Somebody help me with my first kegging

Hello,

I have a 5 gallon corney keg that I home brewed with my buddy. I watched him carbonate the keg by hooking up the C02 to the "in" and force carbonate the keg....I do not remember the PSI he injected the keg with and I cannot get a hold of him.

His process: Hookup the C02 tank and turn the keg upside down and right side up (letting it equalize) listening for the air exchange within the keg...once the exchange stopped...he put it in the kegerator and voila....foam free beer

I do not remember the PSI's he used for force carbonation.
so.....
I watched a video on youtube and the guy cranked up the regulator to 40 psi and did the same process my buddy does for about 20-25min.

I did the same thing. I put it in my kegerator...gave it 5 psi for dispensing and holy sh*t I got foam...crazy amounts of foam. I decided to turn off the C02 tank in the kegerator to slow down the flow and it kinda helped...still getting foam but drinkable.

WHAT DID I DO WRONG?

PLEASE HELP.

Thanks for the time.
Joe

When using the quick carb method you are doing, it's probably best to let the beer settle for an hour or 2 before you pour.

Personally, I find that the slower (set it and forget it) method gets a better, richer head and overall better carbonation. The one time I tried the faster method, it worked and I got head on the beer, but the rest seemed flat.

On a seperate note and probably not related to your issue; I dispense at about 12psi.

Thank you...one thing I just googled is that I DID NOT release all the excess pressure from the forced carbonation...so basically it was dispensing at 40 psi.....woah!

I released the pressure and set the C02 regulator to 5 and I am starting to get drinkable beer....sound correct?

On a side note....I age my kegs in a fridge. Do you recommend I put the C02 tank in the fridge with the kegs...hooked up and carbonate over a two day period?

I'm not a keg shaker- as you can see, if you don't do it "right", you get lots of foam and undependable carbonation.

I know it's great to have carbed beer right away, but there are a couple of things you can do to reduce the foaming issues. Once is to "set it and forget it". Set it at whatever pressure you need to carb it up and serve it (usually 10-12 psi) and wait two weeks. Some of us (me included) don't shake, but set the keg in the fridge (cold beer absorbs co2 better) and set it at 30 psi for about 36 hours. Purge, and then set it for serving pressure. That gets good beer in about three days.

One other thing to keep in mind- you want your system to be balanced. That is- use a carbonation chart to figure the temperature, carbonation level, and the psi needed to maintain the carb level. Then, you add the lines.

Even if your beer is perfectly carbed up, if you have short beerlines, you'll have foamy beer. To get around that, some people purge and change their pressure to dispense at a very low psi. You can try that- purge and change to 2 psi and pour a beer. If it pours well, that means your lines are probably too short. If it still foams, it means your beer is overcarbed. It's easy to overcarb beer with shaking, especially at 40 psi.

How long are you lines? Based on what you're saying, I'm guessing they are too short. I use 8-10' of beerline at 39 degrees and 12 psi. That's perfect for my system for carbing, and dispensing.

I just converted my kegerator to a two faucet. the lines are 5'. 10' would be alot of extra hose in a SANYO kegerator. I keep the kegerator @ 36*. So far since I have been typing and pouring it is getting a little better @ 5 psi dispensing.

ILOVEBEER said:

I just converted my kegerator to a two faucet. the lines are 5'. 10' would be alot of extra hose in a SANYO kegerator. I keep the kegerator @ 36*. So far since I have been typing and pouring it is getting a little better @ 5 psi dispensing.

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ok. That sounds good! Since the beer will eventually go flat at 5 psi, wait until the foaming goes down and turn it up gradually, until you hit the "sweet spot" where you can pour a decent pint with 5' of line, but the beer stays carbed up. Keeping it so cold helps because you don't need as much psi to carb up at such a cold temperature.

For an ideal situation for your beer, check out this carbonation calculator: http://sdcollins.home.mindspring.com/ForceCarbonation.html

It looks like 8-10 psi might be the correct amount of pressure for your system. I'd start with 8 (after the beer settles down!) and see how it goes.

Thank you buddy. I notice that @ 5 psi it pours rather slow...it still is foaming probably because I just carbonated it 1 hour ago. I will crank it up to 10 later or the Thurs when I come home and see how it goes.

Thanks for the information!

Joe

ILOVEBEER said:

Thank you buddy. I notice that @ 5 psi it pours rather slow...it still is foaming probably because I just carbonated it 1 hour ago. I will crank it up to 10 later or the Thurs when I come home and see how it goes.

Thanks for the information!

Joe

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You're welcome, buddy.

I'm teasing, because not too many people call me "buddy". I kinda like it!

I'd start with maybe 8 or 9 psi, since your lines are kinda short. That should work nicely for you.

Awesome. Everybody is my buddy. Unless you have 10" beer lines

Just kidding. Thanks and take care

I think on my next keg I will set it in the kegerator or storage fridge @ 30 psi and set it and forget it....I am wasting so much beer with all this dang foam.

Once it comes time to drink....do I "purge" the excess C02 from the keg then set it to dispensing pressure?

I had 5' beer lines...couldn't pour at 12 psi without craptons of foam, (those are metric craptons, not imperial craptons)...now I have 10' of line, and foam free pours!

And Yooper....you expected "buddette?" (I miss the doggy avatar by the way...)

ILOVEBEER said:

I think on my next keg I will set it in the kegerator or storage fridge @ 30 psi and set it and forget it....I am wasting so much beer with all this dang foam.

Once it comes time to drink....do I "purge" the excess C02 from the keg then set it to dispensing pressure?

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30 is probably too high. Most of what I read is that beer at about 42 degrees at 12 psi gets to the right amount of head for most beer styles after about a week. Although, I find it's probably around 2 1/2 weeks for really good stuff.

ILOVEBEER said:

I think on my next keg I will set it in the kegerator or storage fridge @ 30 psi and set it and forget it....I am wasting so much beer with all this dang foam.

Once it comes time to drink....do I "purge" the excess C02 from the keg then set it to dispensing pressure?

Click to expand...

You only want 30 psi for 24-48 hours. After that, drop it to the final carb pressure, (around 12 psi, probably...depending on style and fridge temp it's gonna be 10-15). If you leave it at 30 psi for more than 48 hours, it will definitely be overcarbed.

If you want to "set and forget", set it to your final carb pressure, (again, probably 12 psi), and leave it for a week.

Ok...great advice. Do I purge all the excess pressure in the kegs after carbonating (once they are done in the aging process/fridge) then stick them in my kegerator and dispense them with the appropriate pressure?

Just to confirm... you are talking about 10' beer line...not 10' gas line correct?

ILOVEBEER said:

Ok...great advice. Do I purge all the excess pressure in the kegs after carbonating (once they are done in the aging process/fridge) then stick them in my kegerator and dispense them with the appropriate pressure?

Just to confirm... you are talking about 10' beer line...not 10' gas line correct?

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10' beer line...gas line length doesn't matter.

Yes, purge the excess gas from the kegs whenever you drop pressure.

That is where I dropped the ball, not bleeding the excess pressure...I will extend my beer line by 5' and see what happens.

Thank you for the help.

So here is what I plan to do...I work tomorrow and am gone unti the next day. I set my regulator for 10 psi and plan to leave it until I drink the next day...atleast 40 hours. Once I get home I will shut off the C02 to the keg...bleed the excess and crank the C02 to the appropriate psi...we'll see what happens.
.

My education tells me <5' beer line, 38 degress, ~12psi gives the best results.

anyone got a goot beer line keg height beer line width calculator?