Force carbing noobe questions :)

I just force carbed my brown ale a few minuts ago, I had chilled it over night and decided to force carb the beast...

Cranked my psi to 30 and rocked for a full 15 mins...

I bupbed the keg completly and dialed back down to 14 psi wich is the right PSI for the beer...

Should I have waited before burping or is it ok like that ?

Some vids on youtube say let it sit at 30 psi over night ...

What do you guys do ?

Just poured me
A half glass of beer/foam gonna wait till tomorrow my guage is at 14/15 psi right where I want it to be

Can my beer have altered taste because of the mess inside the keg ? I find that the carmel flavors are not as present as before carbing ??

It's better to use the set and forget. I tried the shake, and the over carb, and it's not good.

Depending on your line length and temp, you'll end up pouring half beer/foam the whole time. You also run the risk of over carbing the beer and it being a mess too.

Shaking it also worked up all the crap that settled out in the cold, back into solution for a bit. It needs to settle down.

Next time, set it to the amount you need to carb and leave it be. I generally see it carbed up within 5-6 days max to the level I want. Shaking it and doing all that junk really only saves 1 day, and I don't end up beating my beer to death with shaking and rousing all the particulate that made it over when I racked to it.

Thanks for the input

If you just HAVE to have a taste, get some PET bottles and a couple of carbonator caps.

It's a bit easier to shake a 1 or 2 liter bottle than a 5 gallon keg.

I tried a few different methods when I first started kegging. Shaking it for a while, setting it to a very high pressure for a few days then backing down, and finally settled on what FATC1TY said. Set it at serving pressure, forget about it for about a week, and your beer will be perfect.

Yes, all the other methods work, but over carbing isn't the best method as you will end up with a lot of foam initially and if you shake it around, then you have to wait a day or two anyway for everything to fall out. Once you get the pipeline going, set it and forget it works best for me.

I have great luck with 30 psi for 36 hours at 33 degrees. Then I kill the gas, purge the keg, set at serving pressure, turn the gas back on, and go. I never used to believe you could carb beer that quickly, but...it works. The colder you can get your beer, the easier it will absorb CO2.

FATC1TY said:

Shaking it also worked up all the crap that settled out in the cold, back into solution for a bit. It needs to settle down.

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Given that the dip tube draws beer from the bottom of the keg, not the top, wouldn't any particulates that settle to the bottom get drawn out with the first few glasses of beer anyway? Just wondering, as I haven't done this yet.

A while back I read here or another forum to try 30 psi for 24 hours, then 20 psi for 24 hours than 10-12 psi for 48 hours and I've used that for months with 90% good results. Naturally, different beers require different amounts of gas but for the most part, I'm sticking with this method. In 4 days I can have very drinkable beer. In 5-6, it's perfect.

osagedr said:

I have great luck with 30 psi for 36 hours at 33 degrees. Then I kill the gas, purge the keg, set at serving pressure, turn the gas back on, and go. I never used to believe you could carb beer that quickly, but...it works. The colder you can get your beer, the easier it will absorb CO2.

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Yes, I've done that too, with good results. The only difference is that my kegerator is at 40 degrees.

The key with that working is NOT shaking/agitating/etc because that causes some foaming (picture shaking a soda) as well as can overcarb the beer. Set the beer in the kegerator, hook it up, and walk away for 36 hours. After 36 hours, purge and reset at 12 psi and keep it there.

Of course, just hooking it up at 12 psi and leaving it totally alone means carbed up beer in about a week, and gives it some time to clear (get rid of chill haze) and condition a bit.

kombat said:

Given that the dip tube draws beer from the bottom of the keg, not the top, wouldn't any particulates that settle to the bottom get drawn out with the first few glasses of beer anyway? Just wondering, as I haven't done this yet.

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Yes, but not if you move or agitate the keg. It just resuspends in there, and takes longer to settle out so that more glasses of beer will have some sediment in it. If you shake the keg, the co2 (nucleation sites) will "hold up" the sediment longer, and can impact head retention. It will take much longer to clear if shaken.

After I keg the beer is at room temp. I set the regulator to 30 psi and do 4 cycles of pressurize, shake a few times, then re pressurize. This seems to get me a good start with carbonation. After this I put the beer in the fridge and set the regulator to 12 psi. By the time the beer is cold, about a day, there is enough carbonation to be drinkable. Might need a few more days but this gets me a good head start.


If you did 15 min of shaking at 30psi and the beer is cold you will be way over carbed. You wont have permanently altered the flavor but you will need to keep burping the keg to get rid of excess co2.

I have three mothods:

12 psi for a week = happy
30 psi for 2 days + 12 psi for 1-2 days = happy
30 psi with shaking + 15-20 psi for a day then 12 psi = happy (but sometimes unreliable)

Alot of you people set it and forget it at 12 psi in the kegerator, isn't 12 psi the best serving pressure but low on co2 content in beer ?? I kegged my first beer ever this summer and it was a saison, set the keg to 12 psi and let it go for a week or to, the beer was not carbed enough for the style

What do you guys think about 12 psi set and forget for any style ?

jesseroberge said:

Alot of you people set it and forget it at 12 psi in the kegerator, isn't 12 psi the best serving pressure but low on co2 content in beer ?? I kegged my first beer ever this summer and it was a saison, set the keg to 12 psi and let it go for a week or to, the beer was not carbed enough for the style

What do you guys think about 12 psi set and forget for any style ?

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That works for the vast majority of styles, but in a very highly carbed beer you may need a higher pressure. It's also related to temperature- my kegerator is 40 degrees, but if yours is warmer you may need a higher pressure.

Here's a chart to help: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

Yooper said:

That works for the vast majority of styles, but in a very highly carbed beer you may need a higher pressure. It's also related to temperature- my kegerator is 40 degrees, but if yours is warmer you may need a higher pressure.

Here's a chart to help: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

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I find that an extra cold kegerator sometimes alters the taste of the beer because it's too cold, for example I have a caramel brown ale that has trouble giving it's caramel flavors when it's cold, I allways find that the end of my glass is better than the first sip because it had time to warm up a bit...

jesseroberge said:

I find that an extra cold kegerator sometimes alters the taste of the beer because it's too cold, for example I have a caramel brown ale that has trouble giving it's caramel flavors when it's cold, I allways find that the end of my glass is better than the first sip because it had time to warm up a bit...

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True, too cold, and the flavor doesn't come through. It's simple enough to warm it if you have a beer that needs a warmer serving temp before you drink it.

Also, getting it ultra cold isn't needed to allow the co2 to get into solution properly, it just helps.

I have a Blonde Ale I just put on tap last sunday. 6 days ago, put it at 11 PSI and my keezer is at 37*. My beer is already carbed and pours a nice head on it.

For me, there is no reason to amp the gas pressure up, no need to make the keezer colder, and shaking it doesn't really save but maybe a day or two, simply because I have to wait to serve, because it's stirred up all the crap and made a bunch of foam in the keg.

Ultimately, you need to figure out what works for you, and your set up. Also, the beers that you commonly drink, come in to play. If you prefer really high carbonation, then thats your prerogative and you can do that.. after all, it's your beer and you are the one drinking it. Some people find over carbed beer has a bite to it that hides the subtle flavors of the beer.

Confession of force carber by shaking.

Used to do it all the time because I wanted beer for the weekend. I've moved up to double batches and I shook one keg and set and forgot the other for two weeks.

That one that sat was absolutely incredible beer compared to the shaken. There was a hop bite with the shaken and as someone said the caramel malty taste was gone, but with the forgotten one I could actually taste the citrus from the cascade and I got very well balanced malt flavor.

No more shaking for me.