About to keg my first beer, tips?

Brewing Processes
1

Just made the big jump from plastic fermenters to glass and bottling to kegging.  First week on AHA and I’m about to keg my first beer (~7% abv Columbus/Simcoe IPA) and need a few tips.  Does anyone have a link or summary on best techniques for sanitizing a 5 gal Corny Keg + tubing and carbonating my first beer?  I’ve skimmed two of Papazian’s books but I’m still looking for a step-by-step breakdown on this process.  Thanks for all the help!

Cheers!

2

I found this to be really helpful thanks to someone that posted it for me as I too am getting started with kegs as well.

Also this:http://www.kegworks.com/faqs/Draft-Beer-Quality-Manual.pdf

3

This is the best kegging info I’ve found.

http://web.archive.org/web/20061113163320/http://www.bodensatz.com/staticpages/index.php?page=Soda-Kegs

4

Thanks, guys!!  SO much information in all three of those resources. Exactly what I was looking for, greatly appreciated.  Can’t wait to get started.

5

I know this is a bit advanced for a first-time kegger, but this is my 2 cents worth on this topic… I just kegged (last week) 2 5 gallon kegs from my conical. Since it’s a big beer well over 6.5% ABV I added fresh yeast to both as the residual yeast is pretty well spent. Keg 1: dry hopped immediately without priming sugar (the fresh yeast will help finish fermenting the rest of the residual sugar) as it will be chilled, filtered, force-carbonated and served within a week of kegging. This is my New Age keg. Keg 2: 5 Oz priming sugar added at kegging. It will be dry hopped and fined with Isinglass (no filtering) about a week before serving (2-3 weeks in the keg). This is my Traditional keg. I use a spunding valve so as to never over-carbonate. And I connect Co2 after filling the kegs and purge the oxygen with 5 PSI Co2. After 2 days, keg 2 (primed) was up to full carbonation PSI! And keg 1, after 4 days in the keg and relying just on residual sugar, was up to 92% of full carbonation PSI. But keg conditioning isn’t just about carbonation… This is my first side-by-side comparison, so we will see…

6

As far as sanitizing goes, I fill about a gallon of water and some starsan in the keg before kegging and shake up and dump.  Only needs a couple minutes contact time.  I sanitize my tubing with a spray bottle where I keep a mixture of distilled water and starsan.  It’s just that simple.

7

5 ounces of sugar is way overkill for a 2.5 gallon keg. The most I use for 5 gallons is 2.5-3.

Edit- just noticed you used two 5 gallon kegs. Maybe I should put on my glasses? But still, 5 ounces is a ton of sugar for a keg.