Probably a simple kegging question related to your process.

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st0neski

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I am getting ready to start kegging beer and I was thinking about the process in which most of you go about using your co2 tanks.

So I know the basics of filling the keg and carbing the beer from the co2 tank. But my question is about when you have your keezer setup with your couple of kegs that are hooked up to co2, how do you go about carbing a newly filled keg? Do you have an extra co2 tank just for this purpose? Or do you use the one that is in your keezer?
 
I have a dual body regulator. It allows me to run 2 different pressures (two regulators) off of one keg.

That still isn't enough though, since i have a 3 way manifold on one reg, a 2 way on the otehr reg, (for a total of 5 kegs), but often I want to force carb one while drinking from four others.

When this happens, I simply unhook my other kegs from the "higher pressure" line for force carbing...The kegs are fine if they sit without gas hooked up to them, because they are already carbed...heck, you can even pull a few pints without a problem.




Of course, I carb at 30 PSI for 48 hours. If you are more patient, you can let your kegs sit at serving pressure (~12 psi), for 1-2 weeks, and they will carb up just fine....this means you don't have to worry about having high pressure.
 
shortyjacobs said:
I have a dual body regulator. It allows me to run 2 different pressures (two regulators) off of one keg.

That still isn't enough though, since i have a 3 way manifold on one reg, a 2 way on the otehr reg, (for a total of 5 kegs), but often I want to force carb one while drinking from four others.

When this happens, I simply unhook my other kegs from the "higher pressure" line for force carbing...The kegs are fine if they sit without gas hooked up to them, because they are already carbed...heck, you can even pull a few pints without a problem.




Of course, I carb at 30 PSI for 48 hours. If you are more patient, you can let your kegs sit at serving pressure (~12 psi), for 1-2 weeks, and they will carb up just fine....this means you don't have to worry about having high pressure.
Click to expand...


Ahhh, ok makes sense. So I could get a dual regulator, set one at serving psi and hook it up to a 6 way manifold to go to my kegs that are ready to serve.

Then set the other regulator at carbing psi and hook it up to a 2-way manifold so I can be carbing 2 kegs while still serving the other 6 kegs?
 
st0neski said:
Ahhh, ok makes sense. So I could get a dual regulator, set one at serving psi and hook it up to a 6 way manifold to go to my kegs that are ready to serve.

Then set the other regulator at carbing psi and hook it up to a 2-way manifold so I can be carbing 2 kegs while still serving the other 6 kegs?
Click to expand...

Right you are.

Also helps to have the dual reg in case you want to serve at different pressures, (ESBs and Milds at 8 psi or less, fizzy yellows at 14 psi or more, porters at 11 psi, etc.)

Ideally I'd have 6 regs for 6 kegs...but I've got many other things to spend my money on.

Also, again, you can carb at serving pressure....it just takes longer....but if you have 6 kegs on tap, time might not be your greatest concern.
 
shortyjacobs said:
Right you are.

Also helps to have the dual reg in case you want to serve at different pressures, (ESBs and Milds at 8 psi or less, fizzy yellows at 14 psi or more, porters at 11 psi, etc.)

Ideally I'd have 6 regs for 6 kegs...but I've got many other things to spend my money on.

Also, again, you can carb at serving pressure....it just takes longer....but if you have 6 kegs on tap, time might not be your greatest concern.
Click to expand...

this might be my option, as I am a pretty patient person, I can wait for the keg to carb at serving pressure. Think I will go with a dual reg so I can have different serving pressures though.
 
st0neski said:
this might be my option, as I am a pretty patient person, I can wait for the keg to carb at serving pressure. Think I will go with a dual reg so I can have different serving pressures though.
Click to expand...


I'm a proponent of this method also. I've never liked the foaming/bleeding required to drop a quickly force carbed keg back down to serving pressure, so I don't mess with it. I just connect my fresh keg to my co2 at 12 psi, and in exactly 7 days, it's perfectly carbed.


I find that almost all of my beers benefit from the extra week of conditioning anyways, and this forces me to wait to drink it.




.
 
Sea said:
I'm a proponent of this method also. I've never liked the foaming/bleeding required to drop a quickly force carbed keg back down to serving pressure, so I don't mess with it. I just connect my fresh keg to my co2 at 12 psi, and in exactly 7 days, it's perfectly carbed.
I find that almost all of my beers benefit from the extra week of conditioning anyways, and this forces me to wait to drink it.

.
Click to expand...


I like your process of force carbing at 12psi for 7 days. I just got my kegging equipment today and have two beers ready to go. I think I will try it your way. Thanks!
 
BeerCigars said:
I like your process of force carbing at 12psi for 7 days. I just got my kegging equipment today and have two beers ready to go. I think I will try it your way. Thanks!
Click to expand...

It may take up to two weeks with that method, but it's worth it. Don't forget to carb by your specific beers volumes of CO2 and your temp.:mug:
 
wildwest450 said:
It may take up to two weeks with that method, but it's worth it. Don't forget to carb by your specific beers volumes of CO2 and your temp.:mug:
Click to expand...


Good point on the temp, 12 psi is perfect for my ales which I keep at 40 F.

Two weeks? I've been using this method for years, and have never had it take longer than 7 days. It's amazing, 6 days it's undercarbed, 7 it's perfect.''admittedly I don't have any experience with this method on high gravity beers. Maybe it takes longer in this case? Though my 9.5% Apfelwine also only takes a week.
 
I will say that if you look at a pressure/temp/volumes of co2 chart to derive your pressure and set it there, it will absolutely take more than 7 days to achieve the volumes on the chart. You might sense it as being carbonated in 7 days, but it's not at equilibrium yet. You'll have some volume of CO2 in there, but it's not what's on the chart.
 
Bobby_M said:
I will say that if you look at a pressure/temp/volumes of co2 chart to derive your pressure and set it there, it will absolutely take more than 7 days to achieve the volumes on the chart. You might sense it as being carbonated in 7 days, but it's not at equilibrium yet. You'll have some volume of CO2 in there, but it's not what's on the chart.
Click to expand...



Hey, I don't want to start a fight with the chart.:)

My analysis is purely non-scientific, i'm just making the assertion that I cannot perceive a difference in carbonation level after the 7th day. It does seem as if others here have had different experiences. Perhaps there are "other contributing factors."

and I don't mean the quantity of alcohol I'd consumed up to that point.
 
+ 1 to the having more regs so that you can carb to different levels . this is my setup prior to install of the gas lines .


fermentation11.jpg
 

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