Sanke Keg Filling

[Muffman]

Hi folks - newbie here so hello to you all.
Looking for advice on keg filling.
Just finished fermentation & secondary and ready to rack - have a 30 litre sanke keg with a tap fitting to allow me to fill straight into keg and also vent.
Would like to keg condition carbonate - so will add wort back to fermentor then rack into keg - so plan is to sterilise keg, then add straight into keg and pressurise with CO2 - then leave for few days at room temperature to carbonate
Question is whether this will work to carbonate the beer - assume I will have to leave certain headspace in the keg for CO2 to develop
Any help very much appreciated

[Jim]

You'll need to use a higher pressure than for serving - 20 psi at least. Raise the pressure and chill the keg to serving temperature (it won't absorb the CO2 as well at room temp) and leave for a few days (you'll need to keep topping the pressure up as the beer absorbs the CO2).

You need to keep the pressure below the setting of the PRV of course (which I believe is about 40psi for Sanke kegs - that's what google tells me anyway).

It certainly works with Cornelius kegs as I've done it myself (as have many others).

[IPA]

You'll need to use a higher pressure than for serving - 20 psi at least. Raise the pressure and chill the keg to serving temperature (it won't absorb the CO2 as well at room temp) and leave for a few days (you'll need to keep topping the pressure up as the beer absorbs the CO2).).

I think muffman is talking about keg conditioning by adding back unfermented wort ( as per german purity law) to act as priming sugar not conditioning by co2. If so he is right in his approach I do exactly the same when I use cornies and it works perfectly for me. I just give a squirt of gas to seal the lid and then leave it to condition in a warm place and then transfer the cornie to somewhere cooler( I use my keezer) I always put some in a 330ml fizzy water bottle so that I can check how it is conditioning by squeezing the bottle. ie when it is rock hard I know that it has reached condition. You obviously have to batch prime when doing this

[Jim]

Now that I read the OP again, you're right.

[Muffman]

Big delay in my reply - but thanks for your help folks - very useful indeed!