Force Carbonating Temperature Question

Howdy, I'm kegging my first batch this weekend and I have a beginners question. I don't have a fridge that I can put the keg in so I'm planning on working in my basement which is 65°. After carbonating I want to bottle most of the batch using a beer gun and then store them in my basement until needed and then put them in my fridge which is set to 37°.

I'm going to use a stone in the keg to carbonate for a few days at whatever PSI is appropriate. I'm looking to get to 2.5 volumes of CO2 so should I set the PSI to 11 (for the 37° fridge) or 29 (for the 65° basement). I see that the charts are for serving temps so I assume 11 PSI.

Sorry if this is covered elsewhere, I'm just afraid of bottles bursting if I do it wrong. Thanks!

You'll need to set the regulator to the psi needed to create/maintain the level of CO2 at the current beer temperature, not your target temperature. So set it to 29, not 11.

Unless you are shaking the keg to help force the CO2 into solution, the beer will not carbonate by itself in just a few days.

It's also going to be difficult to bottle a batch at room temperature and get a good carbonation level to carry through into the finished product. CO2 will evolve out of solution much easier at higher temperatures than at lower temperatures.

If you can chill the keg down with ice for a few days while you carbonate it and bottle it, I think you'll be more successful. I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but I'd hate to see you be disappointed with your results.

-Steve

Thanks Steve, that is a big help! I was thinking of going all the way and getting a fridge, maybe I should just do that. Otherwise I'll try icing. Thanks!