Correct pressure of CO2

So I kegged my Weis beer Sunday morning and set it up for force carbonation. This is my first time kegging so I am a bit confused. I did a lot of searching this forum and the web and have found different ways to perform this. The part that most worried me was the equilibrum calculator. I started with the pressure set at 20 psi, it is in my basement which is about 65-68 degrees. The calculator gave me the following results.

Regulator Pressure for Equilibrium

The proper pressure setting is calculated by inputting:
1st.) Enter the VOLUMES of CO2 of keg you are setting up.
2nd.) Input the Average Measured Keg Temperature.
Weizen/Weissbier: 3.6-4.5
Select the two paramaters below and press the CALCULATE to have us compute what pressure is best for your beer's style and temperature.
Average Keg Temperature: (18.9°C) 67°F.
Volume of CO2: Volumes of CO2 3.6

Table of Suggested Pressure Settings for a Beer at a Temperature of 67°F. and 3.6 Volumes of CO2 Your keg temperature is Too HIGH for UNPASTURIZED American beer. It will SPOIL very quickly.
Pure
100% CO2
Theoretical Lowest Pressure Setting 42.7 psi
Theoretical Highest Pressure Setting 45.5 psi
Practical Pressure Setting 44 psi

Is this correct, my beer will spoil at this temp? In a Keg do I have to keep it chilled all the time? And what is up with the pressure?

I checked my keg tonight and the beer was still not carbed, I know only a couple of days but I am getting thirsty. So I upped the pressure to 25psi.

What should I do? Please help.

E

At 25psi you'll only get to about 2 volumes in 1-2 weeks at 68F. You either need to up the pressure or drop the temp.

the pressure predicted by the calculator is correct. It takes a TON of pressure to carbonate beer at room temp. If you could get the temp down to serving temp (around 40F) you could carb with 15-20psi. Thats just how it works. If you're really thirsty, set the pressure to something like 60 psi and shake the crap out of it (the keg that is) until you don't hear any gas leaving the bottle anymore. Leave the keg to settle for an hour or so, then disconnect the gas in line from the keg and vent the keg carefully to remove the pressure in the headspace. Then pour yourself a pint as the dissolved CO2 will be plenty to push beer for a little while. Then you can simply set the pressure back to the 45 that was predicted to maintain carbonation and leave it hooked up. Best bet is to chill that puppy down to an appropriate temp so you don't have to monkey around with it so much.

all that has been said is correct. warmer temps make force carbing a pain in the ass.

its the reason warm draft beer goes flat, or an open soda that's not ice cold loses a ton of carbonation.

you really need to find a way to chill it and keep it cold.

If you really don't want the keg sitting in the fridge for some reason, you could still prime the beer as if you were bottling and let it naturally carbonate. 67F should be fine for that. As with bottling, you want to leave it for around 3 weeks to carbonate and condition. Your first few pulls from the tap are going to have a lot of yeast sediment, but it will clear up.

I moved the keg to the garage tonight which is right around 40-44 degrees. I checked the pressure calculator again and then set the pressure to 26 psi. I am hoping to get around 3.6 - 3.8 volumes of CO2.
Once I get there do I continue to keep the keg at that pressure or can I dial it down to a more serving freindly pressure?

E

You should keep it at around that temp. Some serve beer colder than that, but I don't think it tastes as good when it's in the thirties. To serve, I'd suggest disconnecting the gas in line. Vent the excess headspace pressure through the safety valve. turn the pressure regulator down to around 12psi. Reconnect the gas in line and serve. Don't leave it at that low pressure, however. If you do, CO2 in the beer will come out of solution and will begin to push gas and beer foam back into your gas lines That would require much cleaning to correct. So once you have a pint for you and your buddy, turn the regulator back up to 27psi and your carbonation will stay the same. The best solution in this case is to get the keg chilled to a temp at which your desired carbonation level requires around 15psi of pressure to achieve. That way, No pressure changes are necessary. Your desired carbonation level may be too high to achieve this kind of balance without freezing your beer. Your next best solution is to accept a compromise. Since you don't have a kegerator, I would let the keg chill as much as possible in the garage, then hook up the gas at around 18psi. You may have to pour a pint and let it sit for a minute to settle and then finish filling the glass, and you'll definitely have less carbonation than the 3.6 to 3.8 you're looking for, but at least you won't have to monkey around with pressures so much. Is there a reason you want your carbonation that high?

BTW how long is your serving tube and what diameter of tubing is it? There are threads on here about balancing those dimensions to the serving pressure so that you don't get a glass full of head. The idea is the longer and smaller diameter the tubing is, the more pressure it can handle without foaming the heck out of the beer.

Some expirimentation with what you have will help you come up with a combination that fits your needs. I'm sure changing pressures constantly and venting away your CO2 is not what you want, so you'll need to make some compromises. Let us know what you think after giving this a try and giving it some thought, and I'm sure we'll come up with a setup that meets your needs

Yup, if you don't want to play around with reducing the serving pressure, you're going to need about 14 feet of 3/16" ID beerline and hold that picnic faucet up really high. No harm really, just coil it around the keg to keep it from getting messy.

Well, it ended up getting real cold here and the wife left the garage door open the other day for about 5 hours. The temp gauge that sits on top of the keg was reading about 19 degrees. I just about sh*t myself. I ended up turning the CO2 off, disconnected it and let some of the pressure out of the tank (down to about 15 psi) and then of course closed the garage. The day after that it started to warm up again and the temp was around 35. I put the CO2 tank back on and gave it some gas. Yesterday the garage warmed up to around 43, I changed the psi to about 12, held the line high and served my fisrt glass (and many after) of the Weis beer. It was perfect, carbonation and all.

That's great news. AND you've learned a bunch about temp vs pressure which will impress the hell out of your buddies when they come over for some of that tasty brew

just remember to dial it back up to 25psi when you're done drinking for the day. otherwise you'll slowly lower the carbonation/CO2 volumes.

or do as Bobby says and get about 14-15' of beer line and keep it at 25psi always.