Need to carbonate fast in a keg

I have a batch done and in the keg. I usually carbonate over a few days but don't have that luxury right now. My gut tells me to just turn up the pressure to about 50psi, lay the keg on its side and rock it back and forth for about 20 minutes. It also tells me that I could really over carbonate this way and screw up my beer. Im looking for confirmation of any better ideas. Your thoughts are appreciated.

35 psi. Get yourself a chair next to the fridge. Rock the keg for a few minutes in your lap. You can even do "curls" with it if you want to "workout". I like to check the beer every few minutes so I don't over carb, so I leave a picnic tap hooked up to the keg. Of course the samples will come out foamy but you can still get a decent picture of the carb level. I think I do it in about 10-15 minutes.

First off, this is risky as you've already stated, and if there is any trub or gunk in the keg it won't have time to settle. Having said that I have gotten the keg down to at least 40F in advance, and set the reg to 30 psi. Lay keg on lap and roll back and forth for 100-120 seconds! Not sure where 20 minutes came from, but maybe you are thinking room temp. CO2 dissolves much better in cold beer, chill it for six hours to get it cold first.

Look at the temp/co2 volumes chart. Then shake at the pressure that equals the amount of carbonation you want. You can't overcarb this way. Shake for a good 5 minutes. Let it set an hour then shake again. Let it sit a few hours before serving and it should be fine.

Been there due to poor planning. Good luck and hope it works out for you. Never again for me

Thanks for all the help folks. I ended up splitting the difference and rocked it for about five min at 32 PSI at just over 40 degrees. Cooler beer definitely accepts CO2 at a faster rate than warmer beer. I didn't let it sit long enough so I had a seriously tough time setting the regulator for dispensing. Had to give it little shots of gas and pour really slowly. If I find myself in the same situation again I will try jrem's method but give it at least half a day to sit.
BTW...the beer (schwarzbier) was actually fantastic and carbonated well.

JRems said:

Look at the temp/co2 volumes chart. Then shake at the pressure that equals the amount of carbonation you want. You can't overcarb this way. Shake for a good 5 minutes. Let it set an hour then shake again. Let it sit a few hours before serving and it should be fine.

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Next time you are in a hurry, try this. Once you can no longer hear the CO2 going in, you have reached the desired carb level. Also, you can set the regulator while disconnected from the keg. Once you connect it, the gauge may go up but the regulator setting has not. As you continue to pour and the headspace pressure comes down, the reg will add CO2 as needed to maintain the set pressure. Just make sure you connect to the gas in post, and a check valve is not a bad idea either.

If I need to carb in a day I connect the gas line up to the OUT connection. Lay it on the ground. Turn the PSI to around 30 and rock it back and forth for no more than 1 minute. You can hear it absorb the CO2. Disconnect. Relieve the internal pressure (it gets messy, have some paper towels handy). Then put 10-12 PSI onto it. Work great! Ready the next day.

jbsengineer said:

...I connect the gas line up to the OUT connection.....

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I keep seeing this and this is even how the guy I bought my setup from recommended it be done. But I just don't get it. Sure, the gas connect will fit on the OUT post, but it's clunky and to me just doesn't seem like a good idea.

If you want to hear the CO2 bubbling into the beer, roll the keg just a few degrees either direction so that the gas in post is submerged. Much better to put on your knee and roll and rock back and forth.

And again, the high psi is just not necessary. If you are rolling and shaking anyways, the difference in time for the CO2 to be absorbed at 12-15 psi versus 30 psi is negligible.

Anyhoo, fairly noob kegger here but I keep seeing this and just wondering why it continues to be propagated since there is no science behind gas going in the dip tube being a better way to dissolve CO2 in beer. To each their own I suppose.

2bluewagons said:

If you are rolling and shaking anyways, the difference in time for the CO2 to be absorbed at 12-15 psi versus 30 psi is negligible.

Anyhoo, fairly noob kegger here...

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As a noob how many times have you successfully burst carbed like this? The combination of time and pressure level are an attempt to quantify a way to get a certain amount of CO2 onto solution in a very short time. Going from 30 down to 15 psi over a 100 second time frame is a huge difference. It is easy to way under or over carb beer this way, these details matter.

Point taken, my experience in the kegging realm is limited (my first three kegs were done like this due to an extremely impatient new kegger) but my line of work deals heavily in dissolving gaseous components (from compressed calibration gases or pump-drawn process gas) through all kinds of liquids.

My point was that there are some ideas about burst carbing like this out there that don't have any basis in science for offering advantages over other methods, such as connecting the gas to the dip tube, or running the pressure up so high if you are going to shake the keg. If you are going to let it sit, then sure high pressure will help speed things along. But if you are shaking it anyways, equilibrium will be reached pretty quickly no matter the regulator setting. So, I was simply supporting the method already offered to set the reg at your equilibrium pressure (according to the chart) and shaking until you no longer hear gas being supplied by the CO2 cylinder.

Sorry if my phrasing was unclear, I am not recommending setting pressure to a level higher than would achieve your desired CO2 volumes according to the chart, ever. You are right, the details do matter. But since my first kegged beer was 3.8 gallons of Mild in a 5-gal keg carbonated to 1.8 volumes, and my second was a full 5 gal of saison carbonated to 3.5 volumes, I am pretty sure that 100 seconds would have been wrong for both of those. There are way too many variables to be able to assign a hard rule to this process. As you say yourself..

dbrewski said:

...attempt to quantify...

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...unless you want to add mass flow controllers, NIST-traceable thermometers, and much more sensitive regulators and gauges than homebrewers typically use, you will not be able to "quantify" much about this bursting process. Trial and error has led you to your 100-second method, and as I've said I can't claim to have the same experience to draw on. I was just offering an idea that makes logical sense and is impossible to over-carb and pretty easy to know when you are at or near the desired carb level.

But who know, maybe once I do have a few dozen more successfully kegged batches under my belt, I could come back with my own 105-second rule..