Confused & Kegging Questions.

[flairman123]

Hi.

I am looking for some help regarding kegging please?
I have been brewing a couple of months now, starting with  Mr Beer kit which all worked out great,
and now I have progressed onto the Coopers kit,and also using a second 23l fermenter.

The only draw back was the amount of bottling,so I invested in a I-brew Tap-A-Draught.
Initially all went well filled my 4 x 10 pint Pet bottles with the suggested ammount of priming sugar(dextrose) and left condition/secondary fermentation for 4 weeks.
Then fitted the regulator/dispenser charged the Co2 as per instruction(2x 8grm) and left in fridge for a day to allow C02 to be absorbed into the beer.
Then removed beer charged some more CO2 for dispensing,and it worked great except the beer is pretty flat.

Originally I was going to purchase a king keg system but did not have a fridge to be able to cool it in(but since I have acquired one on the cheap),and the more I read about kegging (beside using cornies) the more confused I am getting.

Is it correct in saying that if you want a highly carbonated beer (i.e. Lager) then you are better off not kegging and sticking to bottles?
I know certain beers such as stout and possibly pale ales are generally not highly carbonated ,but what about the other types?

After doing a bit of research about King Keg (was thinking of investing now that I got a spare fridge!),general feedback seems to be the same.
It is very difficult to highly carbonate the beer in a king keg because the pressure relief will lift,so it is recommended either to stick to bottles or make a different type of beer more suited to lower carb levels.

I know a simple solution could be just charging more C02 into the Pet bottles/King Keg but there seems to be a fine line between getting the carbonation right by doing this or having a keg full of froth when dispensing.

I know its all a learning curve and flat beer is probably better than no beer but can anybody enlighten me regarding natural secondary fermentation/carbonation when kegging.
The consensus seems to be that you do not add as much priming sugar when kegging as you would when bottling a batch of beer?
If you do this will you be left with a lower carbed beer,if you don't will your keg pressure relief lift and leave you with a lower carbed beer anyway?

I would love to get this right as i am making a honey beer at the moment.
Coopers Canadian Blonde, 700 grm of Honey boiled in water to sanitize,and brew enhancer 2 to add some Maltodextrin to balance the potential sweetness.
Primary fermentation is almost complete and all is going great so far.
Was planning on potentially putting this in a King Keg all going well.
Any help here guys would be great!!

[Ciderhead]

We all progress towards corny kegs in the fridge in the end
1 Corny €50
2 2x connectors €20
3 1x5kg co2 tank filled €30-40
4 1 Fridge free-€100
5 Picnic tap 15-20 Beer tap 30-50
6 Pipework 10-20

You need your beer to be cold to get C02 into it

[LordEoin]

Some day I'll cave...

[Ciderhead]

and then we end out buying beer guns and filling bottles again "circle of life", less sediment of course.

[LordEoin]

But sediment is part of your 5-a-day. And it's probiotic, like Actimel... 

[johnrm]

@flairman123, I'm up the road if you want to look at kegging. Give me a bell if you want a snoop. You have my number.

[Shane Phelan]

We all progress towards corny kegs in the fridge in the end

This.

I had previously considered the 5L mini kegs due to the lack of space in my tiny apartment but at the end of the day I liked the flexibility of the corny kegs and compromised by getting 10L corny's instead.

[montofk]

You need your beer to be cold to get C02 into it

Is that right CH?! Is it a must?
I know colder beer absorbs CO2 quicker / easier but thought it would still work at room temp? (Albeit a bit slower)?

[newToBrew]

I think the lower temps of the beer allow the liquid to absorb more of the gas than say if it is at room temp

There is a quick and dirty shake and roll method - where you gas it up a bit - then roll the keg about to get the gas in - let it rest - repeat if nesecary

[montofk]

Yeah that's the method I was planning to use if I was in a hurry!
Thought it'd work ok tho at room temp too, even if slower than cold temp.
Haven't got a fridge yet, was planning in the short term to drop into a chest freezer for an hour or something before drinking... Or in winter would probably be fine to leave in the shed, would resemble cellar temps for 6 months of the year I'm sure.

[flairman123]

Thanks for all the replies guys.
Has anybody got any insight into being able to carbonate for example Lager with a King Keg.
I don't know if I will take the leap to cornies yet?
Anybody using  King Keg?
My plan before my issues was to get a handle on kegging using a K.K.first ,then in time use my King keg for secondary fermentation before transferring sediment free to a cornie.

[johnrm]

Have you got a weak relief valve?
Is there a poor seal on the lid?
When you gas the keg do you leave the S30 in situ or do you remove it?

[flairman123]

Hi John.
Thanks for the info.
I think the point of my questions are being missed maybe the its the way I am putting them across.
I currently do not have  King Keg but had planned to purchase one to get away from bottling.
I do currently have a tap a draught system which I purchased for the same reason(4 x 6L PET bottles a whole coopers brew in 4 bottles sounded good!).
Unfortunately  after secondary fermentation and addition of CO2 bulbs the carbonation is not great.
After doing some research on Tap a draught its seems that there is only so far the bottles can go before potential damage can occur.,so its more suited to lower carbed beers.
Next stop was potentially a King Keg system,but again researching has told me that they also may not be suitable for more highly carbonated beers such as Lagers etc because of pressure relief issues/design pressures.
I was hoping as I became more knowledgeable ,to progress from Tap-A-Draught to King Keg- to Cornie in time, not wanting to waste my King Keg I would ultimately use it for secondary fermentation before transferring to a cornie,or that was the plan at least.

So I just wanted to know if there were any King Keg users on the forum and had they experienced any of the issues I have listed,if so, I just might bottle for the time being until I get the money to go straight to cornie!

Thanks for the invite to view your keg system too!

[johnrm]

Sorry, too much to read, so I missed that it was tap-a-draft.
The principles are still the same though, Beer is Beer
See other people's experiences here...
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/review/product/list/id/970/

Re reading the OP, did you under prime originally?
Why are you force carbing as well as bottle conditioning?

Was this your first batch in the TAD?

[newToBrew]

If  was u I'd forget about the king keg - stick with tap a draft for now - or bottle or both and start building up what you need for the cornies - alternatively - there is a 5 litreparty keg package on the homebrew sites  for @ 70 quid which may meet your needs - I borrowed one once
- put a pale ale in it - batch primed and did not notice any low carbed issues

These things are relatively small compared to cornies and can be used to keg excess beer when u go cornies

I just see the  king keg thing as ultimately a waste of money

Just my opinion though - and I ave to admit - never had or used one