Keg not carbing....

I kegged for the first time last week. I racked by kolsch to my keg last Friday and set it to 20 psi for 36 hrs. After that I dropped it down to the serving pressure which is 12 psi. It has now been 8 days since i first kegged my beer and it's still not carbonated. The beer was lagering for two weeks prior at 45F, and the kegerator is set to 45F. It does have a head on it, but no bubbles to show me that it's carbonated. I've checked for leaks and I don't have any. So should I just leave it alone for another week and then judge? Or is there something I may have done wrong?

Thanks in advance...:rockin:

I have never brewed a kolsh, but a stout I brewed took 12 days to carb right. Other brews haven't taking at least a week to be well carbed

If it wasn't carbonating at all, there wouldn't be any head. Either it needs more time, or you need a longer beer line.

According to this chart: Force Carbonation & Carb Table if your keg is at 45 degrees, and it's at 12 psi, you should get 2.26 volumes of CO2. That's a bit low for a lager, so it might seemed undercarbed. Also, it sometimes takes two weeks or so to get the fulll carbonation.

Right on, I have time so I think I will just see what it's like on Friday. It being the first time I have kegged I was hoping it would carb sooner but it's not that big a deal. Hell, it's drinkable right, just a bit flat.

It usually takes 2 weeks for my beers to carb at serving temps and pressures.

I didn't think 36 hours was enough time for the set-it-and-forget-it carb method. Maybe you should try shaking the baby?

shek said:

Maybe you should try shaking the baby?

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I don't see how that will carb his keg any quicker.

I guess I thought that by kegging beer I would be able to drink it quicker than bottling. I tried a beer from the keg last night and again it had a huge head and no bubbling carbonation. Patience, as you can tell is not one of my strong points.

Oh, yeah! How does the length of my beer line effect the carbonation I get in the glass? My beer line is about 2.5-3 ft. long.

pjk49202 said:

Oh, yeah! How does the length of my beer line effect the carbonation I get in the glass? My beer line is about 2.5-3 ft. long.

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You will have foam problems. I would go 5 to 6 feet minimum, that's with a 3/16" line.

First, read this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/keg-force-carbing-methods-illustrated-73328/

You can do things to carb it faster obviously but the real concern is drinking young beer whether it's carbed or not. Bottle conditioning kinda forces to wait a decent amount of time to get it carbed and the result is that it has aged long enough as well.

The length of your beer line affect how much carbonation you force out of solution due to sheer pouring violence. If you get a big head but no carbonation, that's a good indication it's happening. Without knowing other details, 8 feet of 3/16" ID thickwall tubing is a good place to start. It keeps the pour gentle enough to retain carbonation without blowing it all out as head.

At equilibrium pressure of 12psi, it would normally take about 18 days to reach the volume on the chart. You elevated it to 20psi, approximately twice the chart pressure which would in theory take 9 days to achieve. However, you only left it there for 1.5 days. At this point, you're probably 3/4 of the way up to the level you want but that short serving line (which may or may not be 1/4" ID, IOW too big) you're blowing most of the carbonation out.

that's the straight dope from Bobby. Line ID and length create the resistance needed to get the pour correct. There are ways to fudge around this but it's a PITA and not worth it. Just get some 8' 3/16 ID beer line and give your beer some more time. Do we have a sticky on FOAM and all it's intricacies?

Wow! Thanks for the info Bobby. I honestly didn't know that the beer line would effect the beer so much. I honestly just used the line that came with the tower because it had the right reducers on it and everything. Trying to fit 8' of beer line in my 4 cf kegerator should be interesting but definitely doable. Thanks for the insight guys!

pjk49202
Most people coil up the excess beer line. If you really do not have room look at https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/cure-your-short-hose-troubles-100151/ for some other ideas.

Most people coil up the excess beer line. If you really do not have room look at The cure for your short hose troubles for some other ideas.

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I did look through that thread. At this point, I'm wondering if I should just go out and get more hose and see what happens, or try the suggestions in that thread like putting something in the dip tube. I'm just a bit leary messing up the beer by putting something in that dip tube.