New to force carbonation

Hi im fairly new to homebrewing but i have invested quite a bit of money into it. I already have a kegging system and several fermenters. I did most of my research on your forums and have pretty much found answers to most of my initial questions.

The one thing i am having trouble finding is how to properly force carbonate a porter (which happens to be my second batch currently at the end of week one of primary). I realize that it is still early to keg but i would like to know how it should be done.

My previous batch i chilled the keg down and set the pressure to 30 psi and rolled it around for a bit but i found it difficult to produce the right amount of carbonation.

Preferably i would like a method that would allow me to get the right amount of carbonation while aging my beer properly. I want to prevent my self from drinking the whole keg before it is at its maximum.

P.S I plan on racking my porter to secondary after about 14 days in primary and letting it sit in the secondary for 2 weeks. How long should i let it sit in the keg before it is good to drink?

I usually just transfer from the ferm to keg, set the reg to 30-35psi connect the gas to the liquid out port and let it rumble. I'll agitate it and let it settle down a few times and when it stops going crazy with a little agitation I d.c. the gas and set it in the fridge to crash cool and rest. The pressure will drop from the 30-35 down to 15-20 psi in few days (still no gas connected) and let it sit like that for at least a week. After a week or two I reconnect the gas at serving pressure, tap it and serve.

The above is my general process and has little to do with the style being served. This will yield a well carbonated beverage, at equilibrium with your serving temp and pressure, which IMO is about the best you can hope for on a tap system.

1. Take the temp of your fridge.
2. Look at this chart:
http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php
3. Set your regulator to an appropriate pressure based on your temperature and desired volume of CO2 (I like 2.5 for most beers).
4. Exercise patience and let it sit for a week.
5. Enjoy your perfectly carbed beer.

Wow thanks i always new that there was a correlation between temp and pressure (ideal gas law pv=nrt) but i was not confident enough to calculate the pressure needed by my self. Thanks again

If I can throw in my two cents I have tried force carbing and it works ok but the beer is still green. If you really want good beer just let it sit hooked up to co2 at normal serving pressure for a couple weeks and it will be delicious. You may have to dump a pint or two because of sediment but then its great from there

benharper13 said:

If I can throw in my two cents I have tried force carbing and it works ok but the beer is still green. If you really want good beer just let it sit hooked up to co2 at normal serving pressure for a couple weeks and it will be delicious. You may have to dump a pint or two because of sediment but then its great from there

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Yea thats what happened with my first batch it was still fairly young... i drank it all within one month of brew day hahaha. Anyways i think im gonna let this one sit for a little bit