Transferring Carb'ed Beer Keg to Keg

[chicanuck]

Howdy,

I have been searching these forums and others for some advice on moving carb'ed beer from a 19L pepsi keg to another 19L Pepsi keg, without making a huge f'ing foamy mess. One other catch and the reason I want to do it, I want to run this carb'ed Cream Ale through a Pentek 158008 filter system to clean it up. I have used this filter on my last batch of lager and it did clear the beer up nicely and was fairly easy to use, however the lager was coming from the secondary and not already carbonated.

From what I found so far, I need to create a closed pressure system by keeping the the pressures in both the full and empty kegs equal (easy part). Then use the relief value in the empty keg to decrease the pressure which in theory should start the beer flow from the full keg to the empty. This all makes sense but the filter system is the unknown and after the beer starts flowing, do I disconnect the gas line to the empty keg so the pressure remains lower then the full?

Hmmmm......anyone have any experience with moving carb'ed beer through a filter? Or should I save myself the headache and just drink the existing beer in one sitting, make a new batch of cream ale this weekend and start over

Thanks, Chicanuck

[mr x]

First of all, make sure your filter will handle pressure, and not blow apart. I think you'll have to constantly bleed pressure to keep a balance between to much flow/foam, and no flow.

Why drink it in one sitting? Beer usually will clear over time, unless it's chill haze, and in that case, who cares.

[jason.loxton]

I'm with X: let it sit cold and it'll clear/age itself. Filter might speed up both of those processes, but time will do the same without risking explosive beer action. Also: have you tried adding finings yet? I had a American wheat that wouldn't clear in a reasonable time frame and nuked it with this double punch: <http://www.midwestsupplies.com/super-kl ... nings.html>. (Noble Grape sells it, I think.) Worked like a charm! With a beer like yours, there's not much harm to be done from knocking stuff out (there really isn't any flavour to lose). I'd say go that route before filtering.

[chicanuck]

Yes......patience may be the key, thanks for the advice. My course of action:

1) Keep it in the keggerator and test periodically.
2) Hit with a fining agent if I start getting impatient again. I used a fining agent from NG on an apple cider batch this winter, it did work pretty well.....the cider was still sub-par but it was clear.
3) Brew another batch.

[jason.loxton]

Just to be clear, that wasn't a shot at your beer. I just meant that messing with an IIPA, either through hardcore fining or filtration, is going to alter the final beer more than on a blonde, cream, etc.

[chicanuck]

I didn't take it that way, I made the Cream Ale more for guests then myself and received some comments on the non-clarity of the beer (by non craft beer types). Since I have the filter, I was thinking of trying a filtering experiment with carb'ed beer. With the comments and projecting the likely outcomes in my own mind, I think I will stand pat and save the headache.

On a different note, I had the Brewskie 52 at the H&T at lunch today, a big hoppy front end with a balanced smooth finish......it was awesome.

- chicanuck

[sleepyjamie]

My beers usually clean up after a few weeks. Easiest is to keep keg as chilled as possible.

[LeafMan66_67]

My beers usually clean up after a few weeks. Easiest is to keep keg as chilled as possible.

Mine usually clear up just before the last glass - time and patience!