Force Carbonating in a keg at room temperature?

I have been collecting parts for a keg setup for a long time now, and last night I picked up the last 2 pieces, dual gauge regulator and ball-lock corny keg for $40!

So I want to put my watermelon wheat which has been sitting in primary for a month now.

I don't yet have a fridge for my keg setup; I plan on putting the keg on ice when I use it.

Can I force carb at room temp? I did the calculation in beersmith, and it says for 2.2 volumes of CO2 at 65 F, i set the pressure to 21.36PSI.

Will my beer spoil at room temp?
When I ice the beer, will I have to adjust the carbonation at all due to temp changes? I understand I will serve around 5-10psi.

Thanks for any help!


EDIT: ok so I re-thought a few things. The only reason I am concerned about my beer spoiling is because of this calcuator (kegman.net). When i plugged in my temp and such, it says at the top: "Your keg temperature is Too HIGH for UNPASTURIZED American beer. It will SPOIL very quickly."
What on earth? My beer has been at room temp for a month....why would the keg make things different. I think I am confused.

A wheat beer would probably stay decent at room temp for 4 months.

You would naturally carbonate in bottles at room temp, right?

No (significant) difference here. Get at it.

Thanks for the advice!

I put it in the keg and pressured it to 26psi.

Do I need to leave the CO2 on, or can i leave it pressured and disconnect the CO2? I am worried about emptying my tank.

I open my CO2 valve 2-3 times a day so i can leave the tank off otherwise.

Just because it takes in more CO2 does not mean there is a leak, it means that your beer has absorbed some of the CO2

For 5 gallons of beer, you only have a headspace of around 0.5 gallons. You want to carbonate to 2.2 volumes, which means you need 11 gallons of CO2 at STP, or around 6 gallons at your conditions. Assuming you're hitting equilibrium each time, you'd need close to 15 "hits" of CO2 to carbonate it, (at a minimum guestimate).

Leave it on the CO2. You need to pump gallons and gallons of CO2 into it.

When you chill the beer it won't affect the carbonation level, all you'll need to do is make sure you lower your regulator pressure, preferably before you chill it, or more co2 will make it's way into the solution, overcarbing your beer. It's also recommended to release the pressure in the headspace after you reduce the regulator pressure.

I just got a keg setup, I have a beer ready to keg, but I have yet to get a fridge and I am going to be out of town for a month.

Can I put the beer in a keg, hook it up to CO2 and leave it for a month?

If so what pressure would I use?

I would be nice to have this beer ready when I get off of the plane in a month.

cfonnes said:

I just got a keg setup, I have a beer ready to keg, but I have yet to get a fridge and I am going to be out of town for a month.

Can I put the beer in a keg, hook it up to CO2 and leave it for a month?

If so what pressure would I use?

I would be nice to have this beer ready when I get off of the plane in a month.

Click to expand...

You can do that, but you want to make very sure that you don't have any leaks in the system, or you may come home to a flat beer and an empty CO2 tank.

cfonnes said:

I just got a keg setup, I have a beer ready to keg, but I have yet to get a fridge and I am going to be out of town for a month.

Can I put the beer in a keg, hook it up to CO2 and leave it for a month?

If so what pressure would I use?

I would be nice to have this beer ready when I get off of the plane in a month.

Click to expand...

Why not just prime it?

Yes you can. For 2.4 volumes at 68F, you want 26 PSI.