I recently got the OK to invest in a 2-1/2 gallon keg to bring to parties, etc. and I’m looking for some advice on how to fill it from one my 5 gallon kegs.
Thanks in advance.
Just make a jumper line that goes from the beer out post on your 5 gallon keg to the beer out post on your 2.5 gallon keg. You’ll want to lower the pressure on your 5 gallon keg so that the beer flows slowly and provide a way for gas to escape from your 2.5 gallon. Probably just open the main port so that you can monitor the fill level. Then purge and serve.
What he said…
The jumper works great for moving StarSan over to a new keg and leaving the empty full of CO2, purged and ready for your next batch.
Just to add.
You can monitor the fill level by weight, or if the beer in the source keg is cold, condensation on the receiver keg (at least that works in humid MI).
+1. Just twist open the relief valve a little until the beer starts to flow. When foam comes out you’re done!
If there’s not enough humidity to form much condensation, you can also get a pretty good sense of the beer level in the receiving keg using your fingertips, assuming the beer being transferred is cold. Just leave your fingers in contact with the keg for several seconds - you can easily feel the difference between the fingers that lie under the liquid level (they will be cold, and stay cold) and the fingers above (which will not feel all that cold for long, as your fingers will heat up the metal a bit).
My wife says it looks like I’m doing a Vulcan mind-meld with the keg when I do this. I’m ok with that.
“The meld is with the yeast, honey. NOT the keg. Duh!”
Nice.
If it’s not humid enough…breathe on it (obv beer must be cold though). You’re on your own explaining that to your wife. One thing I do to make it a tiny bit easier is to use my adjustable spunding valve on the receiver keg IN post. Just set it to a few pounds lower than the CO2 pressure and then just let it slowly transfer without having to pull relief valve poppets or anything.