How to tell the current PSI level of your beer?

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cincybrewer

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I kegged a beer on monday that I want ready for a party tomorrow so I have been messing around with the co2 levels a little. Long story short, I'm not sure how to tell what psi (or maybe the correct terminology is volume of co2) the beer is currently sitting at. I know how to set it to say, 12 psi, but if I set it at that level, will the regulator still show 12 if it happens to have more co2 in solution?

Hopefully I'm making sense with my question.
 
If you turn off your tank while leaving the valve open the gauge should read what pressure the keg is at. You can test by letting some gas out the relief valve until the needle starts to fall.

So when performing this test it doesn't matter whether the gauge is turned off or set to 30, it should automatically go to whatever pressure is inside the keg? I was hoping there was some way to test it like this..Thanks!
 
Best test of all is to pour a pint and drink. The gauge may be wrong but hopefully your mouth is in working order.
 
To answer your first question directly whatever your gauge says is the pressure in the keg. If you have the regulator set to what would amount to 12 PSI, but the gauge still says 30 PSI, then the keg is sitting at 30 PSI. in order to drop it down to 12 you'd just pull the relief valve on top of the keg until you hear the gas start to flow into the keg again.
 
If you turn off your tank while leaving the valve open the gauge should read what pressure the keg is at. You can test by letting some gas out the relief valve until the needle starts to fall.

Unless of course you've got a check valve somewhere in the gas line. :D
 
Yikes you're right. All this time I thought mine had a check valve. I guess that wouldn't make sense now though. Perhaps mine is on the tank side of the regulator and not the hose barb side. I'll have to go home and take a look.
 
Best test of all is to pour a pint and drink. The gauge may be wrong but hopefully your mouth is in working order.

Unfortunately I don't trust my mouth. I'm not very good at telling the carb level, especially when a beer is young. I have trouble diferrentiating between whether there is a carb bite, bitterness from the hops, harshness from the water, etc...

To answer your first question directly whatever your gauge says is the pressure in the keg. If you have the regulator set to what would amount to 12 PSI, but the gauge still says 30 PSI, then the keg is sitting at 30 PSI. in order to drop it down to 12 you'd just pull the relief valve on top of the keg until you hear the gas start to flow into the keg again.

Thanks...so let's say I have my beer/fridge set to 40 degrees and I'm looking for co2 volumes of 2.47 (based on kegerators.com's chart). To ensure that the co2 volume is about 2.47, I would just have to make sure I get the psi to the point that when I set the regulator to 12, it stays there? For example, if I set it to 12 but it rises up to 15, I know there is too much co2 in the keg and need to purge (probably a few times) in order to lower the co2 volume. And in contrast, if I set it to 12 but it drops to 10, I know there is too little co2 in the keg and therefore need to increase the psi to bring it up. Is that accurate?

Unless of course you've got a check valve somewhere in the gas line. :D

My regulator does not have a check valve.
 
i could be completly wrong here, but if you just kegged it monday, i dont think its carbonated yet if you just set the presure ald left it. i feel like mine takes a solid 2 weeks at pressure and at temperature before its where i want it.

also, those number above seem correct, but i feel like something is missing. i am not sure if its the co2 levels equaling out to the pressure in the keg or what, but something just seems a little off. it seems to be that after 5 says at temperature and pressure the beer is still absorbing co2 at a pretty good rate and it could throw those numbers off.
 
That sounds like you've got it.

awesome, thanks!!

i could be completly wrong here, but if you just kegged it monday, i dont think its carbonated yet if you just set the presure ald left it. i feel like mine takes a solid 2 weeks at pressure and at temperature before its where i want it.

also, those number above seem correct, but i feel like something is missing. i am not sure if its the co2 levels equaling out to the pressure in the keg or what, but something just seems a little off. it seems to be that after 5 says at temperature and pressure the beer is still absorbing co2 at a pretty good rate and it could throw those numbers off.

it may very well not be carbonated yet. But to note, I set the PSI pretty high on monday night (around 25-30) and left it there til wednesday. However, I had been taking it on and off of co2 during that time frame, so even though I set it to 30, it may have absorbed quickly and didn't kick 30 psi back into the keg. Usually when I initially set it to serving pressure it takes a week or two to get proper levels.
 
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