Forced Carbing. What am I doing wrong!

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scubastan

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Hi Everyone,

I've been trying to force carb for 3 batches now. All with very minimal effect.
Of the 3 beers I have force carb'd, they all have the same problem. Alot of foam and head, but very little carbonation in the actual beer.

I have a 20# co2 tank setup to a corny keg. The last batch a Blueberry Hef has been on 35psi of CO2 for the last 2 weeks. I don't have a kegerator so I have to carb it at room temp. average room temp has been 65-70 here.

I tried a small sample yesterday. I shut off the co2, changed it to 8psi and then bled off all the extra co2 in the corny tank before turning on the co2 again at the 8psi.

I have the corney keg hooked up to 24in of line and a picnic tap. (could the short line be causing the foam?)

Let me know if you need more info.
 
Do you chill keg before pulling a sample? If not you will get a big glass of foam. I only have a chest freezer which I can't modify so I will put in my keg for 2 hours then enjoy.
 
One of the issues with room temperature carbing is that while it works, dispensing warm beer is usually a foamy mess.

First, at 30 psi, you need like 30' beer lines for the proper restriction (reducing the pressure for serving doesn't really work) and secondly, warm beer tends to foam more anyway.

If you don't have a way to serve the beer cold, you can try going with a super super long line and see if that works. I do it with soda, and it works ok. But a 24 inch line will never work, even if the beer is cold. I use 10' of line in my kegerator, with the regulator at 12 psi and at 40 degrees.
 
So it could be the serving line. That was the last variable I was considering. I'm gonna pick up a long line and see if that helps. Thanks for the help. I'll let everyone know how it goes.
 
Also, 35 psi for two weeks just screams over carbonation. Sounds like you over carbed it, big time
 
I guess at room temp 35 isn't too terrible, but it still sounds overcarbed if you're foaming. Leave it off the gas and purge the keg every time you walk by it for a few days. Check it after a few days of leaving it off the gas and purging the keg and see if that helps. If it does, then you're overcarbed. If it doesn't try longer serving line.

Force Carbonation chart: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php
 
Read the original post. He's force carbing at ROOM TEMPERATURE, not fridge temperatures. 35 psi at room temperature is just fine for carbing.
 
Short lines are one thing but you're not going to be able to pour a room temp beer and have it retain any carbonation. You need to chill the beer down and use at least 10' of 3/16" ID line on the faucet.
 
Scubastan,

Since you're carbonating at room temperatures, have you considered priming sugar rather than force carbonation? I know that's not what you're posting about, and instead you're looking for a way to force carbonate at room temperature, but until you have a keggerator that you can force carbonate / serve from, priming sugar might be your best bet. Just a thought!

Cheers!
 
Jipper said:
Scubastan,

Since you're carbonating at room temperatures, have you considered priming sugar rather than force carbonation? I know that's not what you're posting about, and instead you're looking for a way to force carbonate at room temperature, but until you have a keggerator that you can force carbonate / serve from, priming sugar might be your best bet. Just a thought!

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Still gonna foam like a ***** at room temp pour.

How were you planning on serving? Through a jockey box? You're never going to get a good pour at room temp.
 
Hi Everyone thanks for the info.

I was using carbonation calculators and aimed for 3.0 of carb for my hef. The calculator gave me 35.2psi at 68F which is the average temp in my beer room.

From what I understood it didn't matter how long I left it attached to the CO2 tank, at 35 PSI and 68F the beer could only hold so much dissolved co2.

So it seems like serving temp and the length/diameter of the beer line are the two problems. I do have a nice chest freezer, and planned on putting it in the freezer for 4-6 hours and then a jockey box when I needed to serve it from the keg.

The main purpose of kegging was to bottle it from the keg, without the excess amount of trub from priming sugar.
 
You can get any amount of carbonation you want in the keg, up to the keg's pressure limits of course. The trouble is dispensing warm carbonated beer. In order to bottle from the keg, you want to get that beer down to 33F before you think about moving it into a bottle.
 
I just shortened my line length based on this calculation and now my carbonation out of the tap is perfect. I was experiencing quite a bit of both foaming and under carbonation issues before. Now I'm not adjusting the keg pressure everyday chasing my tail.
 
scubastan said:
Hi Everyone,

I've been trying to force carb for 3 batches now. All with very minimal effect.
Of the 3 beers I have force carb'd, they all have the same problem. Alot of foam and head, but very little carbonation in the actual beer.

I have a 20# co2 tank setup to a corny keg. The last batch a Blueberry Hef has been on 35psi of CO2 for the last 2 weeks. I don't have a kegerator so I have to carb it at room temp. average room temp has been 65-70 here.

I tried a small sample yesterday. I shut off the co2, changed it to 8psi and then bled off all the extra co2 in the corny tank before turning on the co2 again at the 8psi.

I have the corney keg hooked up to 24in of line and a picnic tap. (could the short line be causing the foam?)

Let me know if you need more info.
Click to expand...

Wow 35 psi for 2 weeks? Wow!!
If your going to carb that high it should only b for at most 2-1/2 days max.... Then turned down to dispensing psi.
Best way to not over carb: 10-12psi for 1-1/2 to 2 weeks. Set-it and forget-it, Patience is number 1!!
 
SpottedDogBrewing said:
Wow 35 psi for 2 weeks? Wow!!
If your going to carb that high it should only b for at most 2-1/2 days max.... Then turned down to dispensing psi.
Best way to not over carb: 10-12psi for 1-1/2 to 2 weeks. Set-it and forget-it, Patience is number 1!!
Click to expand...

No, not at room temperature! 10-12 psi is great for 40 degrees, but for room temperature, 35 psi is about right.
 
Yooper said:
No, not at room temperature! 10-12 psi is great for 40 degrees, but for room temperature, 35 psi is about right.
Click to expand...

All my kegs get set at 10-12 psi in or out of the fridge, but once the keg makes it into the fridge I guess I don't touch it for another 2 weeks or so or untill it gets tap'd. So maybe I don't notice :-/

Enjoy the Pipeline:)
 
30 psi at room temperature has the same carbonation as around 12psi at fridge temperature. If you take a carbonated keg at 30 psi and put in into the fridge it will reduce in pressure to around 12 psi.

image-2786703201.jpg
 

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