Homebrew kegging question

[imahawki]

I just got a couple corny kegs and I want to keg my homebrew for the first time. Question 1) after I make a batch, and it is fermented what do I do? I've heard that you can either carbonate it naturally by priming it or carbonate it with the CO2 when you put it on tap? Is that actually correct? If so, which option is best, and if not, which one is the correct way to do it?

Question 2) if I want to make a batch, how long can it be in the keg before I tap it? I know I had bottled homebrew that was perfectly good (in fact, better) 6-9 months after I bottled it.

[edramshaw]

Question 1: It basically comes down to personal preference. Bottle (or in this case keg) conditioned beer is reported to have a finer mouth feel so depending out what you are going for you would go one way or the other. Your best bet would be to try both ways. To keg condition you would put about 3/4 of a cup of corn sugar/DME to carbonate. One a Charlie's books tells the appropriate way to determine the exact amounts. You do use less in a keg because your head space is bigger resulting in more efficient use of the back pressure. I personally force carbonate which is really simple and you can rack a beer and be drinking it in as little as a few hours. To do this you need to find a CO2 solubility chart (again I believe Charlie's homebrew companion has one, you can also search for Zahm Nagel CO2 solubility chart and find one that way).

Step one: Clean and sanitize

Step two: Rack into the keg

Step three: Drop the temperature of the beer to 38 by putting it into the fridge.

Step four: After determining the CO2 volume level you desire (reference AHA guidelines) you cross reference that information with the temperature of your uncarboanted beer and apply that amount of pressure to your beer. If you let it set for a few days it will happen on its own. If you are anxious you can lay the keg on it's side and rock the keg back and forth until you no longer hear a hissing through the regulator. IMPORTANT: Be sure you have a check valve in there or you risk sending beer back up to your regulator which is not good.

Step five: Let keg settle and enjoy.

Step six: Share one with me.

Question 2: I think I answered this one under question 1 but if you naturally carbonate by using corn sugar/DME then you will need to wait a few days for the magic to happen. Just like bottles you can age kegs as well. I brew a lot of high gravity beers and I will let them sit in the kegs for up to a year sometimes. You just have to have enough kegs to make it practical. Another point worth mentioning is that you can do the secondary or even tertiary fermentation in the keg as well.

[imahawki]

What kind of check valve do I need. This is the only thing I'm questionable on to be honest.

[edramshaw]

It goes between your gas in fitting and the regulator. Some regulators have the check valve built in so you might want to research that first. I could not really find the inline version on the Micromatic site but a quick google search will lead you to others sources. Perhaps someone else can locate them here and provide a link.

[imahawki]

OK, I found the solubility chart. http://www.zahmnagel.com/pdf/Beer.pdf

It looks like I need to pick a solubility and then knowing the temperature, it tells me the PSI. How the heck do I know the desired solubility though?

[edramshaw]

If you have the Homebrewers Companion there is a list in there that outlines basic carbonation levels different beers. If you tell me what style I can tell what is recommended.

[imahawki]

"Nut Brown Ale"