Beginner ? about kegging and carbonation

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bleppek

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I kegged my vanilla cream ale 5 days ago (my first kegging experience). My fridge is at 34 degrees and I have the pressure set at 12 psi. According to the tables this should result in a CO2 volume of 2.79. I didn't do the shake method, just the hook it up and leave it method.
Should 5 days be enough time to carb up to this level? I tasted a little today, and it still seemed a little undercarbed (I'm a big fan of carbonation :cross: ). At 2.8 should this beer really bite, or should I try a little more CO2 pressure. I know that the lower temps allow me to get more CO2 volume into the beer at a lower pressure, but being that cold, could it affect on how that volume of CO2 tastes?
Thanks for any assistance you can give me.
 
At around 2.8 volumes, you'll have a pretty well carbed beer. I personally prefer lower carbonation (around 1.5-2), but I don't think that you're going to be hurting your beer.

A good 5-7 days sounds about right to get a beer carbed. Depeding on just how carbonated you'd like it, you might want to concider upping the pressure a little bit.
 
My procedures are very similar to yours and always work well. To get the high level of carbonation you desire will take a few more days.

Patience................

BTW, 34F is really cold for a beer, you're killing most of the taste.
 
I know that 34 is really too cold. Problem right now is I only have 5' of 3/16 beer line and I'm trying to keep a balanced system. I have some more 3/16 on order, and when it gets here, I'll be raising the temp.

Thanks for the input!
 
For some reason, the 7th day for me is that "magic" day where the beer reaches it optimal carbonation level. I start checking/tasting at around 4 days (impatient) and check every day until its carbed. Without fail it has always been ready at 7 days...even if on the 6th day it seemed pretty flat.
 
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