My experience "fast carbonating" kegs

I've read a lot of posts about fast carbonating kegged beer so I thought I'd post my notes after kegging two batches back to back. Each batch was about to 4.5 gallons. Both were cooled to 38 degrees and the CO2 was hooked up to the longer tube so the gas went through the liquid. Regulator was at 20psi. What I would do was gently rock the keg, just enough to hear bubbling though it, any more seemed overkill and wore me out faster. On day 1, I shook the keg for 5 minutes. On day 2, 4 and on day 3 for 2 minutes. I served both on day 4 and they were fully carbonated. No off flavor either even though both were brewed 3 weeks ago. Next time I will try shaking for 11 minutes strait, or break it into two sessions.

if your up to it.

I chilled the keg down to 37 deg f and put the regulator at the final psi (12psi) and then i shook the crap out of it. Let it rest and me then shook more. I repeated this until i did not hear any more hissing. there was a lot of shaking but it worked, after about an hour and a half it was carbed.

It got the beer properly carbed with out over doing it. The down side if the beer still needed time to age. The beer was ready to drink but was still a bit green. As the keg sat carbed with time it became perfect.

Just my 2 cents.

Rather than all this shaking, just set the pressure to 30psi and let it sit for 24 - 36 hours...I've given up shaking kegs...too much work.

Wow- that's a lot of work. I chill the keg, under 30 psi if I'm in a hurry. 30 psi for 36 hours at 39 degrees, then purge and reset to 12 psi. So, 40 hours later I'm drinking it.

If I'm not in a hurry, 12 psi for one week at 39 degrees will do it. I never have to wait more than 7-10 days for perfectly carbonated beer.

Yooper said:

Wow- that's a lot of work. I chill the keg, under 30 psi if I'm in a hurry. 30 psi for 36 hours at 39 degrees, then purge and reset to 12 psi. So, 40 hours later I'm drinking it.

If I'm not in a hurry, 12 psi for one week at 39 degrees will do it. I never have to wait more than 7-10 days for perfectly carbonated beer.

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And basically purging is just releasing the pressure essentially until you hear no more hissing, correct?

cincybrewer said:

And basically purging is just releasing the pressure essentially until you hear no more hissing, correct?

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yes sir

Yooper said:

Wow- that's a lot of work. I chill the keg, under 30 psi if I'm in a hurry. 30 psi for 36 hours at 39 degrees, then purge and reset to 12 psi. So, 40 hours later I'm drinking it.

If I'm not in a hurry, 12 psi for one week at 39 degrees will do it. I never have to wait more than 7-10 days for perfectly carbonated beer.

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That is what I do as a matter of course, or close. I set it to max PSI for 1.5-2 days and then purge and set to whatever, usually 10-15 PSI. All that shaking seems way too much trouble!

cincybrewer said:

And basically purging is just releasing the pressure essentially until you hear no more hissing, correct?

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also unhook the co2 line while your purging

rycov said:

also unhook the co2 line while your purging

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Luckily since I don't have a pressure release valve I can't make that mistake.