Room Temp Force Carbonating a Corny Keg. Please help.

madewithchicken · 10-31-2008, 06:09 PM

I have a keg of cola that I do not want to take up room in my kegerator. I figured I will just dispense in a glass of ice. It is 68 degrees in my basement so I pressurized the keg to 30 PSI. That should put it at 2.3 ish volumes of CO2.

Then of course I lower the pressure to dispense. But it is all foam. Not a drop of liquid.

I am using a picnic faucet (the cheap black plastic faucets) on this keg. And this may be part of the problem. But I am not changing that for practical reasons.

The hose is long between the keg and the faucet, which I have found usually helps a bit for getting less head. There are no kinks in the line.

I know that when cornys were being used for soda they were ran though a cold plate. But that is also impractical to keep ice on a cold plate all the time for the coke I may want once a week. I do have one though.

Has anyone been able to dispense and carbonate room temp beer or soda?

**david_42** · 10-31-2008, 08:02 PM

At 30 psi you need 20 feet of 3/16ths hose. Reducing the pressure to serve does not decrease the amount of CO2 in the soda, so all you get is foam.

madewithchicken · 11-02-2008, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by david_42

At 30 psi you need 20 feet of 3/16ths hose. Reducing the pressure to serve does not decrease the amount of CO2 in the soda, so all you get is foam.

I am sorry but that seemed more like a criticism and thus not helpful.

Are you suggesting I purchase 20 feet of hose? If so do i coil it? Do I run it straight in the air to create back pressure? Which is what you meant?

And you are right the serving pressure does not change the amount of co2 in the soda. But since the amount of co2 is the same as beer, 2.3 volumes, I think you meant the problem had to do with pressure (both gravity and air pressure) and the solubility of c02 in warm liquids.

A unopened bottle of beer has the same amount of co2 at room temp as it does cold. But the pressure is different.

I really could use some help with this. Has no one every tried to serve room temp beer from a keg?

Beerrific · 11-02-2008, 02:58 PM

Try this link to help you decide how much line you need:
Draft system line balancing
If you do decide you need a long run of tubing, it can be coiled.

I have had success using a short line and dropping the pressure in the keg to serve. But, when you drop the pressure from 30 psi to something low you are going to cause a lot of CO2 to come out of solution (like when you open a bottle of soda and it foams). This could be part of your problem.

**Bobby_M** · 11-02-2008, 03:20 PM

You really shouldnt try dispensing warm soda. It will give up way too much Co2 by the time the ice cools it. It's the same reason I can't understand why people keep bottled soda warm and just think they can pour it over ice. It's flat before you finish half of it.

davebl · 11-02-2008, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby_M

You really shouldnt try dispensing warm soda. It will give up way too much Co2 by the time the ice cools it. It's the same reason I can't understand why people keep bottled soda warm and just think they can pour it over ice. It's flat before you finish half of it.

Bobby, that is one of my all time biggest pet peeves. I don't realize how people don't know how to put the bottle of soda in the fridge and pour it cold.

Ugh!

madewithchicken · 11-02-2008, 07:33 PM

So basically it is as i thought. If i put it in the basement and serve it from the 2nd floor, i will have a wonderful glass of room temp pop that will go flat right away. . . maybe i did not think this one out all the way.

Well that is fine i have a back up plan. I will just carb in 2 liter bottles and chill them.

**Bobby_M** · 11-03-2008, 12:14 AM

If you wanted to go through the trouble, you could run it through a cold plate that you keep in the fridge so it chills before it is dispensed.

**IrregularPulse** · 11-03-2008, 02:42 AM

To those of you that carb and then store in the cellar till you need them.
Do you just carb in the keezer as normal, then when it's at a good level, disconnect gas and beer lines, Don't purge, pull out keg and store. Then when it's needed throw back in the kegger over night to chill hook up line and serve?