Keg Force Carbing Methods Illustrated

I have to admit, I've never kegged before so I'm making an educated guess here.

The reason a diffusion stone works aerating your wort is because of the velocity of the oxygen running through it. If you were to turn on your shower all the way you get a separated spray. But if you turn it on just a little you still get a single, collected stream, defeating the purpose of the shower head. I would think a diffusion stone in a keg would help a little when you first apply pressure and the CO2 is steadily running through the stone, but once the pressure is to a regulated point, it's only very slowly running through that stone. It would seem it wouldn't make much difference at that point.

Brewer3401 said:

I believe it MAY speed up the carbonation process.

But, if you've ever used a stone to aerate wort or a starter, you do see bubbles coming to the top of the surface.

However, aerating with a stone does put some oxygen into the wort.

If you need quick beer, do the "pressure up to maintenance and shake the guts out of the keg" method.

Click to expand...

Hang on a sec... the use of the diffusion doesn't put oxygen in when you're putting pressurized co2 through it.

It does speed up carbonation when you're doing the set and forget method because you're adding more surface area to the co2/beer but it is only effective as co2 is streaming in. Another way to illustrate this point is that if your keg had a diameter of 48" and the beer only filled it to 1" high, it would carb extremely quickly because of all the contact between the beer/headspace.

Bobby_M said:

Hang on a sec... the use of the diffusion doesn't put oxygen in when you're putting pressurized co2 through it.

It does speed up carbonation when you're doing the set and forget method because you're adding more surface area to the co2/beer but it is only effective as co2 is streaming in. Another way to illustrate this point is that if your keg had a diameter of 48" and the beer only filled it to 1" high, it would carb extremely quickly because of all the contact between the beer/headspace.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Makes sense.

However, I'm confused due to this particular description on Austin Home Brew's site (0.5 micron stone):

" The holes in the stone are too fine to use it to aerate the wort with an aeration pump. However, compared with the 2.0 micron stone, the 0.5 micron stone will carbonate beer quicker and with a longer lasting head because the bubbles that it creates are smaller. "

Then it goes on to say:

"Chill the beer to 40 F. Adjust the regulator to 2 PSI and attach the gas disconnect. Every 3 minutes increase the pressure 2 PSI until 12 PSI is reached. At this point the beer will be carbonated, but it won’t hurt to leave it alone in the refrigerator for a few days under pressure."

Sounds to me like this is saying that I can use a diffusion stone to pretty much complete the carbonation process in under 30 minutes.

Doesn't seem likely.


Here is the link:
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=10511

Haputanlas said:

Thanks. Makes sense.

However, I'm confused due to this particular description on Austin Home Brew's site (0.5 micron stone):

" The holes in the stone are too fine to use it to aerate the wort with an aeration pump. However, compared with the 2.0 micron stone, the 0.5 micron stone will carbonate beer quicker and with a longer lasting head because the bubbles that it creates are smaller. "

Then it goes on to say:

"Chill the beer to 40 F. Adjust the regulator to 2 PSI and attach the gas disconnect. Every 3 minutes increase the pressure 2 PSI until 12 PSI is reached. At this point the beer will be carbonated, but it won’t hurt to leave it alone in the refrigerator for a few days under pressure."

Sounds to me like this is saying that I can use a diffusion stone to pretty much complete the carbonation process in under 30 minutes.

Doesn't seem likely.


Here is the link:
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=10511

Click to expand...

I think this answers my concern:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/these-force-carbonating-instructions-b-s-189644/

Looks like a marketing scheme that's full of $#!t

One more time:

I do the 24 hour at 30 psi at 34 F then to maintenance pressure for 10-14 days.

Anyone ever try 48 hours, then to maintenance pressure ?

Would this lessen the 10-14 days ?

Brewer3401 said:

One more time:

I do the 24 hour at 30 psi at 34 F then to maintenance pressure for 10-14 days.

Anyone ever try 48 hours, then to maintenance pressure ?

Would this lessen the 10-14 days ?

Click to expand...

I have tried the 48 hour then maintenance pressure. I get mixed results. Half the time, I reduce the 10-14 days to 3-4 days. But it still takes a good week to have what I call a nicely carbonated beer. The other half the time, the beer is overcarbonated a bit (and foams on pouring) and takes 10-14 days to get back to good pressure. I think somehow it has something to do with high pressure CO2 in the air space and it takes time for it to get absorbed into the beer because it fixes itself over time (10-14 days). So my current strategy is to have a pipeline. I do 24 hours at about 35 PSI and then at least a week to two weeks at maintenance pressure. I also don't shake the keg since I use gelatin right in the keg. Even my wheat beers are crystal clear...

Good thoughts. Thanks very much for the info.

My best results have been to throw a room temp keg in the keezer and gas at 55-60psi for 24hrs. Then I release pressure and dial back to 12 psi. Most beers are drinkable at low carb after the 24hrs. If I plan on bottling the brew I will let it sit at the desired PSI for at least 4 days to make sure the pressure has balanced out.

I have never over carbed this way. In a couple cases I was in a hurry for a hefe and I left it on 36-48 hours and it was a close to perfect carb. On one instance I left it longer than 48 and it overcarbed.

CidahMastah said:

My best results have been to throw a room temp keg in the keezer and gas at 55-60psi for 24hrs. Then I release pressure and dial back to 12 psi. Most beers are drinkable at low carb after the 24hrs. If I plan on bottling the brew I will let it sit at the desired PSI for at least 4 days to make sure the pressure has balanced out.

I have never over carbed this way. In a couple cases I was in a hurry for a hefe and I left it on 36-48 hours and it was a close to perfect carb. On one instance I left it longer than 48 and it overcarbed.

Click to expand...

I just dry hopped an APA (dry for 10 days), then 2 weeks or so in the brite tank, then keg.

I'm going to do the 60 psi for 24 hours at 34 F

A little jammed for time, so if this speeds things up, I'll have a little breathing room before I bottle.

I hear ya on that!

Just be sure that if you try the beer after the 24 hours, depressurize before you hook up to it!! Remember that not all the gas is happy being forced in there at high pressure so (I think )... If you depressurize, then dilly dally for a few minutes, the pressure will build back up (not as bad as 60PSI of course, but it might cause your impending first pour to foam out of your tap unless you burp it again and pour slow off the natural build up of pressure). Make sense?

So after 24hrs if you want to sample...
1. get glass ready, turn pressure off.
2. Burp keg completely.
3. hook up to your tap and open it fully. It may pour slow but it will continue to pour off the built up CO2. If not, you can goose it a little.

a couple notes. This seems to work the fastest on the brews I leave in the primary for 3 weeks and or dry hop. If you are rushing a young beer like hefe 10 days out of the keg *I think* it is still trying to degas a bit and the force carb takes a little bit longer. This could just be my personal experience though.

I think my keezer is right aroung 34-36F, sometime I get frozen lines if I let them hang out at the bottom of the keezer. So your temp should be fine.

Good luck

I'm new to the keg & pressure carbonation techniques despite 40 years of brewing.
I have been surprised at the confusion of principles (of Physics that is) that feeds into well meant advice, much of it wrong but repeated again & again.
I appreciate the care effort that was put into this original post by Bobbi but I did have some difficulty with another measure he introduces & which I have not seen before.
IE the concept of carbonation expressed in volumes, volumes of what I thought; oh yes I guess he means the keg volume.
I ask is it not simpler to talk about the equilibrium pressure that should be aimed for for at various storage temperatures.
Achieving that & allowing some conditioning time certainly supports "the green line" method.
My problem is I still don't exactly grasp what you actually do to obtain this result.

peterlonz: Volumes of CO2 is a reference to the amount of CO2 gas that is dissolved in a liquid solution. For example 1 volume of CO2 is defined as: 1 liter of CO2 disolved in 1 liter of liquid at standard temperature and pressure... it is based on "Henry's Law." Therefore, to answer your question, if I understand it correctly, the pressure is merely what you use to obtain the desired density of CO2 in the beer. To obtain the equillibrium as represented by the green line, you would simply find on the chart what volume of CO2 you want in that beer, cross reference that on the chart to what temperature your beer will be at while you are carbonating the beer. Then that will tell you what pressure you need to use to obtain that equillibrium.

For example... say you have a beer that you want to carbonate to 2.2 volumes of CO2. You were going to have that beer at 42F while it was carbonating. The chart would tell you to set the pressure (which is your equillibrium pressure) at 10 psi. Then all you need to do to obtain the "green line" is to set your pressure at 10 psi, leave it at the 42F for approximately 2-3 weeks, and voila, you have obtained the equillibrium.

The other lines show you what happens when you increase the pressure... that the increased pressure may result in reaching your desired volume quicker, but also that you risk overshooting your desired volume because of the increased pressure.

EDIT: Bobby provided the chart in his first post... here is the link he provided: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

So for my example, looking at the chart, you would look on the left side for your temperature, then follow that row over to the right until you find your desired volumes, then follow that column up to find your pressure.

If you are patient, don't have a pipeline and have a large keezer you might be able to pull off the set and wait to get to your desired pressure. I however have a pipeline, and when I replace a keg, I would like to drink from it in a few days, because it has already conditioned while it sat in line. Once you start having kegs on deck you will be looking to decrease the time from hook up to correct carb and pour.

To answer your question, getting a keg to a desired volume of CO2 (equalized) is very easily done. Use the above referenced chart. Balancing your system with beer line for dispensing can be tricky. They are two different things though.

Dispensing it can be an issue. If you set your hefe for say 3.5 volumes and use a 5ft beer hose, you are going to get foam like crazy when you dispense it. This is were some of the issues come in. You need to match line resistance on your dispense roughly with your carb to avoid this issue. I do this by adding line resistance with the epoxy mixer sticks, or I have one very long line that I use to tap higher carb brews such as hefes.

So you can't talk about keg carbonation equalization with out keg dispensing balancing. You would only get half the picture

A boy new to kegging, asking for a bit of clarification on several points:
1) The keg refrigeration temps referred to here are very low generally 32 to 35 Deg F which is very close to freezing.
I think I can get my fridge to do that at a push but how important is it if you are not in any great hurry & plan 2 to 3 weeks for conditioning.
2) If I hold my keg at about 40-42F & apply 30 psi can I achieve satisfactory carbonation in say a week.
3) After whatever period it takes to carbonate at these temps, what maintenance pressure should I choose, I was thinking maybe about 10 psi?
4) Speaking practically about how cold the beer should be when dispensed from a keg, IE a good drinking temperature for ale; what then is the ideal fridge/keg contents temp?
Thanks

peterlonz said:

A boy new to kegging, asking for a bit of clarification on several points:
1) The keg refrigeration temps referred to here are very low generally 32 to 35 Deg F which is very close to freezing.
I think I can get my fridge to do that at a push but how important is it if you are not in any great hurry & plan 2 to 3 weeks for conditioning.
2) If I hold my keg at about 40-42F & apply 30 psi can I achieve satisfactory carbonation in say a week.
3) After whatever period it takes to carbonate at these temps, what maintenance pressure should I choose, I was thinking maybe about 10 psi?
4) Speaking practically about how cold the beer should be when dispensed from a keg, IE a good drinking temperature for ale; what then is the ideal fridge/keg contents temp?
Thanks

Click to expand...

Use the "search" function in the upper right corner of your screen.

peterlonz said:

1) The keg refrigeration temps referred to here are very low generally 32 to 35 Deg F which is very close to freezing.
I think I can get my fridge to do that at a push but how important is it if you are not in any great hurry & plan 2 to 3 weeks for conditioning.

Click to expand...

I keep mine at about 43F. But I do mostly ales, and I prefer them a bit warmer.

peterlonz said:

2) If I hold my keg at about 40-42F & apply 30 psi can I achieve satisfactory carbonation in say a week.

Click to expand...

Might be overcarbonated. I'd go with either maintenance pressure (on a balanced system) for a few weeks or 35 PSI for 24-48 hours, purge, then maintenance pressure for a week or so.

peterlonz said:

3) After whatever period it takes to carbonate at these temps, what maintenance pressure should I choose, I was thinking maybe about 10 psi?

Click to expand...

That depends on your setup, length of beer lines, etc. There are a large number of posts dedicated to that on the forum. Search.

peterlonz said:

4) Speaking practically about how cold the beer should be when dispensed from a keg, IE a good drinking temperature for ale; what then is the ideal fridge/keg contents temp?

Click to expand...

Depends on your preference. Many say 38F. Of course, some joints keep their brews at 29F. I keep mine at 43F and sometimes even 45F. Especially in the winter when I like my darker ales. I prefer them warmer so some of the notes come out.

1. You can always let a beer warm up, you can't chill it easily after poured (I think that is why many folks go for low temps). 2-3 weeks at whatever temp + PSI for volume desired based on the volumes of carbonation chart that was previously posted. If you read that chart that was posted you will notice the warmer the beer the higher the PSI to carb it initially. I.e. lower temps allow you to get co2 in at a lower pressure.

2. This is where things get tricky based on temp of keezer, etc. Might take some experimentation on your part. From my anecdotal experience I agree, you will be way over carbed. If you boost, you should only do it for a limited time then stop and switch to maintenance pressure.

3. Your maintenance pressure depends on:
a. Your desired volumes and temperature in the keezer (see that chart we keep telling you to look at).

*Your lines on your system will have to be adjusted AFTER and have nothing to do with your carbonation level of volumes. Lines provide restriction so your brew doesn't fly out foaming.*

i.e. if you carb a hefe at 4 volumes and an ale at 2.5 volumes, you will need a longer hose, or mixer sticks to dispense the hefe at the same pour rate than you would the ale. Your maintenance pressure for the ale and the hefe would be different in a balanced system (dependant on brew temp).

You need to determine the carb level you want, let it get to that carb, then dink around with your hose length until you get it right. I.e. start with a long hose and pour, cut it back a foot at a time until you get the pour you are looking for. How long to start with? depends on the hose brand. If bevlex, start with 15ft for a standard pour right near the draft with no rise system.

4. Just as with above, depends on what you like. I go lower because I pump brew up a story to my living room and when it pours out I get around low 40's for a serving temp. Most people say 38F is sanitary for long term. However, unless you are planning on having kegs on tap for 6 months+ I down this will ever play into your setup.



This sounds complicated but it isn't.

1. Determine your fridge temp.
2. Use the chart and pick your desired carb.
3. for the set and forget method, set your PSI to the level you need, leave it for 2-3 weeks.
4. Start with a longer beer line and pour. Too slow? cut a foot off and try again. Too fast? your line is too long - start over with longer line.

Once you get the hang of that you can fool around with the boost method many people use here.

Hi,

I'm new to kegging and I'm trying this technique for force carbing (30psi for 24h then normal pressure - no shake). Tonight's the first night I've dialed up the pressure to 30psi and one strange thing I'm seeing is the pressure readout on the CO2 is slowly creeping down each hour. I'm afraid this might mean I have a leak somewhere but I've soaped up the works and haven't found anything.

One variable is that my CO2 tank was warm when I started but it went into the fridge along with the keg when I dialed up to 30psi. Could this be the tank adjusting or do I really have a leak somewhere? Or something else perhaps?

Framnk said:

Hi,

I'm new to kegging and I'm trying this technique for force carbing (30psi for 24h then normal pressure - no shake). Tonight's the first night I've dialed up the pressure to 30psi and one strange thing I'm seeing is the pressure readout on the CO2 is slowly creeping down each hour. I'm afraid this might mean I have a leak somewhere but I've soaped up the works and haven't found anything.

One variable is that my CO2 tank was warm when I started but it went into the fridge along with the keg when I dialed up to 30psi. Could this be the tank adjusting or do I really have a leak somewhere? Or something else perhaps?

Click to expand...

I (think) I notice my pressure going UP when I put the cylinder in the frig. Just check it every couple of hours and adjust to keep at 30 psi for the 24 hours.

I've done this many times, and it works great.

Framnk,
As it happens you are not alone, the almost exact same thing is happening to me.
If you have set your regulator to 30psi then unless you are running out of CO2 you should not see any drop in keg pressure. This assumes you have not charged to 30 psi then shut off the CO2 delivery from the gas cylinder - you definitely should not do this whilst carbonating at constant supply pressure.
I suspect therefore you are running out of CO2 & AFAIK the only way to check this effectively is to weigh your cylinder. I hope you know the empty weight because I have found stamped on Tare Weights to be wrong in some cases. I guess it could depend upon exactly the definition of Tare Weight.
Anyway you get the drift: you need also to be aware that your gas cylinder will show substantial pressure right up to the "very near empty" point due to the liquid/gas phase mixture properties.
Finally you asked about leaks:
The easy method is to make a warm water & liquid detergent mix that will readily form suds. Use a 2 inch paintbrush & generously apply the sudsy mixture by brush over every joint whilst holding pressure. Leaks will show by blowing large bubbles which you should be able to see. When finished wash off the mixture, you do not want detergent hanging around.
A better method but not quite so easy is to dunk everything (yes everything - CO2 cylinder, Keg, pressure lines etc, you don't need the dispensing tap & line because if this was leaking you would see brew entering the line), in your swimming pool & look for bubbles.
No bubbles - no leaks.
Hope that helps.

Two of my kegs have been in my keezer at 12 psi for over three weeks. I normally use a set and forget it method. Tried sampling each of these today and got very little foam and very little dissolved CO2. Turns out that the plastic rings on the gas inpost have had a slow leak so there is enough pressure to push the beer in the system but not enough to force much CO2 into the beer. I have changed the rings on both sets of kegs.

My question is since the beer has been cold for over three weeks and hopefully conditioned would I be able force more CO2 into the beer faster by raising the pressure and possibly shaking either keg? My inlaws are coming into town for a week and I made each of these beers especially for them.

Ok...things have been functioning well with the keezer since I swapped out my short 5 ft long beer lines for 10 ft. long ones a few months back....no more foaming issues. Until now.....I have had an issue as of late. I pulled my keg of amber out of the keezer, because it kicked last week. I swapped it out with my Cedar Pale Ale late last week. I switched my gas lines around a bit, so that the Cedar Pale Ale was on the single regulator and the other 3 existing kegs were on the 3 way manifold off of the second regulator of my dual body regulator. I purge all of the kegs and slowly dialed both regulators up to 9 psi, since my regulators seem to overshoot by around 2 psi over time.

This weekend, I noticed that my Bonzai Wheat, Blood Orange Hefe, and 60 min IPA (all off of the 3 way manifold from one of the regs) all seemed overcarbed with foaming issues. I opened the keezer and the regulator for the 3 way manifold read 14 psi and the regulator for the single keg read 16 psi. I turned off the CO2 to each keg and purged the three kegs periodically throughout the day on Saturday. By Sunday the carbonation levels were back on track, so I slowly dialed up the regulator back up to 9 psi, knowing when everything settles, they typically overshoot by 2 psi. Last night during Monday night football (Go Lions!!!) I tried to pull a pint of the wheat and frickin' foam... again. I opened the keezer again and the reg. body for the 3 way manifold read 16 psi and the single body reg. was at 19 psi. WTF! Any suggestions as to why my regulators would be overshooting.....never had these issues before.

I'm being very careful to slowly dial up the psi on the regulators and I keep a watchful eye on them until they seem to stabilize at 9 psi, but over time they seem to be overshooting by almost double. Are my regulators malfunctioning? It it due to the fact that my CO2 and regulators are inside the keezer? Last night I purged again and set a 5 psi, so I could pull a couple of pints during the game, which obviously created a very slow pour, but the foaming was manageable. Based on this, the beer didn't seem to be overcarbed again....yet, because there was minimal foaming at the very low serving pressure. Overtime, however, if I don't keep opening the beast up and purging + dialing them back, they will overcarb. Any suggestions would be great!

msa8967 said:

Two of my kegs have been in my keezer at 12 psi for over three weeks. I normally use a set and forget it method. Tried sampling each of these today and got very little foam and very little dissolved CO2. Turns out that the plastic rings on the gas inpost have had a slow leak so there is enough pressure to push the beer in the system but not enough to force much CO2 into the beer. I have changed the rings on both sets of kegs.

My question is since the beer has been cold for over three weeks and hopefully conditioned would I be able force more CO2 into the beer faster by raising the pressure and possibly shaking either keg? My inlaws are coming into town for a week and I made each of these beers especially for them.

Click to expand...

Honestly I wouldn't shake it. I would set it at 30-60 PSI and check it every 4-6 hours until it gets a good boost. Hard to tell without trying your brew first hand, But my guess would be that 24 hrs would be way too much for a boost so you will have to watch it. Every time you try it, be sure to burp it, then hook up your beer line with the burping valve open. Then close the valve and add a little gas to gently let it flow out. After you boost or shake, you need to let the brew sit overnight to let it better stabilize (to get the actual carb level).

msa8967 said:

Two of my kegs have been in my keezer at 12 psi for over three weeks. I normally use a set and forget it method. Tried sampling each of these today and got very little foam and very little dissolved CO2. Turns out that the plastic rings on the gas inpost have had a slow leak so there is enough pressure to push the beer in the system but not enough to force much CO2 into the beer. I have changed the rings on both sets of kegs.

My question is since the beer has been cold for over three weeks and hopefully conditioned would I be able force more CO2 into the beer faster by raising the pressure and possibly shaking either keg? My inlaws are coming into town for a week and I made each of these beers especially for them.

Click to expand...

I think so-- increase pressure to maybe 30 for 24 hours, then purge and reset to serving psi. I would not shake them-- you risk over-carbing.

What did you brew "for the in-laws?"

Hoppopotomus - sounds like you might have a regulator issue. The other issue could be that at that high PSI you need more line resistance? Is your flow fast out of the beer line? What brand beer line do you have? I ask because bevlex has way difference line resistance than bevseal, etc.

Hoppo, what is the temp in your keezer. Sometimes you can get ice in the regulator bodies and that could cause the malfunction. Warm up your keezer a few degrees and try to reset them... see if that works.

I have the TSS-2 set at 38 degrees for the keezer. I keep the coffin set at 46 degrees, so the shanks and lines stay cool as well. I originally had 5 ft. lines that were sent with my kit from kegconnection.com, but upgraded to 10 ft. lines that I picked up at my local HBS a few months ago. I'll double check the brand of the lines though. Like I said before, I went several months without foaming issues once I swapped the lines out to longer ones. With the longer lines the flow slowed down significantly and foaming ceased. I think that the 10' lines offer decent resistance, so that's why I have been leaning to a regulator issue. I don't see any signs of condensation or icing on the regulators, but I'll try to thaw them out and see if that helps. Thanks guys....I'll let you know. If anyone else has any ideas....I'm all ears at this point, because I HATE FOAM!

Hoppopotomus said:

I have the TSS-2 set at 38 degrees for the keezer. I keep the coffin set at 46 degrees, so the shanks and lines stay cool as well. I originally had 5 ft. lines that were sent with my kit from kegconnection.com, but upgraded to 10 ft. lines that I picked up at my local HBS a few months ago. I'll double check the brand of the lines though. Like I said before, I went several months without foaming issues once I swapped the lines out to longer ones. With the longer lines the flow slowed down significantly and foaming ceased. I think that the 10' lines offer decent resistance, so that's why I have been leaning to a regulator issue. I don't see any signs of condensation or icing on the regulators, but I'll try to thaw them out and see if that helps. Thanks guys....I'll let you know. If anyone else has any ideas....I'm all ears at this point, because I HATE FOAM!

Click to expand...

I can't tell if you are already doing this, but I know my regulators work better if when re-setting pressure I first cut off the gas to the keg then dial back the regulator, purge gas from regulator, dial the pressure back up, and THEN re-open the gas line to the keg. My $.02.

Yep, that's what I do as well. I just got off of the phone with Ben at kegconnection and he is in agreement that it's a regulator issue. Most likely either moisture inside of the regulator or a bad seal inside. He is sending me a regulator rebuilding kit to replace the seals and a couple of other components within the regulator. If that doesn't work....they will send me a new regulator to swap out with the old one. Once I get the kit, they are going to walk me through it over the phone. Good customer service and follow through.

Yeah KC sells bevlex line - so lines shouldn't be an issue. I think regulator is the problem.

Thanks....we'll see what happens with the re-build. Getting out of work early today, so brewing a red rye IPA this afternoon. :rockin:

I have a totally noob question. I know there are many variables that would come into play here. I don't know if due to those variables someone can even answer this question. If not please just use you person experience here.

Using the set it and forget it method, about how many 5 gallon Kegs do you get out of one 5 lb Co2 tank?

I just hooked up my first keg to the Co2 and according to my gage it seems to have taken a lot of the capacity of the 5 lb tank. I don't think I have any leaks but I will have to check more carefully tonight. Thanks in advance.

5lb of gas will do a lot of beer. A lot. Check for leaks.

This is the most frequently asked noob kegger question. You'll noticing the pressure change from putting the tank in the fridge.

Thanks Bobby_M defiant change after it was in the fridge for a bit. No more worrying just have to wait for it to carb now!!!

I used this method for the first time the other day and have to say it worked like a charm. Before that I used the sit and wait method. Saved me a good week and half from grain to glass. Thanks Bobby!

RandalG,
Not sure exactly which method you are referring to.
Remember the "set & forget technique" also allows a decent period for age conditioning, which is an important component of the brewing methods of all good commercial brewers.
However, I like you often can't wait ..............

Good luck

Peter O

I agree that conditioning is important. I'm at the point now where I have several kegs in the pipeline waiting for room in the kegerator so they have gone through some aging already. I just meant it's nice to be able force carb them in 2 days once they go in there instead of waiting an additional 2 weeks for them to carb up.

Can anybody in hear speak to the difference/similarity of these techniques for kegging a hard cider? I have one that is ready to be either bottled or kegged...with the issue of a bottle bomb, kegging seems to be the better option...however I have no experience with cider since it is my first go-round with it...anyone have any suggesions/tips/help?

I moved my Belgian Dubbel to the secondary two weeks ago at 1.004 gravity. I don't think its going to clear up anymore. If I use this method to carbonate, do I still need to prime with sugar? This will be my first keg attempt.