Carbonated & Then Flat Beer? (photos)

I kegged my 2nd beer, a Blue Moon clone. Set CO2 at 10 PSI, 38 F, and waited for 7 full days. The first 7 glasses were just fine (1st photo). Good head (that's what she said), lots of carbonation coming out of the liquid each time you tip the glass - even to the last drink.



Then the last 2 glasses look like this (2nd photo)



The taste is close to flat, and there are some bubbles coming out of the liquid, (10 per seconds maybe) and the head totally disappeared. What happened?

maybe it just needs to carbonate for a few more days?

I have a theory, if the carbonation was not completed yet, could different layers of the liquid be stratified with more/less carbonation?

Is it possible your tank is empty at this point? If you vent the headspace, does it return to the pressure you have it set at? Perhaps there's a small leak somewhere in your lines that emptied your tank, then began pulling CO2 out of solution in the beer.

the beer was undercarbonated, and then after this post, I jacked up the PSI to 30 PSI for 2 days to speed it up.

BIG MISTAKE.

Then the keg was overcarbonated and it had a bad metallic/acidic aftertaste. Live and learn.

Hi! Im new On this forum and its a new experience for me to keg my beer! Can anyone give me the basics on how to put co2 in my beer! Its now my second beer that i keg and the first one wasnt pretty satisfying! Same thing for me, i had a nice foam when i poured and then flat!!! I now have a bitter in my keg and ive tried with beergas and still no success! Can anyone help me out??? Thank!

KrOoKSs said:

Hi! Im new On this forum and its a new experience for me to keg my beer! Can anyone give me the basics on how to put co2 in my beer! Its now my second beer that i keg and the first one wasnt pretty satisfying! Same thing for me, i had a nice foam when i poured and then flat!!! I now have a bitter in my keg and ive tried with beergas and still no success! Can anyone help me out??? Thank!

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Make sure to rinse the soap out of the kegs. I rinse mine at least 4 times.

KrOoKSs said:

Hi! Im new On this forum and its a new experience for me to keg my beer! Can anyone give me the basics on how to put co2 in my beer! Its now my second beer that i keg and the first one wasnt pretty satisfying! Same thing for me, i had a nice foam when i poured and then flat!!! I now have a bitter in my keg and ive tried with beergas and still no success! Can anyone help me out??? Thank!

Click to expand...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ov...carbing-recipes-cold-crashing-finings-414633/

I've only kegged about 5 times now, but from what I understand...don't judge CO2 levels by the amount of foam (too much, just right, or not enough).

Foam is caused by yeast and head retention is only partially related to the CO2 bubbles coming out of the liquid.

1st, make sure your beer lines are the right length/inner diameter (most ppl here say 10 feet long with 3/16" inner diameter vinyl).

Next, don't try the burst carbing until you know what you're doing. That was my mistake. You can just set your CO2 tank to serving pressure and check it at 10-14 days once a day until it is ready. Some ppl say a full 3 weeks at serving pressure will make it taste better.

spaceyaquarius said:

I've only kegged about 5 times now, but from what I understand...don't judge CO2 levels by the amount of foam (too much, just right, or not enough).

Foam is caused by yeast and head retention is only partially related to the CO2 bubbles coming out of the liquid.

1st, make sure your beer lines are the right length/inner diameter (most ppl here say 10 feet long with 3/16" inner diameter vinyl).

Next, don't try the burst carbing until you know what you're doing. That was my mistake. You can just set your CO2 tank to serving pressure and check it at 10-14 days once a day until it is ready. Some ppl say a full 3 weeks at serving pressure will make it taste better.

Click to expand...

So as of now, there is about 10 psi in my keg. I took the o2 out of the keg by purging it a couple of times! Its now in the fridge and its not connected to the co2 tank! So what your telling me, if i understand correctly is that i sould hook it up at a serving pressure (could you let me know what that is?) for about three more weeks?

Connect the CO2 tank to the "in" port of the keg. Keep the regulator set at 6-12 PSI for at least 14 days and test once/day to see if it's done. A lower carbonated beer like a pilsner could be 8PSI or so, but I brew Belgian Wits so I use 12 PSI. As long as your beer lines are the right length/diameter 10 PSI should be good as far as I know.

Burst-force carbing is how I screwed up 3 batches. I rocked the keg back and forth and also turned the PSI up to 30 PSI for 2 or 3 days.

Some people adjust the serving pressure up or down (but still in the 6 to 12 PSI range) if there is not enough or too much head when they pour.

Good Luck!!!!!!!

Using this method (2 weeks of 10-14 psi) I never tap my keg a day early. Waste of beer. Leave your beer on gas longer and stop messing with it. Use the co2 temp/carbonation volume chart and leave it alone.

241 said:

Using this method (2 weeks of 10-14 psi) I never tap my keg a day early. Waste of beer. Leave your beer on gas longer and stop messing with it. Use the co2 temp/carbonation volume chart and leave it alone.

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You were right. I was being impatient. My clone recipe stated "bottle condition for 7-10 days". Of course it doesn't mention kegging, but wheat ales apparently requires 2-4 weeks of conditioning. 3 weeks seems to work fine for me now.

THANKS EVERYONE!!!!