Kegging Day!

Hi there and Happy Earth Day!

Finally, the long wait is over and it's time to keg the beer! Yes...at this point we can refer to that sweet liquid as BEER! It's seems like I have been waiting forever for this happy day to arrive.

The day started at around 7AM. I gathered all the needed equipment and made up a bucket of sanitizing agent. I then proceded to sanitize the transfer pump and all of the hoses and racking canes and whatever would be in contact with the beer. While the hoses and other stuff were soaking, I rounded up the kegs and started to heat up some water. When the water was hot enough, (about 150 degF), I added and mixed in the PBW (powdered brewery wash). Once mixed in, I added some of this mixture to each keg and with my brush proceded to scrub out each keg. When I was done the liquid was emptied, the kegs were rinsed and then sanitized.

Now we're ready to keg the beer!

I had to dismantle the cooling system from the fermenters and remove it from the Big Blue Box (fermentation chamber), and then hook the pump and hoses to the conical fermenter. Once the pump was primed, the transfer began, and the kegs were filled to the top, sealed, then purged with co2 and delivered to the temperature controlled dispensing and conditioning freezer to get carbonated and conditioned. The freezer's temperature is at 38 degF, and I wanted to get this beer (APA) carbonated asap, so I applied the co2 at about 30 PSI and will hold it there for a couple of days. Every once in a while i'll open the freezer up and give each keg a good shaking to expedite the carbonation process. It should be ready within the week.

After all that was done, I also had to rack the "Brew in the Park IPA" into a keg. The IPA was fermented in a 6 gallon carboy so I had to siphon the beer out of it and into the waiting and sanitized keg. Again once the keg was filled, it was purged with co2 and delivered to the freezer to condition and carbonate. The same PSI was used for this one too.
I am planning to serve all of this homebrew during my AHA National Homebrew Day (BIG Brew) celebration that I am hosting here at my home. If you're in the Daytona Beach, FL area and want to stop by, just leave a comment here on this post and I'll get back to you with further information.

Below are some pics of my kegging day....enjoy!
Have questions?? Just ask!

Thanks for stopping by....Cheers! (_)3




Here's the setup I use for controlling the fermentation
temperature of the primary (carboy).
The carboy is placed into the insulated food bag and
the copper coil is places around it.The bag is then
zipped up and the 3/8 hoses are installed from the pump
in the el cheapo cooler. One for the in side and one for the return.
The ice water is returned back into the cooler. The temperature
is monitored by a stopper thermowell installed on the carboy,
and is connected to a digital temperature controller. The temp probe
goes in the thermowell to monitor the wort temperature, and the controller
is mounted on the outside of the fermentation chamber.



The ice water is circulated by an aquarium pump.
Cost for the pump? $9.95!



Below is a shot of my banjo burner setup. I had my
neighbor weld the brackets on the burner
as a safety precaution. The metal dolly
was from an old file cabinet that we tossed out
a while back, and I had to drill the holes thru
the cast iron legs of the burner (not easy with a hand drill),
and then transfer the hole pattern one at a time to the metal dolly,
then drilled the holes for mounting the burner to it.
It works great and is very easy to move around...even when the kettle is full!



Here's our trusty beer guard Jubilee hard at work!



Another angle..




Below you can see the fermenter inside the
Big Blue Box, with the transfer hose connected to the
racking valve. It is primed and ready to go!




another shot...




This shot shows the transfer in action on the
receiving end. You can see the pump, the keg and the beer
going thru the clear line into the keg. Notice how clear the beer
is already! Also pictured is a bucket of sanitizer.




Below is the carboy of the "Brew in the Park IPA"
getting ready to be racked into a keg and a shot of my
Temp controlled freezer setup.



Another view of my carboy primary fermentation
temperature controlled setup disassembled and out of the
Big Blue Box.




Have Questions?? Just Ask!!

(_)3