Is my kegged beer finished carbing?

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29thfloor

29thfloor

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Just started kegging with my latest batch and I'm still a little confused on force carbing.

I initially set it to 30psi and shook the keg for a minute or two and let it sit for 24 hours. Then I shook the keg again and brought it down to around 14psi. This is a Dunkelweizen so I'm going for something like 3 volumes, but I'm not sure how to tell if it's there yet.

After 3-4 days I backed the pressure down to 6psi for serving. There's a good amount of carbonation but I'm not sure it's where I want it yet. Do I need to bring the psi back up when not serving until it gets to the level I want?

The keg is in a freezer around 42F with a 3' line and picnic tap.
 
29thfloor said:
Just started kegging with my latest batch and I'm still a little confused on force carbing.

I initially set it to 30psi and shook the keg for a minute or two and let it sit for 24 hours. Then I shook the keg again and brought it down to around 14psi. This is a Dunkelweizen so I'm going for something like 3 volumes, but I'm not sure how to tell if it's there yet.

After 3-4 days I backed the pressure down to 6psi for serving. There's a good amount of carbonation but I'm not sure it's where I want it yet. Do I need to bring the psi back up when not serving until it gets to the level I want?

The keg is in a freezer around 42F with a 3' line and picnic tap.
Click to expand...

Well, "serving pressure" at 6 psi means that yes, the beer will start going flat.

My kegerator is set at 12 psi. I put the keg in there, with the other kegs, and they are all set at the same pressure. It takes about 5-14 days to get fully carbed up, in my fridge, but I don't shake or overcarb first.

Check out the force carbonation chart, which takes temperature into account: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

At 42 degrees, a good pressure for you would be in the 14 psi area. Your serving lines are too short, though. You should get longer lines, which would alleviate foaming.
 
Yeah I had it at 14 psi and it was coming out of the tap pretty hard and foaming up so I backed it down. Actually though, I'll have to measure the serving line. I'm not 100% sure it's 3'. Might be 4-5, I was just guessing since I'm not at home right now.

For some reason I was under the impression that once the beer is carbed you should use a lower serving pressure. I guess that's not the case?
 
Your best bet to get the correct carbonation is to set it at 12-14 psi for a week or two and serve it at the same pressure. The high pressure for a few days is very inconsistent and easily to lead to over carbonation. If you're going to shake it at high psi be sure you've burp the keg a few times first to get the oxygen out.
Also your beer lines are pretty shorts. Start with about 10 feet and shorten until you're happy with it.
 
29thfloor said:
For some reason I was under the impression that once the beer is carbed you should use a lower serving pressure. I guess that's not the case?
Click to expand...

No, your beer will out-gas until it is back down to the serving pressure. Maybe you remember something about force carbonating at high pressures and serving at low ones.
 
29thfloor said:
Yeah I had it at 14 psi and it was coming out of the tap pretty hard and foaming up so I backed it down.
Click to expand...

Did you bleed off the extra pressure from your keg after reducing your PSI to 14. If not that could account for the force and foaming when pouring. As just because your regulator was set for 14PSI your keg still had 30PSI of pressure in it. Until your pour enough beer to use the extra 16PSI of pressure in the keg the lower setting on the regulator just means it wasn't replacing CO2 to keep at 30PSI
 
Yeah i released the pressure after lowering to 14 psi and was still getting the foaming. I'm gonna get a longer serving line tonight. I checked and I do have a 3' beer line. I'm a little disappointed that my LHBS gave me that short a line. I didn't know to ask for something longer but it sounds like 3' would probably be too short no matter what so I'm not sure why they include that length.
 

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