I just kegged my first two beers 2 days ago. I wanted beer to drink by Christmas, so I tried to force carbonate the impatient way by turning the pressure up and shaking it. From the charts I'm getting that I should have the pressure set to about 10 PSI, but all I ever get at that pressure is pure foam. I'm using a pony tap with about 1 1/2 ft of line. Could this be the problem? Does the short length of line make that big a difference? Should I turn down the pressure when I serve? Help and thanks.
All Foam no beer at 10 PSI
- Thread starter Matt
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Line is too short. Vent the keg so the pressure is zero. Drop the psi as low as possible and work up.
Also make sure that your keg is not frozen.
Also make sure that your keg is not frozen.
i assume you are referring to a co2 volume chart, so you know how many volumes of co2 you need?
if you are supposed to be at 10 psi given your temperature, then you need approximately 5 ft of 3/16'' ID thick walled smooth bore beverage grade beerline, which would be 7/16'' OD. personally, i would start with a bit more line, and then cut off if i wanted a faster pour. you can always cut off line. if you want to add, you need to replace.
also, in the future, if you want to carbonate quickly, look into getting a diffusion stone. you can use it for both oxygenating your wort as well as quickly carbonating your beer in the keg. it may seem expensive at around 12 dollars or so for what it does, but i consider mine integral in my brewery now. i use it mostly for oxygenating, but if i need to quickly carbonate something, i use this, and if it is a beer, it will carbonate in a few hours generally, depending on temperature and volumes of co2. sodas take longer to force carbonate as they require more co2, but still, it beats shaking the thing and wondering what the level of carbonation is. this will carbonate exactly to the level you want. then you can vent off the excess pressure, take it out, repressurize the keg, and then use the diffusion stone for another keg if you want. or to aerate the next batch of wort.
if you are supposed to be at 10 psi given your temperature, then you need approximately 5 ft of 3/16'' ID thick walled smooth bore beverage grade beerline, which would be 7/16'' OD. personally, i would start with a bit more line, and then cut off if i wanted a faster pour. you can always cut off line. if you want to add, you need to replace.
also, in the future, if you want to carbonate quickly, look into getting a diffusion stone. you can use it for both oxygenating your wort as well as quickly carbonating your beer in the keg. it may seem expensive at around 12 dollars or so for what it does, but i consider mine integral in my brewery now. i use it mostly for oxygenating, but if i need to quickly carbonate something, i use this, and if it is a beer, it will carbonate in a few hours generally, depending on temperature and volumes of co2. sodas take longer to force carbonate as they require more co2, but still, it beats shaking the thing and wondering what the level of carbonation is. this will carbonate exactly to the level you want. then you can vent off the excess pressure, take it out, repressurize the keg, and then use the diffusion stone for another keg if you want. or to aerate the next batch of wort.
