force carbing 5 kegs + cleaning

[farmer brown]

Me again

Im just bought 5 x 30L kegs from Crusader and just need to pick your brains on setting up a system so I can:

1) Force Carb them all from one tank. What connectors would I need and how do i split the gas from 1 cylinder to 5 couplings?


2) Clean/sanitise them all at once? What is the best way? I could take out the spear and clean and sanitise them individually or build some plumbing system where I can set up a tank with my cleaner and sanitiser and circulate it through them all at once?

Any help much appreciated as always :hat:

 

[johnnyboy1965]

What type of kegs have you bought ?

 

[PD]

well for cornys. you need a regulator attached to your cylinder. this then goes to your keg/s ( if using more than 1 keg you will need a John Guest splitter connection ( I've seen 2 and 3 way connectors.) These pipes are connected to your kegs by a grey disconnect, which allows you to remove the gas supply from your keg easily.
On a set up like this you have to have the gas set at the same pressure for all the kegs being supplied ( say set at seving pressure ) If you want to force carb one particular keg, just dissconnect the other kegs while doing it.
Black dissconnects then allow you to run pipes to your taps.Or you can get a gas managment board that is a number of individual taps directing the gas from your cylinder to each individual keg. ( these are like rocking horse poo to find ) but they can be sourced via e bay or google.
The beauty of these is that each keg can have its own individual gas pressure set.

Thats for corny's I'm not aware of any great difference in Crusader kegs.

 

[farmer brown]

Sorry, I should have mentioned the keg, they are 30L sanky S kegs like this:



So the 3/8 3 way connector can be like this?



Ill be force carbing them all the same so a simple setup will do!

Many thanks

 

[MashBag]

You mentioned force carb I assume you want to carbonate fresh beer. Without this smutter that priming would cause.

The best way to do this is to 1/2 fill them and tip them on their side. This exposes the greatest surface area two CO2.
Set your reg at 100 psi
Stand them in the coolest place you can find +2° C would be ideal. more gas is now absorbed at lower temperature. A swamp cooler would help.
Shake the bajeebers out of them on on first connection, and then daily for about two weeks. you will be surprised how much they absorb.

Do not leave the gas turned on. I would not connect a three way connector, but do each one individually every day.

PS for what it is worth I found it was easier to make U bend for the dip tube and primed with sugar - costs you about half a pint! In the initial draw off but is a lot less hassle.

 

[PD]

100 psi ??

do you like ice cream ?

 

[farmer brown]

She cannae take it captain, it's gonna blow!!!

I cant really prime with sugar as there is no storage under counter so once the keg is empty, a fresh one is wheeled in.. I need to get this beer as clear as possible to reduce sediment

 

[MashBag]

100 psi is to get the gas 'in' - not the dispense pressure.

Start off with less and work up.

 

[MashBag]

I cant really prime with sugar as there is no storage under counter so once the keg is empty, a fresh one is wheeled in.. I need to get this beer as clear as possible to reduce sediment

Is this ale or lager? Could you just put a bit of top gas and then adjust the nozzle?

 

[PD]

as for cleaning.
My kegs are rinsed well with hot water immediately after emptying, I remove the lid and posts ( on cornys ) and rinse in hot water, keg upturned for 30 mins to drain and stored till required.
Prior to using they are stripped back all the little parts and lids placed in a bowl of sanitiser for 10 mins. posts returned keg half filled with sanitiser and lid put back, shake rattle and roll them over 15 mins or so, drained and refilled.
I also lubricate the large o ring before each brew.
I have a long thin tray that I lay the beer pipe in sanitiser for a few minutes.

 

[PD]

quote...
100 psi is to get the gas 'in' - not the dispense pressure.

I appreciate that, but it stills seems high...
I force carb no higher than 20psi end of a week I taste...if its not enough carbonation I'll either give it a bit more time or give it a little more gas.
30 or 40 psi at the most for a very fizzy lager.

 

[farmer brown]

I cant really prime with sugar as there is no storage under counter so once the keg is empty, a fresh one is wheeled in.. I need to get this beer as clear as possible to reduce sediment

Is this ale or lager? Could you just put a bit of top gas and then adjust the nozzle?

Its Pale Ale.

Im not too worried about force carbonating, its more the setup I'm concerned about. So far it seems that I can just take my gas line and spilt it out 5 ways and carb all 5 kegs together. I got worried when i say some pretty complex setups but Im hoping I can keep it simple!

 

[PD]

no problem, just remember with 1 cylinder the psi has to be the same for all, unless you have a gas managment board.
but dissconnecting and attaching individual kegs is no problem and its simple

 

[farmer brown]

Thanks all, so it seems its pretty straight forward ?! Ill get ordering the bits now

:

 

[darkonnis]

It is pretty simple.

I force carb by setting the regulator to no more than 2 bar (20psi sort of area) and then disconnect and leave it out in the garage. If I'm in a hurry I go up a bit further to maybe 30psi and then take the keg for a roll around on the patio. Drop the pressure to 12psi and see how much lifes in it. rinse repeat.

You do not want to put 100PSI in a keg, there is simply no need. Lying it on its side will increase the surface area but I'd fill the keg, not half fill it or you'll have 5 half full kegs.

 

[Fil]

No one has mentioned venting ?? if the fill allowed any air in and when sampling or finalising the conditioning it will be necessary to vent off the kegs, especially if higher than optimum serving pressure is used to condition.
afaik there are 2 dry and one wet way to vent a sankey keg,
dry 1) with a us style coupler with an intergral co2 vent
dry 2) with a modded D coupler, plugged beer out and a valve without the no return gizmo on the gas port to provide vent control
wet1) push down with a bit of pipe the same diameter as the gas push down valve..
but im a polykeg newbie and may have missed a trick here..

the cold ambient temp will aid pressure conditioning i would suggest hooking upto 15-20 psi and leaving on gas undisturbed for 3-4 days before sampling and adjusting pressure accordingly, if needed.

Also dont forget if your conditioning the kegs at temps below the dispencing storage temps the beer will appear over conditioned when served and require some further venting to reach equilibrium.