Keg to Keg transfer?

[BrewBlender]

Can you transfer carbonated beer from one corny keg to second corny without it foaming up or compromising the quality? Here's the deal...I have about 4 gallons that I'd like to transfer two gallons of into a second corny keg. I thought I remember someone talking about connecting the out hose of one to the out connector of the second and pushing it from the first at a low pressure. Does this work?

[Bugeater]

I do this on a regular basis with no problem. I should add, however, that this is into a keg that has been purged with CO2. I do my purging and sanitizing in a single step using the transfer hose. I keep a keg full of star san around all the time. When I need to use a keg, I hook up the jumper to an empty keg and use CO2 to push the star san into the new keg. This leaves me with a sanitized keg full of CO2 ready to receive some beer. No oxidation issues this way.

It's handy to have a keg of star san around. I keep a picnic tap hooked up to it and keep just a few pounds of pressure in the keg, not enough to carbonate to any noticeable degree but enough that I can pour a little sanitizer into a flask or whatever when I want to sanitize something.

Wayne

[DannyW]

You can do it with no foam if you hook up a return tube from one in post to the other. you essentially get a siphon, so the beer feels no pressure change and thus does not foam at all.


Of course you can get by with judicious tugging on the relief valve too. The faster you go the more foam you will get. go slowly and you probably won't get a spray of beer on your knees near the end.

what bug said about purging the keg is very important though. Adding Co2 and pulling the relief valve a few times doesn't cut it.

[BrewBlender]

Thank you for the advice...is there a rule of thumb to what to set the regulator to on the first keg? So I basically just turn on the CO2 tank when I want to start transferring, right? And if I am running the beer using the CO2 to push it, should the kegs be side by side, and not one on top? Bugeater--Can you give me a step by step of how to purge with star-san and transfer, etc. Just want to make sure I do this right. Thanks again!

Josh

[DannyW]

Fill keg to the top with StarSan diluted with RO water according to directions. Push with Co2 from that keg to another. now the first keg is sanitized and completely full of CO2, with no air.

I leave my sending keg at its equilibrium pressure. For me that is usually 10-12psi and 40F. I figure if I lower that pressure for the transfer then the gas is just going to be that much more eager to come out of solution (foam).

If you are relieving pressure on the receiving keg to make the transfer, then they can be side by side on the floor. If you are using the return gas jumper to do the siphon transfer then the sending keg must be higher than the receiving keg.

[BrewBlender]

Thanks again...OK one more question. Is there a way one can tell how much beer has been transferred. I'm assuming the full keg of cold beer will leave condensation marks on the outside of it as I empty it or the receiving keg will show condensation rings on it's outside? OK, two questions. Should I chill the Star-San keg before it will be emptied and filled with the chilled beer?

[Mylo]

No need to chill the Star-San keg. I started using a bathroom scale to determine when the receiver was done - but I keep forgetting how many pounds is the magic number. Getting older sux...


Mylo

[DannyW]

I watch the condensation line, then sit next to the keg when it gets within a few inches of the top. The condensation line lags a suprising distance behind the liquid level.

the deluxe way to do this would be to record a tare weight of all your kegs, then transfer by weight. I'm not that organized, though.