erockomania
Well-Known Member
morebeer.com/view_product/18212//Carbonating_Keg_Lid
Has anybody used these? Thoughts?
Has anybody used these? Thoughts?
Carbonating keg lid
- Thread starter erockomania
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erockomania
Well-Known Member
Anyone?
i just picked one up from these guys. http://www.tomsbrewshop.com/prod/210-MOTORLESS-CARBONATION-LID.html
he set me up with a pin lock style. i should be able to keg a new batch in the next week or so. if it works as fast as they say, i will be a happy man. it will be better than fussing with shaking, etc, in my opinion.
I don't see the point. If you're trying to carbonate in 24 hours, there's an easier way. Set 40 psi on the regulator. Let sit 24 hours. Back off to serving pressure, vent the keg, and you're good to go. I don't see any advantage from spending this $60.
wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
Rather than either spending $60 or something on a lid or messing with jacking pressure up and down (I see posts practically everyday by people with foaming or other issues as a result). Drop about $17 and get a CO2 stone and a 2' piece of hose. Attach one end of the hose to your gas IN tube, the stone to the other. Stone sill sit on the bottom of the keg, you can carb your beer in 48 hours at serving pressure. No issues, ZERO chance of over carbonation. Simplest method to carbonate beer quickly.
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erockomania
Well-Known Member
This is exactly what I was thinking too, but fussing with getting the tube off after it's carbonated was what I was worried about. Leave the tube on?
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erockomania
Well-Known Member
btw, force carbing never gets me those nice tiny bubbles. The idea of this method and using a stone in general is for the nice tiny bubbles like the pros get... no? 
btw, force carbing never gets me those nice tiny bubbles. The idea of this method and using a stone in general is for the nice tiny bubbles like the pros get... no?
Force carbing is force carbing- dissolving co2 into beer. The size of the bubbles won't change.
I get nice tiny bubbles in my beer in the keg- but it's because the c02 is fully dissolved, and I have nice long serving lines that don't "knock" the co2 out of suspension on the way to the glass.
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erockomania
Well-Known Member
Yooper said:
Ah. Gotcha. My lines may be the problem. How long is long enough?
wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
Absolutely leave it on, I have them installed in all of my serving kegs and they stay there.
When cleaning the keg, you will (depending on your cleaning method) have enough solution (PBW, etc.) to either cover the stone or, perhaps even most of the tube. Let it soak a while, as most people do with their keg anyway. Put the lid on and slosh the keg around, as you are probably already doing, to make sure any areas not already covered with solution get hit. After you dump the cleaning solution, as part of your rinse, pull the stone out of the keg (you can leave hose attached), connect the gas and run rinse water over the stone until water runs clean. This will clean the stone thoroughly. Continue to sanitizing. Make sure stone gets covered with santi, make sure stone gets submerged. You may want to hit it with the gas again to drive the little bit of sanitizer that is in the stone out. I would do this with iodophor or PAA, but if you use StarSan it may not be necessary. That's it. I would say it ads MAX 5 minutes to my keg cleaning time.
Really? Is that for 3/16" or 1/4" line? I always understood the general rule was 5' for 3/16" line.
bwarbiany said:
3/16 line. The standard five foot length that comes with a kegging kit is woefully inadequate if you intend to serve at the same pressure you carb at. I think my lines are 10 feet and change for 12 psi.
Golddiggie
Well-Known Member
The rule I've always gone with is one foot of 3/16" ID hose per one psi of CO2 the keg/brew is on. You can differ slightly such as 10' of line under 12 psi but I wouldn't use just 5' of line. You're typically better off with longer lines than shorter lines. Only downside to longer lines would be a slower pour. Downside of shorter lines is far too much foam in the glass.
hopsicle
Member
I just keep it in the fridge with a gas line hooked to it for 3 days or so at serving pressure and everything works out just fine.
Good thing I asked before I built my keezer. I was just going to order some line today, in fact!
stratslinger
Well-Known Member
This seems really intriguing... 2 questions: 1) Does it matter whether you use a 2 micron or .5 micron stone? 2) What kind of hose do you use?
I might have to set up a keg like this as a test, just to see how well it works. Almost sounds too good to be true.
JJL
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There's really no need to test it. It does work. It's not new technology. Small scale breweries in particular have been using carb stones to force carb their beer for quite a while. They can easily carb a batch in a couple of hours. All you need to do the keg version of the process is about 2 ft of tubing a clamp and an aeration stone. You can probably use the 2 mic stone and be fine. I think the tubing is 5/16", but I can't recall for sure.
wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
I use the 0.5 Micron stone, that is my preference, but the 2 micron is ok. I don't recall the inner diameter of the hose, but if you check with AHS and ask what they recommend, that would be the one! It slips securely over the end of the stone and the gas post. If you want to you can use some stainless hose clamps too, but it isn't necessary.
stratslinger
Well-Known Member
One other question: does this change anything about how you approach purging the headspace in a newly sealed keg? Or can you still purge in exactly the same fashion as you would without a hose and carb stone?
wailingguitar
Well-Known Member
Yes, basically the same. There are a number of ways people purge the tanks... some before xfer in, some after, some before AND after... whichever way you are used to doing it should still be fine.
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