New Brewer Needs Force Carbonation

Hi All,

I am relatively new to brewing, though I have been making small bathces for the past 6 months. Well, lately I have been making sodas, in particular Ginger soda and Ginger beer with a low alc %. I have been reading up on some of the carbonation techniques that are out there including bottle carbonating with yeast, and force carbonation with CO2. I have tried the first method many times, have had a few bottles explode (no big deal because they were in buckets) but now I am really interested in force carbonation.

The biggest reason for putting this off is because I didn't want to shell out the cash for the equipment. Now that I have a little extra dough, I am willing to make the upgrade. Soooooooo,

What is the minimal equipment necessary to force carbonate a 5-gallon batch of beer?

I understand that I will need to purchase a CO2 tank, a regulator for the tank, plastic hoses for the connections, and then I will aslo need some of those Coca-Cola or Pepsi soda canisters as well (Shall I get 1 or 2, pin-lock or ball-lock). What about the refrigerator. I do not have one large enough for the 5-gallons but is it really necessary or can I just do it at room temperature? And I really mean.... can I just do it at room temperature.

Any help will be greatly appreciated

Good Karma to you.

Visit Midwest supply or northern brewer and check out their beginner setup keg systems. They usually include everything you need to begin legging as a kit for a reasonable price.

I suggest a kegging package as well, but recommend KegConnection (they're a little cheaper, ime) or Craigslist.

I went with Ball lock kegs since they're taller/thinner and fit better in my chest freezer.

You could do everything at room temp if you're okay with drinking warm or chilling after you dispense. I found my 7ft. GE chest freezer locally for only $80, then toyed with the coarse temp adjustment screw to get to my desired temperature. No external controller needed, which saved me about $60!

Good luck on your search

you can force carb at room temperature, but its slow and backwards.

instead of putting high pressure on, chilling and lowering to serving, you add enough pressure to seal the o-rings and wait, slowly upping the pressure over days and weeks as its dissolved. Much like 1 big bottle or simulating cask conditioning.

pinlocks: shorter and wider, no manual relief/purge as original
balllocks': taller narrower manual relief/purge as original
lids interchange, posts can be swapped and it only really matters for fitting a new keg into an existing system.

Ok, great! So far I think I will be looking into the Ball-lock soda kegs. What about the CO2 tank, is there anything special that I might need to know when purchasing one? I am looking at a new 5-pound tank that runs about $100.00.

Also, one important point that I mistakenly forgot to mention, is that I am force carbonation glass bottles. For some unknown reason, Draft is just not my thing. I like the portability of bottled beer and I like the fact that I can hand them out like trophies to all my friends. The force carbonation will come in handy for not having to deal with the yeast and the priming sugar which has been rather off-putting lately.

So back to my original question, what equipment should I purchase in order to force carbonate bottles? Is it just as simple as a tank, keg, regulator, and hose, or are there other un-foreseen necessities? I want to just work with the most efficient, but simple equipment (the minimum required for it to work)

Thanks
Daniel

dacaldera said:

Ok, great! So far I think I will be looking into the Ball-lock soda kegs. What about the CO2 tank, is there anything special that I might need to know when purchasing one? I am looking at a new 5-pound tank that runs about $100.00.

Click to expand...

look into the local filling/swapping options first, then decide how/where to buy a tank. I get the best deal swapping Co2 bottles at a welding supply place (Oxarc).



or, no stinking beer gun

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/

Also, one important point that I mistakenly forgot to mention, is that I am force carbonation glass bottles.

Click to expand...

I could be wrong but I am not sure that this is even possible as there is no way to hook a CO2 line to a bottle and seal it in. In addition, if you screw up the pressure the bottle will just explode! Most people will force carb in a keg and then use a beer gun to transfer from keg to bottle the already carbonated beer.

I think you need to re-think what you are asking, that was kind of an important omission in your first post:

Duboman - i think you may be reading a little too deep into my words. "...I want to force carbonate glass bottles..." means that I would like to have carbonated beer or soda without using yeast, and i would like it packaged inside of glass bottles (not plastic bottles and not a draft keg).

There is nothing to rethink.

So, here is my shopping list so far:

1 Ball lock soda keg
5 lb. CO2 tank with regulator
1 homemade Beer Gun
....

What else?

dacaldera said:

Ok, great! So far I think I will be looking into the Ball-lock soda kegs. What about the CO2 tank, is there anything special that I might need to know when purchasing one? I am looking at a new 5-pound tank that runs about $100.00.

Also, one important point that I mistakenly forgot to mention, is that I am force carbonation glass bottles. For some unknown reason, Draft is just not my thing. I like the portability of bottled beer and I like the fact that I can hand them out like trophies to all my friends. The force carbonation will come in handy for not having to deal with the yeast and the priming sugar which has been rather off-putting lately.

So back to my original question, what equipment should I purchase in order to force carbonate bottles? Is it just as simple as a tank, keg, regulator, and hose, or are there other un-foreseen necessities? I want to just work with the most efficient, but simple equipment (the minimum required for it to work)

Thanks
Daniel

Click to expand...

dacaldera said:

Duboman - i think you may be reading a little too deep into my words. "...I want to force carbonate glass bottles..." means that I would like to have carbonated beer or soda without using yeast, and i would like it packaged inside of glass bottles (not plastic bottles and not a draft keg).

There is nothing to rethink.

So, here is my shopping list so far:

1 Ball lock soda keg
5 lb. CO2 tank with regulator
1 homemade Beer Gun
....

What else?

Click to expand...

Ahhh, thanks for clarifying, I guess I misread/misinterpreted what you were trying to achieve

I finally picked up all the stuff to get started force carbonation, though Not in bottles, just a keg.

I bought the following:

1 ball lock cornelious keg
2 ball lock connectors
Hose with a plastic tap
(The guy at my LHBS hooked up the plastic hose with connectors and all that... I was hoping I could do it myself in order to learn)
1 five pound CO2 tank
1 double gauge regulator
Hose for the tank

The whole setup cost me about $210.00. Next i will check out the beer gun threads and try to build one for bottling carbonated beer.

I was able to snap a few pictures if the beer gun at the homebrew shop for reference

Thanks

You can do a homemade beer gun. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/

How big is your fridge? It's handy to have a big enough fridge to chill a couple of kegs at once.

I did the homemade beer gun.. super easy super cheap works great!

Once you get on to it, you can bottle strait from the faucet without a beer gun or any additional equipment. A few tips: Rinse the bottles right before you fill them and leave a tiny bit of water in the bottom. Chill the bottles. Vent pressure from the keg until you get a slow pour. Keep adding bursts of gas to the keg as you bottle to maintain just enough pressure to dispense. The first bottle or two might be a little foamy, but once you get going you should be able to fill all the way to the top with little to no foam.

very nice Co2 purge tap.:rockin:

The homemade beer gun works great... but, and you'll probably have the same problem with a purchased gun, ... the beer should be chilled before filling bottles! If you do this warm, expect bottles full of foam with little to no beer.

You can often get mini fridges that will fit kegs for free.
You can get a freezer for <$50 on craigslist and build a temp controller for <$50 as wel (this is optimal, but not free)

Malweth - I just happened to have a chest freezer in my parent's garage, just sitting there unplugged. I took it with me to and put it straight to use. The corney keg fits right in, but the temperature overnight dropped below zero. I think I froze my keg full of ginger beer! Oops... What is the deal with the temperature controller you mention...? Easy to make/install/soldering required? Any info helps. Thanks

The DIY one is here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/stc-1000-ebay-temperature-controller-build-330427/

You can build it if you don't mind working with wires (AC) and twist-on wire connectors. Make sure you realize this one is in Celsius (I think they have a cold-only single stage one in Fahrenheit, too).

Otherwise check out the Johnson Analog controller
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/johnson-refrigerator-thermostat.html
($57 at Northern Brewer)

A free freezer is an excellent deal, though! Mine was < $100 used, but it's the best thing I've purchased. I'd love to get another one for ferm control, but SWMBO needs to stay happy for a while.