Purging and carbonating set up

[TheHostMan]

Hi,

I'm moving to cornys for the first time and building my set up. I'v got loads of set up tips from the info here but I've not found something I'm pondering discussed as yet. It may be beacause its obvious but I was hoping for a pointer.

I have three kegs and am building a small keezer which will hold two of them. The third will be for rotation, having one ready to go in when one of the two runs out or possibly for longer conditioning.

The bit I'm not sure how people manage is purging, pressurising and carbonating the keg not connected to the dispense set up. Is it as simple as disconnecting the kegs in use and using the gas just on the spare keg until it is carbonated etc. Or is there another approach commonly used.

And as a linked point. Is it usual to carbonate when the keg is filled, or just to purge and pressurise, leaving the carbonation until the keg goes in to dispense.

Thanks.

Chris

[Fil]

sounds like your on top of most of it..

Once you have pressure conditioned your 3rd keg sit it somewhere cool and stable
Avoid conditions where it could suffer the effects of a sudden frost.
a significant drop in temp can allow all the co2 contained in the small headroom of a full keg to get absorbed as condition in the beer dropping the pressure below that needed to maintain the lid seal..

a psi gauge connected to a gas in disconnect via a short length of gas/beerline is a useful tool for keeping an eye on the pressure within a keg kept off gas. the beer will continue to respond to temp and pressure and absorb co2 accordingly.. so if kept at warmer than serving temps then the keg will contain it all ok, lower and you can get problems, fluctuating temps and you will need to keep an eye on temps and the keg.

so when it comes to serving the 3rd keg just hook it up to gas and the tap, vent it once to ensure the serving pressure is the pressure contained, and yes if its been sat at optimum condition then once its cooled down to serving temp it should be good to go, if its been stored under conditioned then it could take upto a week to hit equilibrium without intervention, but a lil keg shaking and agitation will speed up the reconditioning if needed..

[Kev888]

Additionally, if for some reason the third corny is much lower (or I suppose much higher) in pressure than the other two, try to get it about right before coupling them all to the same gas line. This is because the kegs will almost instantly try to share gas and equalise to the same pressure, and kegs suddenly dropping in pressure can foam (like suddenly opening a bottle of fizzy drink) which if you're unlucky can up into the gas line particularly if the kegs are quite full. (that doesn't apply if you're using separate secondary regulators or non-return valves though).

My method was a bit different to Fil's in that I used kegs in pairs, both in the keggerator; I would be serving from one whilst force carbonating the next - which IMO is easier to get right at controlled temperatures. But then I had the great luxury of a much bigger keggerator setup which could take several pairs at once, so perhaps that isn't as appropriate for the OP. I'm now in a small flat without space for such things, so may be trying something like Fil does myself; sounds very reasonable to me.

[TheHostMan]

Thank you both for replying.

The idea of a pressure gauge sounds excellent. I had been looking at the small charging units that take the sparklets type bulbs, but with the gauges on they are about £40.

But there are loads of gauges on ebay for under £10 any of which I expect I could connect to a line. So for about £15 I could have a test gauge which would be useful.

One thing I haven't worked out yet is the pros and cons of barbed V threaded ball lock connectors. Is it just a personal choice thing?

[Rogermort]

The idea of a pressure gauge sounds excellent. I had been looking at the small charging units that take the sparklets type bulbs, but with the gauges on they are about £40.

These are great for a portable set up (taking a corny to a party) and for the initial blast of co2 but the small gauges aren't that easy to read or accurate. Also, they have a tendency to leak gas. Great as an addition but not a replacement for a proper bottle, gauge and line.

[Kev888]

The little gas bulbs are also best suited to occasional/portable use IMO. Perhaps if you primed instead of force-carbonated they may be slightly better value. But if you can find a local source that does re-fillable CO2 cylinders (ideally without a rental charge, though often a deposit is charged) it would likely work out much cheaper. Or some use the disposable welding CO2 cylinders and mini regulators, though its not technically food grade gas.

The barbed vs threaded disconnects are indeed personal choice. The barbed connectors are more faff to change the tubing on but are robust and reliable. The threaded type need an adaptor, which is typically a plastic thread to push-fit type, although less commonly you can get a metal barbed adaptor instead which makes it largely the same as above. The plastic push-fitting option is much easier to swap lines about on, but they are marginally less reliable wrt gas leaks and can be a tad fragile - if you over-tighten them slightly on the disconnect they can split. So they have strengths and weaknesses but neither is a bad choice.

[TheHostMan]

Thanks gents.

I was planning to use a normal cylinder (when I can track one down at a reasonable price!) for the dispense system. The small portable canister was just an Idea I was pondering for pressurising kegs not in the dispense system at the time. But now I know I can disconnect the main supply to purge and carbonate I will go down that path.

Thinking about it a bit more, I'm wondering whether I should get a manifold with three outlets. Two would be for the kegs in the keezer. The third would be there, closed off for most of the time, but would let me switch the gas off on the active kegs and use the third line with a Corny adaptor connected to attach to the spare for purging/carbonation with less disruption.

Would there be a benefit to minimising the disconnection/re-connection of active kegs. Or any issues this might create?

[Kev888]

There are a few possible advantages to having gas valves/taps on each line:

• It is more convenient to turn valves on and off than to remove disconnects; sometimes the disconnects can be a bit stubborn, especially in tight spaces.
• Occasionally a disconnect may not seal itself entirely when disconnected, its fairly rare but if there is no keg on a gas line its better to turn it off.
• Using valves to reduce disconnecting can reduce wear on both disconnect and post (and in my restricted keggerator, also skinned knuckles!)
• Turning on a valve is fairly foolproof, whilst reconnecting a disconnect can be (slightly) less certain - perhaps the locking collar doesn't go fully down for example.
• You can easily and selectively isolate kegs that are neither dispensing or force carbonating; reducing chances of gas wastage should a corny leak.

Thats not to say simply splitting the line is a problem, it generally works fairly well and is much cheaper; you can still turn the gas cylinder off when not dispensing or carbonating any kegs to reduce the risk of losing gas between sessions, just not individual lines. But IMO having a manifold with individual shut off valves, or in-line valves, is somewhat preferable. A further step on from there is to have different secondary regulators so that different kegs/beer-styles can be given different pressures should you wish.

[TheHostMan]

Thanks Kev,

So from that I think it makes sense to spend a little more on a manifold with a 'spare' outlet that I can reserve for purging and carbonating.

Now to delve into the world of taps - and establish whether I need to spend extra on flow control and/or forward seal...

Meanwhile I think I have found a decent local gas supply. So it's all coming together.

Chris