Keg carbonation

S it necessary to force carbonate your newly kegged beer? I see if you do within a few days it is ready. How long does it take if you don't force carbonate or is that not an option?

You don't have to force carbonate- you can add priming sugar (about 2 ounces by weight for a 5 gallon batch) and let it sit at room temperature for 2-3 weeks to carb up.

I tend to force carbonate in my kegerator at 40 degrees, with 12 psi set on my regulator. It's ready in 7-10 days that way.

I personally like to cold crash my fermenter, then rack to the keg, set to 30psi and rock it horizontally with the gas-in line submerged for 5 minutes. Then I drop the reg to 10-12, rock it a bit more, set in the fridge. Pints are ready to pour with reasonably-close carbonation level in about 30 minutes, fully disolved gas in 12 hours. Never had to wait longer than 24 hours for proper carbonation levels.

i follow yoopers method for forcing.. you could do it quickly, though the extra week of aging for the beer usually makes it taste just that much better.. plus you can't overcarb it that way

I've usually got my beer aged enough before it goes into the keg. To wait an additional week for fear of overcarbing is a bit silly when you can fix an overcarbed beer in an hour by venting some carb out of it.

To each their own, but if you're wasting time you're wasting time.

MazdaMatt said:

I've usually got my beer aged enough before it goes into the keg. To wait an additional week for fear of overcarbing is a bit silly when you can fix an overcarbed beer in an hour by venting some carb out of it.

To each their own, but if you're wasting time you're wasting time.

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letting an ale age an extra week is not "wasting time" .. in my experience most get better with a little age on it.. kind of like a bell curve, the sweet spot is right in the middle

MazdaMatt said:

I've usually got my beer aged enough before it goes into the keg. To wait an additional week for fear of overcarbing is a bit silly when you can fix an overcarbed beer in an hour by venting some carb out of it.

To each their own, but if you're wasting time you're wasting time.

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"Wasting time" isn't really an issue, but I want only crystal clear sediment free beer without excessive foaming. I've never once seen a crystal clear beer come out of burst carbed keg in 30 minutes. Or even in 24 hours, once it's been shaken or rocked, but I suppose that would be possible if the beer was super clear going into the keg. If there isn't any chill haze, that's good as well.

It's all about preferences. Some people don't mind a cloudy beer, or one with some sediment in it and would rather have it ready 4 days quicker, I guess. My preference is to drink a perfect beer 5-7 days after kegging it. Sometimes I dryhop in the keg, and that 5 days also allows some more hops flavor and aroma.