YO keggers--Force carbonation step by step?

Can an experienced "kegger" take me through the steps from start to finish on kegging? Assume I have my beer racked to a corny, chilled, everything sanitized and ready to go. Also assume I want to force carbonate with enough pressure so this will be drinkable in 2-3 days...

Thanks!

Crank it up to 30-40 pounds, shake it and let it sit under pressure for a few days, then remove the gas in line, turn down the pressure, bleed the keg of pressure and serve. Cheers!

I do almost exactly like Janx, except I shake the heck out of it a bunch of times and then let it sit under pressure overnight and start serving the next day! It's good to go almost every time!

BitterRat said:

I do almost exactly like Janx, except I shake the heck out of it a bunch of times and then let it sit under pressure overnight and start serving the next day! It's good to go almost every time!

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try www.defalcos.com, draft beer primer menu item on left side of page. it's the way i force carb.

make sure the beer is cold. co2 will absorb into the beer a lot better when chilled. the last two i kegged, i let sit for an extra 2-3 days before i tried it. the head was much better, and a nice collar of foam. but again, that all goes back to brewing technique, sanitation, etc. but it does help!

DeRoux's Broux

Why do you shake it? To let th CO2 mix in with the beer?

seven77 said:

Why do you shake it? To let th CO2 mix in with the beer?

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you have the gas hooked up to the keg "out" post or "pick-up tube". you attach the gas to that, and rock the keg back and forth to work the co2 up through the beer. re-chill, and after 2-3 days, vent pressure off the top, adjust co2 to serving psi, and re-attach to the in-post. wha-la! carbonated beer in 2-4 days.

DeRoux's Broux

Thanks....just wanna make sure I'm doing this right, especially after the irish red debacle.
I have good carbonation in it now--just have too much foam. Now I'm troubleshooting that, and now getting drunk in the process! It's a dirty shame to have to drink all of this fine home-brewed beer from my home tap. Dirty shame I tell ya.......dirty shame.

orrelse said:

Thanks....just wanna make sure I'm doing this right, especially after the irish red debacle.
I have good carbonation in it now--just have too much foam. Now I'm troubleshooting that, and now getting drunk in the process! It's a dirty shame to have to drink all of this fine home-brewed beer from my home tap. Dirty shame I tell ya.......dirty shame.

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ah.....yes orrelse, but we suffer for the greater good of beer! we wouldn't want our friends and familiy to drink inferior brew, right?

just vent the head pressure off the keg, lower psi, re-attach in gas and let sit over-night. it'll calm down for ya!

cheers!
DeRoux's Broux

Hey guys,
Well, I'm pretty happy - now in posession of a keg system!

I've given everything a good cleaning and figgured out how it all goes together. It has pepsi / corny kegs.

The only thing that was a bit annoying, is that it seems that the "in" and "out" posts are different sizes? (though they are almost indiscernable to look at). This meant a sort of tedious re-sorting after I washed them, but more importantly:

- a number of threads here suggest hooking the CO2 to the "out" post for force carbonation. My quick connects only fit "in" to "in" and "out" to "out". (well... actually... I MAY be able to force a fit... but..?)

Is something odd here?

Thanks guys,
Keegan

mrkeeg said:

Hey guys,
Well, I'm pretty happy - now in posession of a keg system!

I've given everything a good cleaning and figgured out how it all goes together. It has pepsi / corny kegs.

The only thing that was a bit annoying, is that it seems that the "in" and "out" posts are different sizes? (though they are almost indiscernable to look at). This meant a sort of tedious re-sorting after I washed them, but more importantly:

- a number of threads here suggest hooking the CO2 to the "out" post for force carbonation. My quick connects only fit "in" to "in" and "out" to "out". (well... actually... I MAY be able to force a fit... but..?)

Is something odd here?

Thanks guys,
Keegan

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can you just swap the gas connects so it will fit the "out" post? all mine are pin-lock kegs. one of my kegs has the down tube on the "in" post. so i just swapped the connects from the 3 notched to the 2 notched connect. just have to remember which one i am using before i force carb!


DeRoux's Broux

DeRoux's Broux said:

ah.....yes orrelse, but we suffer for the greater good of beer! we wouldn't want our friends and familiy to drink inferior brew, right?

just vent the head pressure off the keg, lower psi, re-attach in gas and let sit over-night. it'll calm down for ya!

cheers!
DeRoux's Broux

Click to expand...

The extra foaminess is why I WON'T do the super-pressure and shake method. It takes a few days for you to vent out all that excess pressure; one vent won't do it.

It's so much easier to just attach the gas line to the in port, crank the CO2 to the serving pressure and letting it sit 3 to 5 days. The beer will be better with a little more age, and you will get much more consistent results in the carbonation level as you control it more precisely.

Let it sit 3-5 days?!!

Well, I had my first homebrew from tap yesterday. I kegged, forced it at 30+ psi, shook it a lot... and since it is a new system to me... it was painful to wait ALL that time before testing it out. I would guess probably an HOUR. (during which the keg warmed up a bit, sitting out of the fridge)

My last bottled batch tasted okay, but had no head. Would anyone like to guess if that was a problem with this batch?

So I ate my pint of pure foam with a spoon. It was sort of pleasant, creamy, nice bitterness. Mostly I was just happy to have my own on tap.

Keegan

PS: I've seen reference to carbonation guideline tables... ie: I want x ammount of carbonation, brew is at x temp, what pressure do I need? - - where would I find said table?

ah! found the table here:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/docs/pdf/corny-keg.pdf