How to Force (Burst) Carb without Overcarbing

Received my kegerator conversion kit for Christmas. After a broken gauge, leak, a crack in the brass, and a failed UPS delivery attempt I won't receive my regulator until Monday. I've had 2 kegs waiting at room temp (after sealing the lid) for ~3 weeks and hope to have them for the Superbowl at the very latest. I've wasted a few weeks waiting on my regulator so I can't do the set it and forget it method. I also don't have time to waste on overcarbing and having to back it down. I wanted to put my procedure out there to be vetted so hopefully I can have it flowing next weekend without issues.

As I understand, if I burst carb with serving pressure, it will be difficult to overcarb. It will also take a few days set at serving pressure to fully be carbonated. My plans are to:

1. Cool kegs to serving temperature.
2. Bleed the keg from the lid seal.
3. Set the regulator to 12psi (serving pressure according to temp and desired carb level)
4. Fill the keg to 12psi until no more flow is heard.
5. Unhook from CO2, roll keg for 45 secs.
6. Hook up CO2 at 12psi, return keg to fridge.
7. In 8-12 hours repeat steps 2-6 for total of 3-4x.
8. After 4 days check carbonation of beer.
9. Serve with 12psi

I'll be serving through picnic taps out of my mini fridge. I'll double check the temperature prior to determining the exact pressure. Anything else to consider? I'm hoping this will work and not lead to tons of foam and frustration over next weekend. I'm so sick of cheap commerical brew.

There's two different ways to go. Pressure elevation and a little time or shaking.

You can put 30psi on the keg and leave it alone for 24 hours, drop the pressure to 15psi, pull the release for a second, then rock the keg on your lap with the pressure still connected for a while.

Drop the pressure to 12psi and let it rest for a good 8 hours. Check the carb level. If it's still too low, go back up to 15psi and rock again.

My method is much like Bobby just described. I will often hook it up at 30 psi for roughly a day and a half at 38 F beer temp.

Lower carbed beers like a mild or english pale get it overnight and then I hook it up at serving pressure and leave it alone for a day.

Yet another method to force carb a full keg:

Set to 30 psi, rock cool keg for 3 min, bleed off excess pressure, let it sit overnight, then tap and enjoy at 12 psi serving pressure.

Rock longer if the keg is warm, less if colder.

True, this is not as precise as other methods, but is faster for those that are impatient.

mosquitocontrol said:

...
As I understand, if I burst carb with serving pressure, it will be difficult to overcarb. It will also take a few days set at serving pressure to fully be carbonated. My plans are to:

1. Cool kegs to serving temperature.
2. Bleed the keg from the lid seal.
3. Set the regulator to 12psi (serving pressure according to temp and desired carb level)
4. Fill the keg to 12psi until no more flow is heard.
5. Unhook from CO2, roll keg for 45 secs.
6. Hook up CO2 at 12psi, return keg to fridge.
7. In 8-12 hours repeat steps 2-6 for total of 3-4x.
8. After 4 days check carbonation of beer.
9. Serve with 12psi

Click to expand...

This should work well and since you are not exceeding the serving/temp/carb pressure you shouldn't stand any chance of over carbing. If you want to do it even quicker you could leave it hooked up to the CO2 (at 12 psi) while you rock the keg.

This was my plan:
1. Cool keg to serving temp, 38F.
2. Hook up CO2 at 12 psi, and keep hooked up.
3. Rock keg for 15 minutes.
4. Put keg back in keezer for 2 hours to cool.
5. Repeat steps 3 & 4 until desired carbonation level is reached.

I think it was a good plan, but 15 minutes sitting on my basement floor rocking a keg got old fast. Ended up SIAFI and it was drinkable in four days, pretty good in six. Might set up a chair and bring down my laptop so I can watch a movie or something next time.

Guntr said:

If you want to do it even quicker you could leave it hooked up to the CO2 (at 12 psi) while you rock the keg

Click to expand...

Wouldn't this depend on whether you have a regulator with a safety valve preventing backflow of beer into the regulator? (read that somewhere, but I'm new to kegging so not the one to make suggestions)

I don't have anything like that and I've found that beer doesn't really get into the line with all that gas rushing in. I'm sure if you left the keg upside down for a while, it would happen though.

I've been thinking about this. I've got a beer in the pipeline that I may want to rush through the carbonation phase to be ready a couple of weeks earlier than intended. So instead of carbing for 2 weeks, I want to carb it in one night.

In theory, it seems like this would work:

Rack chilled beer into keg. Hook it up to CO2 tank. Set pressure to 15 psi, purge 3-4 times to expell oxygen. Then tip the keg on its side and roll it back and forth until no more gas will flow into the keg (20-30 minutes?).

That's it, isn't it? Wouldn't that do it? I mean, basically I'm just forcing CO2 into solution until no more will dissolve at that pressure (which happens to be the desired pressure). Doesn't that mean the beer is now saturated with CO2 at the desired volumes? Can't I shake it pretty much forever at that pressure and not overcarb it? Once equilibrium has been achieved (i.e., no more gas will go into solution), then I've reached my desired volumes of carbonation right? Doesn't this method eliminate the chance of overcarbing?

As long as the pressure you set for the temperature of the beer gets you the desired volumes of CO2 in solution, then the answer to all of your questions is: Yes.

Cheers!