Keg Carb Question

I have recently kegged my first beer. I chilled it for a couple hours then tried to force carbonate it with high pressure and shaking. Then I chilled and set pressure to about 12 PSI. The beer is still not exactly where I'd like it to be (it's a little flat), but I keep drinking it.

Here's my question, am I not allowing the beer to carbonate because I am relieving pressure every time I pour, or am I okay? Beer isn't green, so it's hard to stay away from it!

If it's still set to 12psi and you have it connected the whole time, it's slowly carbing up to whatever the 12psi equilibrium is per the temperature the beer is.

When you keg your beer, unless it's been aged in a secondary, it's always better to just hook it up to gas at 12 psi and for get about it for a week or two.

It will carbonate slowly and condition nicely in that time. Your patience will be rewarded with a much tastier beer.

This beer sat in the primary for over a month, and has conditioned quite nicely. I immediately saw the need to eliminate secondaries and instead rename them "extra primaries." I was just curious as to whether or not me screwing with it was going to make the carbonation take longer.

I am also curious as to why the force carb didn't work. From what I've read, if you force carb using the chill, high pressure, shake method, it should be at your desired carbonation within a couple of hours. This was not the case for me.

STAD said:

I am also curious as to why the force carb didn't work. From what I've read, if you force carb using the chill, high pressure, shake method, it should be at your desired carbonation within a couple of hours. This was not the case for me.

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If I'm reading your first post right it sounds like you only shook once. You need to do this several times over a few hours if you're looking for that fast of carbonation. I prefer the other method of setting it at serving pressure and letting it sit for at least a week.

Yeah, you read it correctly, only did it once. Now it's sitting where I want it and that's what I'll do next time. The whole reason I asked is because when I pour one glass, it seems more carbonated than if I pour another right after. This could just be in my head though.

If you are using the keg as a secondary you will also bring all the sediment off the bottom making your brew cloudy again every time you shake it...

homebrewer_99 said:

If you are using the keg as a secondary you will also bring all the sediment off the bottom making your brew cloudy again every time you shake it...

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Well I'm not sucking up any trub, and I'm not shaking it so wouldn't it all fall to the bottom (if not already in the primary) and just have one or two cloudy pours? I've already said that from now on I'm just going to hook it up and leave it along for two weeks.

STAD said:

Yeah, you read it correctly, only did it once. Now it's sitting where I want it and that's what I'll do next time. The whole reason I asked is because when I pour one glass, it seems more carbonated than if I pour another right after. This could just be in my head though.

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Okay, I'm definitely not crazy. I pour one beer, it's alright, then I pour another, and it's way flatter. What is causing this?!

Okay, I'm definitely not crazy. I pour one beer, it's alright, then I pour another, and it's way flatter. What is causing this?!

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I run into this too. My solution has been to either wait a good couple of minutes between pours or to increase the pressure to about 30psi overnight and add more carbonation(from the liquid line, so its pushing air form the bottom of the keg up)

Oh my gosh.... dont shake it, it is too heavy. Set it at 30psi for about 24 hours, then dial it down to your serving pressure 10-12psi and enjoy. This is the alternative to letting it sit for a week or so at 12psi... and it will not harm your beer. It will simply make it disppear faster (read ready to drink sooner).

Your carb level isn't changing between pours. What happens is the serving line causes CO2 to come out of solution. Look at it after it sits a while and you'll see it has a lot of gas in there. WHen you pour that first one, you get more foam and you think its really carbed. The second pour is the ACTUAL carb level of the beer.

What temp is the beer coming out? You said you only chilled it for a couple hours. The beer has to be cold (~38) to better hold CO2.

the beer is sitting at about 34 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Pol said:

Oh my gosh.... dont shake it, it is too heavy. Set it at 30psi for about 24 hours, then dial it down to your serving pressure 10-12psi and enjoy. This is the alternative to letting it sit for a week or so at 12psi... and it will not harm your beer. It will simply make it disppear faster (read ready to drink sooner).

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Pol, are you suggesting that I do this next time? Or that I do this now. The beer has some carbonation, since it's been sitting in the keezer hooked up to CO2 since saturday, but it's just not fully carbonated. Should I just wait?

Bobby_M said:

Your carb level isn't changing between pours. What happens is the serving line causes CO2 to come out of solution. Look at it after it sits a while and you'll see it has a lot of gas in there. WHen you pour that first one, you get more foam and you think its really carbed. The second pour is the ACTUAL carb level of the beer.

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So does this mean that with me screwing around with it that I am in turn, slowing down the carbonation process? I am not sure I understand exactly what you mean here..

So, if I have a keg sitting at 40F and I apply 30 psi to it and shake for 5 mins then place it back in the keezer how long will it stay carbonated?

If this one is partially carbed, then do it on the next keg. 30psi for 24 hours, then dial down to serving pressure, bam, works like magic. NOW, for this one, leave it at serving pressure and let it be. It may take a week, but simply drawing a draft wont slow it down, it will STILL be under 12psi as the pressure backfills as you open the tap.