Shut off Co2 when not in use?

I force carbonated my first ever keg at 30 psi for 2 days then purged and dropped down to 10 and serve. It taste's great, but just wondering if I only have a couple glasses of beer a day should I be using the shutoff valve on the regulator to cut off the CO2 from the keg so it doesn't over carbonate?

No, just leave it set to desired psi and leave it open. As you draw beer, you'll create a little more head space that needs to be filled. That's how it is designed to work.

If you shut it off, your psi will drop as you take beer. You want it to stay the same.

you can't over carbonate if you leave it on, as long as you abide by the table here

if your regulator is set to the volumes you want, based on the chart, the beer will reach equilibrium.

great thread by bobby m

Not to turn this into a force carbonation discussion, but the only time i've ever overcarbed my beer is when I set it real high at 30 for a few days. Now all I do is set at serving pressure and leave over night, then shake it around the next day at the same psi. Perfect every time and no matter how much you shake that thing it won't go over serving pressure.

Leave it on at your desired serving psi - mine's usually around 8-10 psi.

As long you don't have leaks you wont lose co2.
Maybe?

It's more of a peace of mind thing to help prevent losing CO2 due to leaks. As long as you abide by the table mentioned above you will be fine leaving it on (provided there's no leaks in your system).

I turn it off just because I don't like losing CO2 to slow leaks. I recharge my kegs once or twice daily.

Leave it on, if you have leaks fix them. It's really that simple.

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wildwest450 said:

Leave it on, if you have leaks fix them. It's really that simple.

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ryandlf said:

Not to turn this into a force carbonation discussion, but the only time i've ever overcarbed my beer is when I set it real high at 30 for a few days. Now all I do is set at serving pressure and leave over night, then shake it around the next day at the same psi. Perfect every time and no matter how much you shake that thing it won't go over serving pressure.

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If you like head retention and lacing you shouldn't shake the keg. Shaking destroys some of the good head forming protiens.

wildwest450 said:

Leave it on, if you have leaks fix them. It's really that simple.

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Most leaks are indeed easily fixed by changing O-rings, using keg lube or buying replacement parts. But some, especially in old, beat-up kegs, have a habit of occurring spontaneously. I had a keg just the other day that was fine for five days, then spontaneously lost its lid seal and de-gassed. Poppets can also get stuck spontaneously and very slowly leak gas (or beer!).
If you trust your kegs, by all means leave the gas on. If you think the little bastards are out to piss you off, then don't. It doesn't make any difference for the beer.

JuanMoore said:

If you like head retention and lacing you shouldn't shake the keg. Shaking destroys some of the good head forming protiens.

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Do you have a reference for this? It doesn't match my experience, but I'd like to learn more about what proteins are affected by this.

JuanMoore said:

If you like head retention and lacing you shouldn't shake the keg. Shaking destroys some of the good head forming protiens.

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I don't care if it's true or not, I like it!

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ArcaneXor said:

Do you have a reference for this? It doesn't match my experience, but I'd like to learn more about what proteins are affected by this.

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Jamil Zainasheff has talked about it a few times on the BN podcast. There was also an article that makes this claim in BYO magazine-
http://***********/component/resource/article/697-getting-good-beer-foam-techniques

There's also a discussion/argument in this thread-https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/head-protein-life-span-154532/

When I quit being in a rush and shaking my kegs I noticed that the head would have better structure, retention, and there would be more lacing on the glass. It's not a huge difference, and may have been caused by other unrelated factors, but that's been my experience.