Late Burst Force Carbing

Hey Guys,
I tried to do a search but I couldn't find anybody with my particular dilemma. I just kegged by first batch (Ive been bottling for a few years) and found an article that told me to Carb at 41 degrees and 13 psi for the whole time and that my beer would be carbonated in 4 days. I should have checked here beforehand but now I read here that this method will take 10 days or so. Problem is I have a party on Saturday I really wanted it ready for. If I leave it till Saturday it will only be 7 days.

Can I, now that I've already been carbing at 13 psi for 48 hours, try to use the method of carbing at 30 psi for a day and then brining it down to 13 or since I've already started the "set it and forget it" method am I left to hope for the best? I just want me beer to be as tasty as possible for Saturday night.

Its a Pale Ale BTW. Thanks

You can either punch the pressure up to like 25 psi for the next two days or leave it at 13psi and shake the keg a few times a day until the party. The latter method will ensure you don't overcarb which is difficult to fix quickly. Another way to increase your chances of success is to chill it down to 34F.

I agree with Bobby M. Leave it at 13 and shake. If you get close to your party date and it's still not carbed crank up the pressure to 30 psi and shake for 30 seconds, let it settle for a couple hours, lower the pressure and pull a test beer. If it's still not where you want it. Repeat. When I keg, I first chill, then turn up the pressure to 30 psi and shake for 1 to 3 minutes depending on how carbed I want it. Works every time. Overcarbing is a ***** though so add CO2 incrementally and test. Easy to add more but hard to get it out if you over do it.

I'll be the contrarian here and advise to crank it up to 25-30psi and let it sit for 48 hours, then bleed the excess and let sit at serving pressure. If you do it NOW, it'll be good to go by Saturday. I never ever shake the corny b/c I beleive it's a waste of time and energy.

Yes shaking does take some more energy but if you need your beer fast it works like a charm

Thanks a lot. Should I shake vigorously or gently?

bulleitb said:

Thanks a lot. Should I shake vigorously or gently?

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Bobby M has you set straight on this imo. Just shake it, don't break a rib. Let it rest, do it several times. When you first start shaking you can hear the gas going in, when it slows down, stop and come back later, repeat.....

When you shake a cold, pressurized keg, with the gas hooked up and on, you will be able to hear the gas going in. Just shake hard enough so you can hear the gas.

If you sit on a chair and lay the keg across your lap, you can rock it pivoting on your lap. Very little energy and as mentioned, you can hear the co2 bubbling in.