Almost no carbonation after 2 weeks in keg. Help.

Have a 2.5g keg hooked up to a paintball C02 tank with a mini reg. I have in the fridge 35 degrees set to 5-6 PSI for over 2 weeks. I took a sample and there is very very little carbonation. I can barely see any bubbles and taste almost nothing. This is a big 16%ABV imperial stout. Any suggestions? I turned up the reg to 10PSI for now.

A 16% imperial stout is going to take a lot longer than two weeks to carbonate. Also, 5-6 psi is low.

Yep 25 to 30 psi for two or three days but be patient with big beer they don't seem to have rite mouthfeel at first usually couple weeks of keg time duz the trick for me brew on brotha

Are u using the 16gram paintball c02 cartridge?
You might need acouple of cartridges to fully carb the beer...
And one cartridge to serve also...
Igotsand

strongarm said:

Have a 2.5g keg hooked up to a paintball C02 tank with a mini reg. I have in the fridge 35 degrees set to 5-6 PSI for over 2 weeks. I took a sample and there is very very little carbonation. I can barely see any bubbles and taste almost nothing. This is a big 16%ABV imperial stout. Any suggestions? I turned up the reg to 10PSI for now.

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To have a beer carbed up at 35 degrees, you'll need about 9-10 psi. Since you have it at 10 psi now, it should be carbed up in a week or so.

It doesn't matter what kind of beer it is, or what the alcohol % is. It will still be forced into the beer.

20 OZ C02 tank. The chart shows 5 psi at 35degrees for 2.0 volumes of carbs but I've given up on that.

strongarm said:

20 OZ C02 tank. The chart shows 5 psi at 35degrees for 2.0 volumes of carbs but I've given up on that.

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FWIW I used a 20oz tank for a long time. Will carb and serve 3-4 kegs easily and cost about $3 to refill. Just in case anyone tries to say it won't work well.

strongarm said:

20 OZ C02 tank. The chart shows 5 psi at 35degrees for 2.0 volumes of carbs but I've given up on that.

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Have you ever had a beer at 2.0 volumes? It's pretty flat. I mean, 1.5 volumes might be what you get when fermentation finishes, and 2.0 volumes is not much more. A 2.0 volume of co2 is a pretty flat beer. You probably have that, since I assume the beer has a few bubbles (you said "very little carbonation"). but to me me, "carbonated" where I want to drink a beer is 2.4 volumes or so.

I just went in the middle of where stouts were recommended 1.8-2.2 either way I'm going to set it at 10PSI and test next week.

It's funny, I never make imperial stouts until a recent batch, and I too have had a heck of a time getting it carbonated. 20+ psi for three weeks at 38f and I am just finally there. My lagers don't seem to take as long but maybe it's my imagination.

Finally, just took a sample and there is finally carbonation. Also I noticed that the carbonation helped bring out the head, before there was 0 head. Should I continue to let this beer sit on the C02 at 12PSI or can I finally bottle this? I guess im just wondering, is the C02 fully infussed in the beer or am I getting a "false" reading from my sample? Any suggestions.

strongarm said:

Finally, just took a sample and there is finally carbonation. Also I noticed that the carbonation helped bring out the head, before there was 0 head. Should I continue to let this beer sit on the C02 at 12PSI or can I finally bottle this? I guess im just wondering, is the C02 fully infussed in the beer or am I getting a "false" reading from my sample? Any suggestions.

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Pour off 8oz. of beer, then pull more and sample it. You need to clear the line and anything that settled. If you taste carbonation in the subsequent sample(s), it's in there. Use some method of counter-pressure to bottle off and you should be golden.

Bottled this yesterday. Everything wen't relatively well and carbonation seemed good at time of bottling.

tre9er said:

Pour off 8oz. of beer, then pull more and sample it. You need to clear the line and anything that settled

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I second this - it seems to take a while for the carbonation to equalize all the way into the dip tube & serving line. If you just pour a small sample, it may seem undercarbed even though the bulk of the keg is okay.