I need a tried and true method of force carb

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NorsemenRugby58

NorsemenRugby58

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I started extract brewing, moved to partial, now finally at all-grain. Through all the advancement I've gone through with my home brewing, I cannot for the life of me understand or master kegging. I have literally tried it all. I read the sticky thread and it is of no use to me.

The first method I ever tried was the burst carbing method outlined in the sticky. I failed and way overcarbed my beer, so this turned me off to this method.

The second method I tried was the set and forget method outlined, and again it over carbed.

The third method I tried is a method my home brew shop guy recommended to me, and he said set it at 40psi shake for 8-10mins disconnect the gas, let sit for about an hour and give it a go....this also failed.

The fourth method that I tried involved setting the pressure to 30psi and placing my gas line on the liquid out valve. Shake the keg for 1 minute, let it set for 1 minute, disconnect and shake the keg (unspecified amount of time), then repeat all steps one more time and give it a go, this also fails.

What i get is beer that pours straight foam that dissipates quickly into an apple juice looking beer with some head, that slowly disappears into nothing....and it is uncarbonated liquid at the end.

Can someone using plain english explain to me a method which works? Use terms like in valve, out valve, temperature in Fahrenheit, etc. Any help is appreciated thanks.
 
Start here: http://www.brewblogger.net/index.php?page=tools&section=force_carb

This will calculate how much pressure you need to maintain once you are carb'd up.

What I do is pressure it up to 20ish psi (room temp brew) and shake, shake, shake. Then I let it sit and rest my arms. Then shake again. Every shake session you will hear the regulator open as the CO2 is dissolved and the corney is refilled. I may do this three or four times. Over carb is not a prob.

I let her chill without the CO2 connected for a day or two. Then I adjust the regulator for the correct pressure for the temp and hook it up. If the pressure gauge raises (as it probably will at first) I pull the relief valve and let some pressure out. I may have to play this game a number of times but eventually the pressure stabilizes at the regulator's final setting.

This I suspect tho is not your prob at all! I think you are probably doing everything about right but you have a corney problem or maybe a tap problem! If your uptake tube in your corney has a bad o-ring it will impart mass foaming. Taps can do the same thing if it won't open wide.

Check that corney's plumbing first. I hope this helps.
 
What kind of beer? What temperature is it at while you are carbing? If the set and forget did not work then obviously something else is going on. That method is foolproof as long as you are at the right temp/psi combo and have a leak free set up.

Also describe your equipment, line length, diameter of hose, etc.
 
I do no shake force carb...
-24h 40 psi
-24h 30 psi
-intended serving pressure
-drink
 
Its a lager, temperature is 35 degrees, line is about 3ft long, diameter is unknown
 
NorsemenRugby58 said:
Its a lager, temperature is 35 degrees, line is about 3ft long, diameter is unknown
Click to expand...

I think that's the issue.

The temperature, at 35 degrees, is fine but you'll want to use a carbonation chart to make sure it's carbed right. I like my lagers at about 2.6 volumes of co2. At 35 degrees, that would be about 11 psi. Set it there, and it won't overcarb, I promise.

However, using a short serving line will cause the co2 to bounce out of solution, and it'll foam like crazy. It won't be overcarbed- but you'll have a glass of foam.

You need to get 3/16" beer line, and use about 6-10 feet of it. I'd go with the longer line, because the worse than can happen is a slower pour. You may want to go with 10' line, and then cut it if you want to, but I wouldn't go shorter than 6 feet.

There are other charts that can tell you exactly how long the lines need to be, but in my experience it's just easier to go with longer lines to begin with. So, the pour takes 15 seconds instead of 5. Big deal. No foam? Wonderful!

So, in plain English like you asked:

Put the beer in the keg. Give it a blast of co2 to make sure the seals are set, and it's not leaking. Put it in the kegerator. Wait a bit, to chill the beer. Put the gas on the "in" and set the regulator to 11 psi. Wait 10 days to two weeks, and then serve the beer. Make sure you open the tap fully, not pinching it to slow down the pour. (That's like a garden hose- remember what happens when you pinch the end a bit- it shoots hard!). Make sure the lines are long enough, and also chilled. Sending cold beer through warm lines will cause excessive foaming.
 
YooperBrew said:
I think that's the issue.

The temperature, at 35 degrees, is fine but you'll want to use a carbonation chart to make sure it's carbed right. I like my lagers at about 2.6 volumes of co2. At 35 degrees, that would be about 11 psi. Set it there, and it won't overcarb, I promise.

However, using a short serving line will cause the co2 to bounce out of solution, and it'll foam like crazy. It won't be overcarbed- but you'll have a glass of foam.

You need to get 3/16" beer line, and use about 6-10 feet of it. I'd go with the longer line, because the worse than can happen is a slower pour. You may want to go with 10' line, and then cut it if you want to, but I wouldn't go shorter than 6 feet.

There are other charts that can tell you exactly how long the lines need to be, but in my experience it's just easier to go with longer lines to begin with. So, the pour takes 15 seconds instead of 5. Big deal. No foam? Wonderful!

So, in plain English like you asked:

Put the beer in the keg. Give it a blast of co2 to make sure the seals are set, and it's not leaking. Put it in the kegerator. Wait a bit, to chill the beer. Put the gas on the "in" and set the regulator to 11 psi. Wait 10 days to two weeks, and then serve the beer. Make sure you open the tap fully, not pinching it to slow down the pour. (That's like a garden hose- remember what happens when you pinch the end a bit- it shoots hard!). Make sure the lines are long enough, and also chilled. Sending cold beer through warm lines will cause excessive foaming.
Click to expand...


This way very helpful...I don't use lines coming out've my keggerator. My line is a simple one hooked up to a little black spout at the end. I only store the kegs in my keggerator which is kitted for commercial kegs only. So the 3foot line is responsible for all the foaming? My line is cold along with the beer but I pour all foam which dissipates into uncarbonated beer. If getting a longer line is the solution that'd be great.
 
NorsemenRugby58 said:
The second method I tried was the set and forget method outlined, and again it over carbed.
Click to expand...

This is simply not possible. Set it and forget it can't over carb a beer. You just set the co2 psi to the correct setting based on beer temp and volumes of co2 required for the particular style.
 
For what it's worth, I have gotten much more consistent results by getting my beer to serving temp before force carbing. CO2 doesn't get into the beer nearly as well at higher temps, so if you put beer in the keg, purge O2, connect the CO2 at about 12-15psi and let it chill for a couple of days until the keg gets to the temp you want (you said 35°). Then pull the keg out, crank pressure to about 25 psi and shake it vigorously for about 1-2 minutes. Put the keg back in the fridge and set to the final desired pressure (prob around 12 psi). Then let it stabilize again (about a day). Once this is done, bleed off the excess CO2 in the keg and you should be pretty close.

If overcarbed, shut off CO2 to the keg and just dispense as usual. For a new keg, it will usually be about right in just a couple of pours. Then turn your CO2 back on at serving pressure.

If undercarbed, keep at serving temp and pressure for another 1-3 days and you should be good to go.

Once again, for me the key is in chilling before force carbing. I usually get much more consistent and predictable results.

Good luck!
 
Jmiltime said:
For what it's worth, I have gotten much more consistent results by getting my beer to serving temp before force carbing. CO2 doesn't get into the beer nearly as well at higher temps, so if you put beer in the keg, purge O2, connect the CO2 at about 12-15psi and let it chill for a couple of days until the keg gets to the temp you want (you said 35°). Then pull the keg out, crank pressure to about 25 psi and shake it vigorously for about 1-2 minutes. Put the keg back in the fridge and set to the final desired pressure (prob around 12 psi). Then let it stabilize again (about a day). Once this is done, bleed off the excess CO2 in the keg and you should be pretty close.

If overcarbed, shut off CO2 to the keg and just dispense as usual. For a new keg, it will usually be about right in just a couple of pours. Then turn your CO2 back on at serving pressure.

If undercarbed, keep at serving temp and pressure for another 1-3 days and you should be good to go.

Once again, for me the key is in chilling before force carbing. I usually get much more consistent and predictable results.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention that I did chill my beer before force carbonation.

What I have gathered from all the responses

1.) 3' hose not long enough
2.) I probably didn't do the set and forget correctly, I can't remember what I did it was over a year ago

thanks guys!
 
NorsemenRugby58 said:
This way very helpful...I don't use lines coming out've my keggerator. My line is a simple one hooked up to a little black spout at the end. I only store the kegs in my keggerator which is kitted for commercial kegs only. So the 3foot line is responsible for all the foaming? My line is cold along with the beer but I pour all foam which dissipates into uncarbonated beer. If getting a longer line is the solution that'd be great.
Click to expand...

The other thing you can do is keep the psi at 11 to carb the beer like yooper said but when you go to serve the beer disconnect the co2, bleed off all the pressure from the keg, set the regulator to 2-3 psi (you may need to release pressure from the regulator too) and reconnect the the co2. Serving at a low pressure will eliminate a lot of the foaming. Don't forget to turn the psi back up to 11 after serving so your beer doesn't go flat.

A longer hose will create more resistance causing the beer to flow slower through the lines at 11 psi allowing a smooth pour without having to fuss with the pressure. The key is to "line balance" your system.

These links should help.
http://kegman.net/balance.html
http://www.ebrew.com/primarynews/ct_carbonation_chart.htm#Carbonation_Chart
 
Alright thanks everyone.

I have purged my keg multiple times and am re-connecting for set and forget method. I have my beer sitting around 35 degrees and have set my regulator to 11psi. Hopefully this produces a finely carbonated Munich Helles Lager in 2 weeks. I'll update then, thanks!
 
NorsemenRugby58 said:
Alright thanks everyone.

I have purged my keg multiple times and am re-connecting for set and forget method. I have my beer sitting around 35 degrees and have set my regulator to 11psi. Hopefully this produces a finely carbonated Munich Helles Lager in 2 weeks. I'll update then, thanks!
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I do. Rack to keg, attach to gas, measure fridge temp, set CO2 regulator, wait 7 days, and drink. Works every time.

Eric
 
NorsemenRugby58 said:
Alright thanks everyone.

I have purged my keg multiple times and am re-connecting for set and forget method. I have my beer sitting around 35 degrees and have set my regulator to 11psi. Hopefully this produces a finely carbonated Munich Helles Lager in 2 weeks. I'll update then, thanks!
Click to expand...

So, it's been a little over 3 weeks... what's the verdict? I'm trying to speed my carb up a bit, doing 20psi for 48 hours, then dropping to 11. Hoping to have a good carb level within a week.
 

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