12 PSI, no carbonation!

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The Pol

The Pol

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I have had my Apfelwein sitting at 12psi for 6 days now and there is really no carbonation at all. I set it and forget it... and there is nothing. I have it at 45F, 12psi and 5 feet of beer line. The tap is level with the top of the keg... what am I doing wrong here?
 
I'm not too surprised, I was under the impression that the set-and-forget method at serving pressure took more like 2 weeks. If you wanted it faster, why not follow the methods some people use and crank it up to like 30PSI for a day or so instead of leaving it at serving pressure the whole time?
 
I will try the 30 psi... it is holding pressure, the gas has been ON all week.
 
How full is your keg? I overfilled a keg once and it had pitiful carbonation until I tapped it down a bit. Afterwards, I thougt about it a bit. If the liquid is up to the gas tube, the total surface area for gas absorption is the 1/4" circle presented by the gas tube and perhaps a small bubble in the lid's recess. Once I lowered the fluid level, it carbed up in 2-3 weeks.


Funkenjaeger said:
why not follow the methods some people use and crank it up to like 30PSI for a day or so instead of leaving it at serving pressure the whole time?
Click to expand...

For me, it's two reasons. 1) I'm not going to drink it for 4 weeks post kegging, so 2 weeks to carb doesn't bother me. 2) I have one regulator, so it's easier to keep everything at the same pressure.
 
The keg is was only about 4 gallons full... I have it cranked up to 30PSI and we will see where that takes us. Thanks guys, I really appreciate it... starting to keg takes some getting used to. In my upcoming brews the 12-15 psi method will be fine as the beer conditions.
 
Maybe a dumb question, but is the gas on? Can you hear gas entering your keg as you turn up the pressure? Can you hear a leak in the keg?

Your beer should have at least some carbonation after a couple of days on the gas.
 
pldoolittle said:
How full is your keg? I overfilled a keg once and it had pitiful carbonation until I tapped it down a bit. Afterwards, I thougt about it a bit. If the liquid is up to the gas tube, the total surface area for gas absorption is the 1/4" circle presented by the gas tube and perhaps a small bubble in the lid's recess. Once I lowered the fluid level, it carbed up in 2-3 weeks.




For me, it's two reasons. 1) I'm not going to drink it for 4 weeks post kegging, so 2 weeks to carb doesn't bother me. 2) I have one regulator, so it's easier to keep everything at the same pressure.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with EVERYTHING pldoolittle said. I had a keg that did not carb in 6 weeks. After following Todd_k's suggestion, I lowered the volume and got carbonation in 2 weeks. I also prefer the set-it-and-forget-it method.
 
ChrisKennedy said:
Maybe a dumb question, but is the gas on? Can you hear gas entering your keg as you turn up the pressure? Can you hear a leak in the keg?

Your beer should have at least some carbonation after a couple of days on the gas.
Click to expand...


This IS a dumb question of sorts... if you read my above posts anyway. The cylinder is ON, the valves are all ON, there is pressure in the keg, it will dispense (so that means the gas IS on), I can hear gas go into the keg, I turned OFF the gas and a day later turned it back on and VERY little gas entered the keg, so I am sure there are no leaks... not that leaks matter anyway, when as I said THE GAS HAS BEEN ON ALL WEEK, so leak or not, it is under pressure.

Anyone have helpful advise? Like I said, it is at 30PSI now, has been for going on 24 hours.
 
I'm really suprised to hear that it's taking people 2+ weeks to get carbed beer. At 40F, 12 PSI, I have had cosistant carbonation in exactly 7 days every time.

As to the question at hand, I've noticed that Apfelwine doesn't exhibit the same characteristics of carbonation as my beer does. Are you sure it's totally flat? It doesn't sound like there's any reason why it shouldn't be working, and you are right, a leak won't make a difference in anything except how fast your CO2 tank volume drops.
 
MikeFlynn74 said:
Well if the Keg is too full you wont be able to get the correct volum of c02 into it.
Click to expand...


Per my previous posts... the keg has 4 gallons in it, I would not consider that too full.
 
Don't forget too that it takes at least a day and a half for that much volume to drop to ambient temp. At the set and forget pressure, it does take me about two weeks to reach full carbonation.
 
I left it under 30 PSI for about 30 hours and it is much more carbed... I would say it is about perfect where it is at now, so I turned it back down to 12 PSI for serving pressure. Thanks yall...
 

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