How to use a Cornelius Keg Properly?

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most of us (i think?) will keg after primary and let the beer condition/clear and mature in the keg.

sediment is unavoidable, its a live beer your producing, to eliminate sediment you need to consider industrial filtering and possibly pasturisation to exterminate any residual yeast.

the sediment in a corny will get sucked up and poured as an initial dirty slug, generally 1/4-1/3rd of a pint,

clearing in a bucket for a week or 2 may reduce this but it probably wont eliminate it.
but if you need convincing its easy to find out, try it ;)
 
Fwiw i have 3 kegs fitted with red caskwidge floats.. keep in mind corny kegs are thinner with a smaller diameter than the casks these are designed for..

Imho best results are achieved by swapping out the long product out dip tube with a 2nd short gas in dip tube, some may suggest cutting or bending the long dip tube but i would suggest the fiver or so spent on a new gas in dip tube is worth the flexibility of being able to switch back.. 'as new' product out tubes are not cheap or readily available, as quite a hew folk hack of an inch or 2 in an attempt to not draw an initial dirty slug of sediment, but it leaves the sediment in the keg just under the draw tube so some gets sucked up with every pint ..

Then when fitting look for the natural curve of the silicone tube and fix it so that expands across the full width of the keg. if not it can push against the keg wall and hamper the float sinking with the beer.

When filling pull the float out the lid hole fill, and then put the float in. If left in the keg bottom the curl of the silicone tube pushing up against the keg wall can hamper the floats ability to lift, and you dont want to go fishing in your clean beer ;)

with the float attached to a 2nd gas in dip tube the float will fall to about the level of the bottom dome, so when the float stops drawing you will have the bottom dome volume left containing the beers sediment. So its a 'swings and rounderbouts' situation the dome bottom volume loss with a float and a dirty 1/2 pint out with a long dip tube..

the floats should allow you to pour clear beer sooner than you could with a long dip tube as the beer will clear from the top down If your beer is ready to sup that early is a question that only your taste and brewing can answer..

while they do work and do allow pouring of clear beer earlier than a standard keg, im on the fence about them and dont think i will add floats to more kegs..

AND There may soon be a cheaper alternative. the New Zealand or Aussie? Fermentasaurous? product has a nice simple float which looks very adaptable to use with kegs.. its not yet in the UK, Ebay has some fermentor float kits, but they contain extra fermentor h/w which bumps up the cost, give it a few months however and the floats may will appear as individual items??? and then may represent a cheaper 100%SS alternative ;)

http://kegking.com.au/brewery-equipment/fermenters/fermentasaurus-float-and-dip-tube.html
 
Thanks for the detailed reply Fil.

The fact your not adding any more probably sums it up.

I think I'll try a Keg as is and pour of the first pint of sludge like you've said before and see what's what before I get any gadgets.

Once again thanks for you help. I try and read and learn as much as I can on new things so I understand them better, and learning from your tips and knowledge is very helpful.
 
I've now got 6 kegs, 2 to be in use serving and 4 full of beer conditioning.

I was going to buy a 4 way CO2 manifold and hook each Keg up to this and set the psi to whatever based on temperature etc and then just leave them to sit and carbonate/condition over a few months until I need them.

I'm just wondering is this actually necessary or do you just inject some CO2 (what psi), disconnect the CO2, and then leave them and then just reject CO2 every week or so ??

I am also tempted to just add priming sugar and see what happens (without co2) like I would in a bottle. I've read to only use half as much sugar. Anybody got any tips on this or do you just use the same amount as when bottling ?
 
even when conditioning with pressure there is some sediment that will settle in a corny during conditioning and maturing while waiting to be served. and when you move the kegs this gets disturbed and can take a few days to settle again

when naturally conditioning with a priming charge the sediment mass will grow somewhat and will create more of a problem of dirty beer when the kegs are disturbed.

depending on the age of your kegs and their condition, but some may require a small charge of co2 pressure in order to make and Maintain a lid seal. these kegs need special attention Especially if kegs are stored off co2 at an ambient temp in outhouses or sheds/garages. If, IF ! there is a sudden drop in temperature like a surprise frost, kegs can absorb the co2 maintianing pressure to the extent the pressure drops below that to keep the lid sealed.. its not the end of the world and easily sorted IF caught.. Just be aware..

with 6 x kegs in rotation your looking at keeping some @ condition for some time perhaps, so Off gas storage is inevitble just keep an eye on em and be prepared to top up on occasion, a gas disconnect attached to a pressure gauge is an easy tool to knock up with bits from ebay or your spares box to keep an eye on the kegs especially after a cold night..

while pressure conditioning either by maintaining ideal temp/pressure for a week or so, or by over pressurising and agitating for a quick n rough condition level, its best to keep on gas imho as the headroom in a corny is small so even at a high psi its volume of co2 is limited and soon exhasted by absorption into the beer, if this is impracticle then top up a few times a day not weekly otherwise conditioning will take weeks..

if rough conditioning with excess pressure be prepared to agitate n vent off excess condition when it comes to serving. and agitating will disturb the sediment contained ..

Unless you have the capacity to store/condition @ideal serving temp/pressure as indicated by a kegging chart then the you will need to sus out the details that work for you with what you have to work with.

The key being the 3way relationship between pressure temperature and the condition level a beer will sustain. https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&ved=0CFoQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kegerators.com%2Farticles%2Fcarbonation-table-pressure-chart.php&ei=Tn_MUv_qC5CqhAfL5YHQAw&usg=AFQjCNFBmyJM8-kSKjo26ur1iyUdS-nxpA&sig2=xbA22cKg6g1riDhoRe225w&bvm=bv.58187178,d.ZG4

by all means naturally condition, and unlike a pb you can prime and condition to lager/fizzy levels..

have fun finding out ...
 
So all my kegs are now full but I still have 2 more kits ready.

I'm wondering if will be ok to store the made beer in a 25 litre glass demijohn under airlock and to leave it for a month or so to clear and then put into a keg?

Will it be ok as far as the head space at the top or will it go off?

I do this with wine for ages but thats has sulphite added for protection

Any thoughts/experience doing this?
 
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