Brewing Beer with the PicoBrew Pico S: Racking, Kegging, and Tasting!

A note about how you’ll be conditioning your keg, and there are two ways to do it: you can either naturally carbonate your beer (keg conditioning) by adding the included sugar package to the bottom of the serving keg after rinsing it out, or you can force carbonate it with CO2. I opted for carbonating, as it is quicker.

The next step is to connect the sanitized keg wand to the gray ball lock connector and then directing it into a bowl or other waste container. Although you’ll most likely be using the Pico Instruction Manual as you go along (as I was doing), the basic steps are also displayed on the PicoBrew Pico S.

At this point, you should insert the metal lid onto the brewing keg. I rinsed it off with clean water, just to be safe.

Brewing Beer with the PicoBrew Pico S: Racking, Kegging, and Tasting!

The gray ball lock connector goes on the brewing keg’s IN post, as it will be pressurizing the brewing keg with air to help easily remove your beer. The racking tube’s ball lock connector connects to the brewing keg’s OUT post; the racking tube should be directed to the container you’ll be using to catch the trub.

Brewing Beer with the PicoBrew Pico S: Racking, Kegging, and Tasting!

Now comes the part where you’ll be using the PicoBrew Pico S to remove the trub from your beer. This is a really quick process, and you don’t want to do like I did and let it run a second longer than it needs to (if it is needed at all).

Brewing Beer with the PicoBrew Pico S: Racking, Kegging, and Tasting!

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About the Author

Judie Lipsett Stanford
Judie is the co-owner and Editor-in-Chief of Gear Diary, which she founded in September 2006. She started in 1999 writing software reviews at the now-defunct smaller.com; from mid-2000 through 2006, she wrote hardware reviews for and co-edited at The Gadgeteer. A recipient of the Sigma Kappa Colby Award for Technology, Judie is best known for her device-agnostic approach, deep-dive reviews, and enjoyment of exploring the latest tech, gadgets, and gear.