Force carbing at room temp

Hey guys,
I'm kegging for the first time and need it to be ready for a work event Thursday. I kegged it two Sundays ago (12/4) at 22psi in a room that is 60 degrees in order to achieve a volume of 2.2. When I dispense a small glass to check it, it's pretty flat.

So I have a few questions. First, am I doing this right? Do I need to release the pressure and lower the psi before giving a sample dispense? How can I get it pressurized properly in the next 2 days!??! I cranked it to 35psi and will check it again tomorrow, but I'm running short on time! Any help is appreciated.

Cheers

sounds wrong to me. you sure the kegs actually getting gas into it? pull the pressure valve and make sure.

In order to quickly force carb, do the following.

1. Check for leaks by spraying star San around all the valves and such looking for bubbles.
2. Chill the keg to as cold as you can (typically around 40f)
3. Connect the air only and set for 25 psi. Begin rolling or rocking the keg back and forth for several minutes until the co2 stops hissing. Keep an eye on your air line and make sure beer doesn't go into it.
4. Let the beer sit several hours before serving. Probably won't be perfect but won't be flat.

Make sure you don't have any leaks. In my experience, even a small leak (like the gas oring) will cause the beer to carbonate very slowly or not at all.

Assuming there is no carbonation whatsoever - chill it then set the pressure to 30-PSI for 24-hours then check the carbonation level again. Once the carbonation is right you can lower the pressure to 12-PSI to avoid over-carbing.

22psi 10 days ago and still flat? Something sounds wrong.

Yeah something does sound wrong. But I don't see/detect any leaks visually, and my tank psi has been steady this whole time. The beer isn't completely flat, but it's about half as carbonated as I think it should be.

Could headspace be an issue? I poured a pint of it last night to test it, then afterwards cranked it to 35psi, shook it up a little, and am having it rest against the wall at an angle to create more surface area.

Also, in order to properly test it, do I need to release pressure and lower the psi? Otherwise I'm dispensing at 35psi, tons of foam, and I'm wondering if that has an effect on how the carbonation tastes.

MikeSteele said:

Also, in order to properly test it, do I need to release pressure and lower the psi? Otherwise I'm dispensing at 35psi, tons of foam, and I'm wondering if that has an effect on how the carbonation tastes.

Click to expand...

Yes, release the excess pressure from the keg when dropping the pressure on the regulator.

Okay. I'm certainly a noobie to kegging so this may be a dumb question, but could this lack of carbonation issue be a result of just not releasing and lowering pressure and doing the test dispense properly?

The high pressure is forcing the co2 out of the solution upon exiting the tubing. So, yes, that could cause an issue. Try lowering it to the proper serving pressure to see if that helps. If you still have a ton of foam with little to no carbonation, then you have overcarb'd your beer.

MikeSteele said:

Okay. I'm certainly a noobie to kegging so this may be a dumb question, but could this lack of carbonation issue be a result of just not releasing and lowering pressure and doing the test dispense properly?

Click to expand...

My guess is that it's either a leak, which you have ruled out, or the fact that you are trying to carb with C02 at room temperature. I realize force carbing at room temp. may be possible (I've never tried it before so I can't speak to that) but keeping it chilled while force carbing would be faster.

With kegging you have several choices when it comes to carbonating: Force carbing, burst carbing, and naturally carbing with priming sugar.

If I had 10 days or so to carb a keg of beer I would chill it and force carb it with C02. My second choice would be to carb it naturally at room temp. with some priming sugar.

Since you are in a bit of a time crunch I would recommend that you do what is outlined in post number 3 or post number 5 to get you through for now.

Thanks for all the replies.