first time kegging

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Stuck the lot into bottles tonight. Partly so I can return the keg and partly so I could practice bottling and putting bottle caps on for the first time. I'm going to stick it in the shed and forget about it. On to the next brew....
 
Hi All,

I've done a few brews previously, but have always bottled before, and am using a keg for the first time. I've just got a couple of questions;

1. Since I kegged, the PB has periodically been letting off a whistling (I think it's the gas escaping) is this normal. I've trawled the books I have and there isn't much about PB's in any of them.

2. I plan on using the PB (to a certain extent) as a bottling fermenter. I can't see any issues with this, but I thought it best to just see if anyone thinks of this as a definite no no.
 
Does anybody have problems pouring a decent pint from these kegs? I'm priming using about 65g sugar for a 20l batch, and when bottled it's coming out lovely, but when I try and pour a pint from the tap, it either gushes out at a million miles an hour, creating a pint of froth, or if I only open the tap slightly, the pressure makes the beer fizz as it's coming out of the tap, with the same end result, a pint of froth.

There doesn't seem to be any middle ground and I've wasted two barrels now without getting a decent pint from either. As I said though, my bottled beers come out lovely, I'm just getting sick of the whole palaver of bottling.

Any ideas?
 
Does anybody have problems pouring a decent pint from these kegs? I'm priming using about 65g sugar for a 20l batch, and when bottled it's coming out lovely, but when I try and pour a pint from the tap, it either gushes out at a million miles an hour, creating a pint of froth, or if I only open the tap slightly, the pressure makes the beer fizz as it's coming out of the tap, with the same end result, a pint of froth.

There doesn't seem to be any middle ground and I've wasted two barrels now without getting a decent pint from either. As I said though, my bottled beers come out lovely, I'm just getting sick of the whole palaver of bottling.

Any ideas?

pouring a pint from a pb is an art, a skill or knack u just have to aquire,
unlike a corny/sanky type keg which costs shed loads more to set up, the beer in the keg isnt in a stable state, its in a dynamic equilibrium based on the temperature and pressure which changes with every pint poured and every injection of co2.

So Pb pouring is very yo-yo ish, starting with a higher pressure pour petering off during the session till an injection is required, putting u back to the proverbial square 1 again.

If you can both stabilise the keg temp And maintain a constant pressure, its possible to set the conditions for a consistent pour pint after pint.

Ian an old flatmate of mine used to wind me up as he just a mere drinker could pour a good pint out of my pb's while i struggled to find the knack needed.. its a case of crack the tap with glass inclined under the spout and regulating the flow and glass angle dynamicaly thru the pour..

Easier said than done.

Also remeber a clean dry cold glass will be less likely to stimulate co2 release or foam from the beer than a warm dirty glass.
 
pouring a pint from a pb is an art, a skill or knack u just have to aquire,
unlike a corny/sanky type keg which costs shed loads more to set up, the beer in the keg isnt in a stable state, its in a dynamic equilibrium based on the temperature and pressure which changes with every pint poured and every injection of co2.

So Pb pouring is very yo-yo ish, starting with a higher pressure pour petering off during the session till an injection is required, putting u back to the proverbial square 1 again.

If you can both stabilise the keg temp And maintain a constant pressure, its possible to set the conditions for a consistent pour pint after pint.

Ian an old flatmate of mine used to wind me up as he just a mere drinker could pour a good pint out of my pb's while i struggled to find the knack needed.. its a case of crack the tap with glass inclined under the spout and regulating the flow and glass angle dynamicaly thru the pour..

Easier said than done.

Also remeber a clean dry cold glass will be less likely to stimulate co2 release or foam from the beer than a warm dirty glass.

Good points. I'll maybe persevere and use up some cheap kits in the kegs and bottle the good stuff. Hopefully I'll get the knack, though I've already done two batches in kegs and not got a proper pint poured yet.

Cheers.
 
Good points. I'll maybe persevere and use up some cheap kits in the kegs and bottle the good stuff. Hopefully I'll get the knack, though I've already done two batches in kegs and not got a proper pint poured yet.

Cheers.

All I do is fit a length of silicone tubing to the tap and take my time pouring but I agree it is hard not to get tons of froth. Still tastes ok to me though.

:p
 
Being a bit of a newbie to this home brewing i have previously always bottled by brews. However, i have recently come into posession of a couple of kegs. I don't drinks pints and pints per week but would like to use my newly aquired kegs. How long does beer stay good for in a keg once you have cracked the seal and drawn off the 1st pint?
 
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