Keg Force Carbing Methods Illustrated

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I'd put it on serving pressure, and put in in the cooler right away. When you get back on Tues., shake it every 5 - 10 minutes, until you no longer hear gas flowing when you start shaking. Then put it back in the frig until it's time to serve.

Shaking at higher than serving pressure is the best known way to over-carb a beer, and you won't have time to deal with that given your schedule. You can't over-carb shaking at serving pressure. Not shaking after Tues/Wed will give the suspended junk time to settle before serving.

Brew on :mug:

I'm leaving it on 12 psi so should be good on that front. I'm sure there's sediment in it, so good thought on giving it time to settle. Thank you!
 
definatley saturday. get a heads up on how it went!
Yeah. Probably need to pour a pint or two to clear out the trub around the tip of the dip tube. Want it running clear for your guests. If at all possible, do not move the keg in the slightest (not even to reposition in the fridge) before serving.

Brew on :mug:
 
Still a little flat today. This is poured off ~11' of Bevlex 200 through a picnic tap.
 

Attachments

  • 20210703_144655.jpg
    20210703_144655.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 19
honestly a week at 12 psi, and shaking for two days? i'm surprised, but it looks like the way i like my beer....day_trippr just said he can get it carbed at serving pressure, with 30 minutes of shaking....

if you want crank it to 30psi until tomorrow? i feel like i failed you at this point, so :( most people that use EVABarrier say they only use 6' lines? not sure if that's the difference i'm seeing?
 
honestly a week at 12 psi, and shaking for two days? i'm surprised, but it looks like the way i like my beer....day_trippr just said he can get it carbed at serving pressure, with 30 minutes of shaking....

if you want crank it to 30psi until tomorrow? i feel like i failed you at this point, so :( most people that use EVABarrier say they only use 6' lines? not sure if that's the difference i'm seeing?

It happens. It will get there. There's carbonation in it, but no head.

I forgot to order the Duotight reducer for my tap, so I had to go back to some old Bevlex / picnic tap. The speed of the pour is fine, so I don't think that's the problem.
 
I only spend a half a day or so giving it a shake in the keg at 25-30 psi. When I can't hear CO2 moving through the regulator I adjust to serving pressure based off of temp and desired volumes of CO2.

This is the holy grail of beer line calculators. Use the duotight stuff and you can just swap out lengths.

http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/
I should add it sits about 3 days after my shaking. More than drinkable and at 5 days its perfect
 
What's the best closed beer transfer method from a plastic fermenter to a keg? Is there a video format version to demonstrate it (non-native eng speaker here)?

This was something that I was going to do for my next batch, but a fellow homebrewtalk member said it wasn't enough. 🙁
 
What's the best closed beer transfer method from a plastic fermenter to a keg? Is there a video format version to demonstrate it (non-native eng speaker here)?

This was something that I was going to do for my next batch, but a fellow homebrewtalk member said it wasn't enough. 🙁
It’s very dependent on your fermenter can it hold pressure?
 
It’s very dependent on your fermenter can it hold pressure?
It's a basic plastic fermentator bucket. Similar to the one in the video, but without a tap (tap I need to drill and install myself). It can hold a little bit pressure but not much.
 
What's the best closed beer transfer method from a plastic fermenter to a keg?

I run the spigot coming out of the fermenter into the keg, and a return from the keg going back to the top of the fermenter.

* The beer coming out of the fermenter comes out of the bottom - my fermenter has a spigot
* It goes into the keg through what is normally the "out" side, connecting to the metal pipe inside (less splashing just in case)
* The return line comes from the keg on the "gas in" side, because the tube there is so short
* The return line goes into the top of the fermenter through whatever available location you have (perhaps where you had an airlock).
* The fermenter is higher than the keg

Gravity draws beer from the fermenter into the keg, and the return line simply allows the air to move out of the keg and go into the fermenter to replace the beer coming out.

Definitely fill the keg w/ water or a star-san or similar solution and use CO2 to purge it out, so you know your keg starts with only CO2 inside.
 
I have never been successful with force carbing any beer. I usually just turn the psi to between 10 and 15 and wait a week. I have found that lower pressures just don't work. I mean they probably work slowly, but who wants to wait 3 weeks?
 
I have never been successful with force carbing any beer. I usually just turn the psi to between 10 and 15 and wait a week. I have found that lower pressures just don't work. I mean they probably work slowly, but who wants to wait 3 weeks?

Pressure is dictated only by the beer temperature and your desired carbonation level. I don't think I'd say that any particular pressure doesn't work, it's just not the right one for the volumes of CO2 you're looking for. There's a very big difference between 10 and 15 psi.

If 15 psi gets you were you want to go in one week, it will be overcarbed in another week if you don't turn the pressure down. If it takes 3 weeks to get you where you want to go, you'd just leave that pressure alone for the rest of the keg's life.
 
Pressure is dictated only by the beer temperature and your desired carbonation level. I don't think I'd say that any particular pressure doesn't work, it's just not the right one for the volumes of CO2 you're looking for. There's a very big difference between 10 and 15 psi.

If 15 psi gets you were you want to go in one week, it will be overcarbed in another week if you don't turn the pressure down. If it takes 3 weeks to get you where you want to go, you'd just leave that pressure alone for the rest of the keg's life.
Also, in your original post, which was excellent by the way, you had a graph with a line, and it didn't show up. At least not on my phone. I think that might be helpful if I could see that.
 
Last edited:
Weird question. But if I kegged a batch of beer and kept it lagering in my fridge for about a month, would I be able to then force carbonate it after that? Seems weird to carbonate after having it sit for that long "flat".
 
Weird question. But if I kegged a batch of beer and kept it lagering in my fridge for about a month, would I be able to then force carbonate it after that? Seems weird to carbonate after having it sit for that long "flat".


yes? co2 dissolves in water under pressure, then comes out of solution when depressurized....

edit: but if it was already under pressure, it'd probably be carbed allready, and not to burst it or anything....
 
If'n you put it in the keg at room temp, closed it up, and stuck it in the fridge, it'll be under negative pressure initially as the headspace gas contracts due to temperature, which then, over a couple days, will draw CO2 dissolved from fermentation out of the beer. Likely it will be quite flat. And you can apply CO2 under pressure to increase the dissolved CO2 in solution at any time without ill effect.
 
If'n you put it in the keg at room temp, closed it up, and stuck it in the fridge, it'll be under negative pressure initially as the headspace gas contracts due to temperature, which then, over a couple days, will draw CO2 dissolved from fermentation out of the beer. Likely it will be quite flat. And you can apply CO2 under pressure to increase the dissolved CO2 in solution at any time without ill effect.


thinking about that, i'd be worried the lid seal would fail.....
 
Calling @doug293cz ! :D

I would be surprised if a keg ever "went negative" given at the end of fermentation beers typically have somewhere around .6 to .8 volumes of CO2 already extant...

...although if that was always true I wouldn't have to provide low pressure CO2 to keep my fermenters from collapsing during a cold crash...

NVM ;)

Cheers!
 
Last edited:
Put any vacuum on a beer with any dissolved CO2 and it comes right out pretty fast.

Not that I've done that. Vacuum guys getting pretty particular with their oil diffusion "babies" if you even joke about that sort of thing...
 
Calling @doug293cz ! :D

I would be surprised if a keg ever "went negative" given at the end of fermentation beers typically have somewhere around .6 to .8 volumes of CO2 already extant...

...although if that was always true I wouldn't have to provide low pressure CO2 to keep my fermenters from collapsing during a cold crash...

NVM ;)

Cheers!
At 65°F and 14.7 psi CO2 partial pressure (0 psi gauge if headspace is 100% CO2) the equilibrium carbonation level is 0.88 volumes. So, that is how much carbonation should be in your beer at the end of a 65°F fermentation.

At 33°F and 14.7 psi CO2 partial pressure, the equilibrium carbonation level would be 1.56 volumes.

So, if you sealed the keg, and cold crashed, some of CO2 in the headspace would dissolve into the beer, lowering the pressure in the headspace. This would reduce the headspace pressure below 14.7 psi absolute (0 psi gauge), so the gauge pressure would go negative.

It's possible to calculate where the pressure would end up when equilibrium is reached, if you are interested.

Brew on :mug:
 
At 65°F and 14.7 psi CO2 partial pressure (0 psi gauge if headspace is 100% CO2) the equilibrium carbonation level is 0.88 volumes. So, that is how much carbonation should be in your beer at the end of a 65°F fermentation.

At 33°F and 14.7 psi CO2 partial pressure, the equilibrium carbonation level would be 1.56 volumes.

So, if you sealed the keg, and cold crashed, some of CO2 in the headspace would dissolve into the beer, lowering the pressure in the headspace. This would reduce the headspace pressure below 14.7 psi absolute (0 psi gauge), so the gauge pressure would go negative.

It's possible to calculate where the pressure would end up when equilibrium is reached, if you are interested.

Brew on :mug:
Ok, found my spreadsheet that does this calculation. When equilibrium is reached after cold crashing 5 gal of beer with 0.35 gal of headspace from 65°F to 33°F, the headspace absolute pressure (CO2 partial pressure) would be 8.55 psia, and the gauge pressure would be - 6.15 psig.

Brew on :mug:
 
Back
Top