Kegging Homebrew Question

you do not need to use corn sugar or any other priming agent. just CO2 gas. you apply the pressure needed to reach the dissolved CO2 you want in your beer and wait. there are charts, but usually about 12 psi at 38 degrees. it will take a few days.
there are faster methods that are less reliable. for now, apply the gas and wait.

also, burp the keg a few times at first to purge oxygen.
Cheers.

 

Yeah, do your homework.
You add some sugar when bottling to get the yeast going again to produce CO2 for your bottled beer. Kegging with a tank gives you that CO2. Someone with more experience might offer a reason as to why you'd want to ferment again when you have a presumably ready-to-drink beer, but I don't have that experience. In addition to waiting again for fermentation to complete, you're going to have some amount of yeast on the bottom of your keg thats going to have to be dealt with. Watch some videos on youtube (try Craigtube's channel) on kegging. Doesn't sound like you're 100% ready to do this.

You should learn what this chart means if you're going to carb in a refrigerated space.
http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

 

Yeah, I'd practice something first if I were you. Make some soda with water & Mio or something. At least practice pushing some star san through your keg with your co2 tank setup.

Get started with these.

 

I would start here... Bottler's Guide to Kegging

 

I enjoy refermenting in the keg, I feel like it tastes better for many styles. I just add my sugar water to the keg just like I would the bottling bucket, use my CO2 to seal things up and sit the keg int he corner. Right now my keezer is empty so its sitting in there at 70.

I have a slightly off topic question for you other keggers. I ordered 4 kegs from AIH and cleaned them up this weekend. I had to replace all the orings because they stunk of cola and what have you. When everything was clean and I was taking a closer look at the dip tubes I noticed they are real close to the bottom of the keg. How close are your dip tubes to the bottom? These are 1/16" from the bottom I would say, where as my others are about 1/8" or 1/4" I think? If I end up needing to shave some length off have any of you done that? I wouldnt mind having an IPA keg with a short dip tube...

 

It varies. I have at least one keg where the dip tube actually touches the bottom. Doesn't seem to hurt anything. Some people do cut some length from their dip tubes, the idea being that it's less likely to pick up sediment. Most of my tubes are uncut. If there's some sediment, I'd rather get rid of it with the first pint or two than have it sitting in the beer.

 

If you end up cutting it, use a tubing cutter. A hacksaw can be pretty traumatic on the stainless, it will introduce steel to the stainless tubing, could possibly cause you to bend the tubing, or "ovalize" the end so that you may have to hammer it back round. The tubing cutters can be had for CHEAP and makes clean quick work or the tubing. I found mine in the $4.97 box at my local hardware store.

You could always add a little tubing to the dip tube if you need to get closer to the bottom.

 

All of my kegs, except for 2, are trimmed. Infact, I have 2-3 kegs that are designated for "dryhopping" and generally for hoppy beers that have a filter screen over them as well. In all honesty, when the kegs kick, and I pull them and open them up, there really isn't ANYTHING at the point of where it kicked, that I would like to drink. It's usually everything that has settled out so it ends up being perfect. Not like I'm leaving a pint or two in there.

 

Cutting the diptube leaves a glass (or two) of sediment in the bottom to be tossed . . . not cutting it let's you toss the first glass (or two) of brew that has collected the sediment. I call that a wash.

For the OP: I try not to give unsolicited advice but am making an exception here. The probability of a new kegerator having a gas leak is close to 100% . . . this is normal. You can locate and fix your leaks before you have beer at risk or wait until your precious brew is at risk of oxidation, contamination, or who-knows-what. If you search the Home Bar forum you'll see lots of crisis posts about empty CO2 tanks, flat beer, can't find the leak, etc. This usually involves repairs to a fitting, regulator, post, or whatever while your best beer is exposed to the nasties.

I recommend that you pressurize your system to about 40 psi and shut off your tank master valve . . . let it sit for 48 hours and check that it is holding pressure. Do this before you get any beer in the same room of your kegerator . . . should keep your stress level low and prevent a quick return to the CO2 store. Now is the time to order your spare o-rings, a rule of thumb is to have a reserve at least equal to twice the number of tanks you have. An extra coupler (gas/liquid) is also good insurance. Pretty sure this will make the beer taste better . . .