Finished fermentation keging beer

[Steve b]

Ive asked this question before but I think I've over read the topic now , my fermentation stopped about week ago , 2 weeks in the fermentor all up , I'm now wondering should I now cool the fermentor and to what temp? I've been told this is great for force carbonation , secondly Once I'm ready to keg with no priming sugars etc just co2 , after I sanitise the keg apply co2 and turn on tap till clear of sanitizer , remove keg lid , auto syphon from fermentor to keg close lid add ??? Psi then what , I realize I need to leave for another 30 days or so before I can drink but I'm not keen on leaving the co2 hooked up for that whole time due to an unknown leak ?? This is where I need help please

[bart]

Don't bother to cool the beer prior to kegging - simply keep the keg in a fridge whilst it is carbonating. I fill my kegs with beer at whatever temp it was fermenting at with no problems. Here's what you do: 

1. Clean the keg and put some stainless steel friendly sanitiser solution in there. Put the lid of the keg on, shake it round a bit, and leave to sit for a while. Run a little bit through the line too. 

2. Rinse the keg with clean water. Push some water through the lines too to clear out sanitiser.

3. Fill the keg with beer (leave a few cm gap at the top) using a sanitised siphon and put the lid on the keg. 

4. Hook the keg up to the CO2. 'Burp' the pressure release valve several times to clear out any oxygen from the keg. 

5. Leave the keg in a fridge at 2 to 7 deg C to carbonate. You have two options - 10psi and it will take about one week or more to carbonate. 30psi and your beer will be carbonated in two or three days and then you can turn it down to 5-10psi (standard pouring pressure). So no it does not take a month although yes if you have the patience it can pay to let your beer condition for a while in the keg, the flavours will slowly change over time. 

6. Drink the beer. 

7. Repeat. 

And yes you leave it hooked up to the CO2 all the time. If you have a leak, get it sorted out or else you will loose your whole tank of CO2 in a jiffy. You should be able to hear most leaks or see small bubbles coming out from where the leak is. 

[MrC]

You don't have to have the CO2 hooked up all the time.  Once kegged you can hook up the CO2, set the pressure to 30 PSI, wait for it to equalise and then disconnect the CO2.   Depending on the head space in your keg you may need to top the pressure up to 30 PSI each day. After a 2-3 days the beer will be carbonated. With this approach I find it best to test the carbonation daily until the desired level is achieved.

Once carbonated you can set the pressure to "serving pressure" and disconnect the CO2 again while you serve.  You will need to top up the pressure occasionally to keep it up to serving pressure.

Works fine for me.