How To Carb?

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killian

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I normally bottle condition because I don't have an extra fridge at my apartment to use. so I just kegged my sweet potato esb & an EPA that I'm planing on tailgating with Monday night.
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I have the two kegs with two co2 tanks and two regulators.
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Ideally I would serve the EPA like a cask condition ale and the esb with a little more carbonation. normally I would carb with sugar like I do in the bottle but I'm not to sure about force carbing.
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right now I have the regulators set at 30 psi and the kegs in the fridge at 55 degrees. After I got the seal tight I shook the kegs until I didn't hear the gas going in any more.
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I'm always a no0b in one way or another
 
If you truly shook those kegs at 30psi at 50F until they stopped accepting gas, they are likely very overcarbonated. Get familiar with using a carbonation table, such as:
http://sdcollins.home.mindspring.com/ForceCarbonation.html

Have you actually sampled the beer to see how the carbonation is doing? If it is in fact overcarbed, you've got a bit of work ahead of you. You need to occasionally bleed off pressure from the keg headspace, by pulling the release valve, until you eventually reach an acceptable carb level. The process will likely involve lots of sampling, which is probably more of a blessing than a curse :mug:

I wouldn't entirely recommend the pure high-pressure shake method, because it's very easy to overdo it, since you need to shake it for the right amount of time or you'll overcarbonate it. Many people swear by the set-it-and-forget it methods where you either hook it up at a high pressure and leave it for a predetermined amount of time (like 2-3 days) and then turn it back down, or hook it up at serving pressure and wait a week or two.

What I do is chill the keg, hook it up at 30psi, and do the shake method, but only for maybe 60-70% as long as they usually tell you to. This way, it's just about guaranteed to still be undercarbonated, but it will be pretty close (certainly drinkable) and will reach desired carbonation sitting at normal serving pressure in just a few days.
 
I filled the kegs at room temp about 70 degrees.
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after I finished I put them in the fridge at 55.
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I only shook the kegs for may be 15- 30 sec.
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thanks for the info. it looks like I may have some work on my hands
 
at that shaking period you shouldn't have over-carbonation.

in the future try to keg sooner, its easier to carb at a lower psi for a full week, no shaking needed.

and remember, they'll be carb'd but will still taste like green beer cuz its so young.
 
I released the pressure from bolth kegs this morning set the regulators at 8 psi and poured a couple of pints. there was a lot of foam but the beer was still flat. I turned the psi up to about 20 and shook the keg again. right now the kegs are in the fridge at 8 psi. I need this beer to be ready for monday.
any Ideas?
 
If they're set to 8 now they'll probably still be flat on Monday.
Keep them in the fridge, and try 20-25 lbs for the next two days (without shaking), then 8-10 on Monday.

My first keg I sat at 10 lbs, after the first week it foamed out, but it was flat.
At about day 7 or 8 it was releasing bubbles when served, by day 10 or 12, it hit the "sweet spot" of carbination.

With the two days at 20-25 you are force carbing, then backing off (on Monday) to 8-10 for serving. On Mon, you may at first, get a few foamy pours, but with less (serving) pressure going in, you'll probably be fine for the rest of your pours.

Don't be tempted to keep checking and changing over the weekend. I have read that too much fluctuation in pressure (up/down/up/down) can lead to "soda bite (carbonation)".

Good Luck!
 
should I have the gas going into the beer out ?
sorry Im an idiot! Im just new to kegging, I should have done more research before hand.
thanks. the beer is on 25 psi hooked up the the gas in. a day and a half until I need to serve this any info is appreciated
 
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