get your beer cold, so get it into the keg, and then shove it in the fridge over night without gas hooked up. The next day when your beer is cold hook the gas up at 40 PSI and wait until you stop hearing it fill the tank. Disconnect the gas, DO NOT LEAVE IT HOOKED UP, leaving the gas line connected after we've filled the tank to 40 PSI is dangerous and should not be done. With the gas line disconnected roll and shake the entire keg for at least 45 seconds to dissolve the gas into the beer. Re-connect the gas line and repeat the process twice, being sure to disconnect the gas line before shaking the keg. This should get you to right about 2.4-2.6 volumes of CO2 depending on how well you shook the keg. You can now set the CO2 tank to the correct PSI (as from the slow method) and hook everything up and in your fridge. Give the beer at least 30 main to settle down before dispensing your first glass.
To clean the kegerator there's several specialty cleaners you can use, I prefer just using PBW (which you can get from most brew supply shops and websites) making about 2 gallons of it and putting it into a keg. Seal the keg and give it a good shake for a few minutes (a good seal is important or you'll get PBW everywhere) and then I hook that keg up to the fridge and I use the faucets to empty it. This way PBW cleans the inside of my beer lines for me. Lastly I take the faucets off the kegerator and take them apart to soak in some PBW and I use a small brush to scrub them down.
The specialty cleaners work great but most sanitizers will work fine, but be sure of a few things 1) Some sanitizers need a rinse after being used and are otherwise poisonous. 2) Some sanitizers are not for use on metal, for instance bleach will corrode the inside of the keg and damage the faucets. So be sure to follow all instructions for what your using and talk to your home brew supply shop about what should work for you.
After the keg is sealed, and the O2 is out of the system stick it in the fridge. To cool down to serving temp (I use the warmest setting on my fridge which is about right for most ales). Now there's only one problem and that's that our beer isn't carbonated yet. When bottling home brew, brewers normally add some sugar for the yeast to eat up in the bottle, since the bottle is capped the CO2 the yeast produce can't escpae or do anything but get absorbed into the beer, presto you've got foamy beer. With this keg system we've expressly NOT done this. The priming sugar process is often inconsistent, so we'll be "Force Carbonating" the beer.
There's 2 methods for this. One is fast and a big cheat (That I highly support). And the other is much more correct, but takes almost as long as bottle conditioning.
The slow method is simply finding out what how many volumes of CO2 you need (Depends on the style of beer, though for most it's 2.5) and setting the Pressure of the keg correctly. For instance 2.5 volumes of CO2 at 40 degrees F is a pressure setting of bout 11 PSI there's all sorts of charts and calculators for this online, I use this one. Once the pressure is set just set the kegs in the fridge and leave them alone for a week or so, the beer will naturally absorb the gas with no problem.
The fast method is to first get your beer cold, so get it into the keg, and then shove it in the fridge over night without gas hooked up. The next day when your beer is cold hook the gas up at 40 PSI and wait until you stop hearing it fill the tank. Disconnect the gas, DO NOT LEAVE IT HOOKED UP, leaving the gas line connected after we've filled the tank to 40 PSI is dangerous and should not be done. With the gas line disconnected roll and shake the entire keg for at least 45 seconds to dissolve the gas into the beer. Re-connect the gas line and repeat the process twice, being sure to disconnect the gas line before shaking the keg. This should get you to right about 2.4-2.6 volumes of CO2 depending on how well you shook the keg. You can now set the CO2 tank to the correct PSI (as from the slow method) and hook everything up and in your fridge. Give the beer at least 30 main to settle down before dispensing your first glass.
To clean the kegerator there's several specialty cleaners you can use, I prefer just using PBW (which you can get from most brew supply shops and websites) making about 2 gallons of it and putting it into a keg. Seal the keg and give it a good shake for a few minutes (a good seal is important or you'll get PBW everywhere) and then I hook that keg up to the fridge and I use the faucets to empty it. This way PBW cleans the inside of my beer lines for me. Lastly I take the faucets off the kegerator and take them apart to soak in some PBW and I use a small brush to scrub them down.
The specialty cleaners work great but most sanitizers will work fine, but be sure of a few things 1) Some sanitizers need a rinse after being used and are otherwise poisonous. 2) Some sanitizers are not for use on metal, for instance bleach will corrode the inside of the keg and damage the faucets. So be sure to follow all instructions for what your using and talk to your home brew supply shop about what should work for you.
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I recommend that the CO2 bottle be placed outside the fridge and a small hole drilled in the side to allow the CO2 line to get in. Cold liquid carbonates better, but warm CO2 expands and pressurizes better so it lasts longer. Cold CO2 will run out of pressure before you have fully run out of the gas. Also the seals in the regulators prefer to be at room temperature and to be kept dry.