Low Carbonation (MOVED)

Greetings!

I'm not all that new at brewing unless you consider two years new. I guess it's sorta new but I know my way around a little. Something I just started doing is kegging my beer rather than bottling. The bottling process took forever with the cleaning etc. so this seemed like the way to go.

While the beer tastes great I am having a problem with carbonation. I pressurized the tank with 30 psi, shook it for about five minutes and tried a little, it was decent. I left it in the fridge overnight at 30 psi and tried my first glass just moments ago serving it at 8 psi. It's cold and tastes good but the head is weak. I checked the tank and keg for a possible leak but it's holding pressure just fine. Any ideas why my beer is not well carbonated? I checked the pressure relief on the keg and it hisses so I know there's pressure in there.

BTW it's a BASS ALE clone.

I used to try to rush the carbonation process by shaking etc. I ended up having to change my gas lines all the time because some beer would always make it up the lines. The quick disconnects also get contaminated and have to be taken apart and cleaned. What I'm getting at, is that you could shake it some more to make it more carbonated but that method ends up causing more problems. What I do now is set at 30 psi and let it go for 3-5 days depending on how carbonated I want it. The patience always pays off. If your carb level isn't right, just crank the gas back up to 30 and check it every 24 hours or so until it's where you want it. Another thing to remember is that if the beer isn't cold the CO2 will not dissolve in the liquid. So if you turned up the pressure and shook the keg while the beer was still at fermentation temperature, it would not have carbed.

The head retention isn't based solely on the pressure and carbonation of the beer, it can be the result of the ingredients in your recipe as well. If the beer feels carbed on the palate, you should look to the recipe to fix head retention. Carapils and flaked oats are good options for head retention.

For me, I go with 30psi for 36 hrs to carb up most of my beers (sorry dont know the exact temp of the kegerator). After that I back it off to 10-12 to serve, works great. If you have the patience, set the pressure based on this: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php
and wait a week or so...

Set it at 30 psi for 24 hours and reduced down to 8 for a pour. Came out way over carbonated but at least it wasn't flat. After a day or so at 4 psi it was perfect.

Too bad it took about 1/4 the keg of drinking/testing before I got it right.