Beer not carbonating in keg?

Today is a week after I've kegged and carbed my 3rd homebrew.

First brew was an Bells Oberon clone extract. Primary fermentation lasted only 12 days. Racked to keg, 20 psi for 3 days, then ~8 psi for a week before first mug. Beer was good and got better as it aged (lasted all of 3.5 weeks). Beer was slightly undercarbed (after a mug was poured, very few bubbles seen in glass). Beer was very good as my first brew ever.

Second brew was an American IPA extract. Primary fermentation lasted 14 days, dry hopped after 7 days. Racked to keg, 20 psi for 3 days, knocked down to ~8 psi for one day, then back up to 20 psi for 3 more days. Back down to ~8 psi. Beer was very young, but I was stubborn and continued to drink as it was my only beer on tap. Beer got better over time, but was also undercarbed.

Third brew was a Fat Tire clone extract. Primary fermentation lasted 21 days, racked to keg. Decided to try force carbonation this time at 10 psi (rocked/shaked full cold keg on my legs for 2 minutes) then let sit at 10 psi in keezer for 6 days. Still under carbed.

What am I doing wrong with the carbonation? What can I try to my Fat Tire clone to help it other than letting it age?

Also.....I'm ready to rack an Oktoberfest (been in the secondary 6+ weeks) and an Apfelwein to kegs tomorrow. I'm hoping to get this figured out so they turn out okay.

Are these kegs in the fridge? I have only been kegging for a couple months now but on all my batches I've stuck it in the fridge at 25ish psi for 24 hours then cut back to 14 or so for another 24-48 until I'm satisfied then I serve at like 5-8psi. It has produced satisfactory results every time for me.

Have you checked for leaks around your regulator/manifold(if you have one)? Do you think the regulator gauge is accurate?

Kegs are in the fridge.

Dual Guage Regulator appears to be in good working shape. It's only 4 month old (was brand new before first homebrew). And while this test is very in accurate, releasing pressure from a keg when the regulator says 10 psi is very different and obviuos than at 30 psi. I think I'm okay with the regulator.

On Saturday, I bumped the Fat Tire clone up to 30 psi for 24 hours, then down to 15 psi for 24 hours. I backed it down to 8 psi and poured another glass last night and am now getting head with a pour and the beer tastes better, but still no CO2 bubbles floating up through the beer after an initial pour.

Sounds like you may have a bad regulator. If I carbed the way you described, I would have some seriously overcarbed beer. When you connect the gas to the keg, can you hear the gas entering the keg?

Typically I set at 12PSI and leave it sit for 2-3 weeks, I usually shake 2-3 times (2 mins per session) over the course of an hour, at 20PSI, then reduce to 12PSI for 24-36 hours, if I'm rushing. I serve at 12PSI, but I have 10' of 3/16" line.

I don't typically see a lot of bubbles after the initial pour, a little burst after a sip, but nothing like you'd see in a glass of soda.

I could definitely hear the gas going into the keg....as I was shaking, I'd periodically position the keg so I could hear the bubbles of the CO2 going through the beer at the connection.

Well, maybe I'm not patient enough.

I kegged my Oktoberfest and an Apfelwein on Sunday....30 psi and rocked/shaked for about 2 mins each. After 24 hours, I disconnected the gas line for the time I was at work (10 hours), then I purged, dropped the pressure to 8 psi and poured a mug of each. Both are carbonated and taste pretty good. Then I checked the Fat Tire clone and could finally see bubbles in it as well. Part of my problem may have been the dark color of the Fat Tire.

I'm currently sipping a glass of Oktoberfest....almost 30 min after pouring with about 1/3 of a glass left, still seeing bubbles.

What is the temp that you keep your kegerator set to? You should look at a carbonation chart. Your serving pressure should be the same as your carbonation pressure. I usually leave the keg cold at 30 psi for 2 days then step it down to 12-14psi and it is usually carbed perfectly after 4-5 more days. I think you just need to check and adjust your beer according to the carbonation chart. Or it might be you prefer your beers with a slightly higher carbonation. I myself prefer closer to 3 volumes of co2 than the standard 2.5 volumes that's typical.

Are you leaving the gas on the beer the whole time?

It's all temperature related so you need to put a thermometer in your fridge and report back for any good advice.

Bobby_M said:

It's all temperature related so you need to put a thermometer in your fridge and report back for any good advice.

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Put a thermometer in a jug of water in the fridge. The air temp in a fridge can swing pretty widely, while something with some mass to it will hold a pretty consistent temp.

The Keezer has a Johnson controller set to 36* with 4* of differential keeping the temps between 34-38. The readout is typically between 37-39* depending how often the door is open. The temperature sensor is not encased in copper like the Analog temp controllers, so I have it zip tied to a can of beer sitting on the floor of the Keezer to help with the temperature fluxuations. This is a 20 cuft Keezer.

I have a cheap hanging refrigerator thermometer in the keezer that sits at 32-33*.

Neither of the thermometers have been calibrated or tested against a calibrated thermometer, but I'm in the ballpark either way. (The hump is cold enough at the current setting that I had a half dozen Coke's explode from freezing.)


I've determined that I had 2 problems.

1. Was that I was disconnecting the CO2 from the keg during the carb process. As soon as I left it connected for 36 hours, my Oktoberfest and Apfelwein were carbed. The Fat Tire was also "fixed" during that same period. This was also immediately after I redid the CO2 lines to allow for a 3 keg system instead of a 1 keg system..... I had previously been setting to 30 psi, disconnecting, letting it sit for 12, 24, or 36 hours, then purging, and filling again. This was done partially as I was moving from a kegerator to my keezer and I didn't have the CO2 lines ran yet and second because I had one line and 3 kegs.

2. I'm impatient and I wasn't waiting long enough.

Ah yeah, The one questions I don't think anyone asked. Gotta keep that gas line connected!

RoadKing said:

Are you leaving the gas on the beer the whole time?

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Yes, I did.....LOL

^^ Nice, i missed that lol

For the first two brews, CO2 was connected from initial kegging until keg blew. Both were undercarbed, but I didn't force carbonate (shake) either one and both were initially set to about 20 psi, not 30.

Both of those brews were in the old kegerator where the CO2 tank and regulator were inside with the keg.

The Fat Tire is the first that I forced carbonate and I only disconnected the CO2 as I was changing over to the keezer from the kegerator. CO2 tank is now outside the Keezer and all is fine now.

Thanks for the help!