kegging

I finished my 5th batch and decided to enter the world of kegging, because I hate bottling. One of the reasons I wanted to keg was because I got too impatient to wait for bottle priming and the time it takes to bottle. After reading and watching and sampling, I'm convinced that even in kegging you have to wait some amount of time, unless you quick carb/force carbonate at high pressure and even that seems to be disputed by many.

Just wondered- what is the procedure that you all recommend? What psi's, how many days, etc.

Thanks!

Good questions, I will be interested in the answers as well. I am about to take the leap into kegging.

I use the set it and forget it method. Carb it at 10 PSI purge off the O2 and let it sit for a week to 10 days with the gas on it.

If you are looking to shorten the time until drinking.

1. You could force carb with high pressures (30psi) and shake the keg, if you are good at it and don't overcarb you can drink within 1-2 days.
2. Set it and forget it. Set the keg on the line in the fridge to proper serving pressure(~~12psi) and wait 2 weeks. This method is foolproof.
3. Midway between the two. Hook the cooled keg up to serving pressure, shake for ~20 minutes, let it settle for a day, then repeat until you reach desired carb level.

I did number 3. Received my regulator on Tuesday, shook for 20 minutes that night. Set it at 12psi for the remaining days. And today it is perfectly carbed.

You can do a google search of "Carbonation Table" if you want to carb your beer to what the style calls for (in terms of volumes), or if you're in a hurry you can go 30 psi for 2 days, or 20 psi for 3 days, with some shaking in between.

You'll still notice that the beer's flavor will develop while conditioning in the keg, so don't rush the beer too much into the keg.

+1 to not being too impatient about having your beer RIGHT NOW I MUST DRINK IT NOW!!!!

Brew more, more often so that you have stuff in the pipeline, and always let a beer come into its own through aging.

(But I totally know where you're coming from)