What sucks........

Man, heading into the Christmas weekend, and my only homebrew keg just ran dry... I've got a pale ale, I just put under pressure in the kegerator (brewed 2 weeks ago).. but that's probably 9-10 day until that process is complete..

I haven't got more than a couple days worth of store bought bottled beer in the cooler, and am really low on cash...

Is there any way to speed this condition/carb process up?...

Turn up the gas and shake the keg like a Polaroid picture.

+1

Man that sucks. Maybe ask for beer for Christmas? Other than that, do what culturejam suggested. Probably your only option.

take the co2 bottle and the chilled keg out to the living room
hook them up with the co2 to the side and the keg laying down right in front of you
roll the keg gently with a foot (switching off feet) through a movie
drink tomorrow

Foot-conditioned beer....ohhh yeaaaaa.

lumpher said:

take the co2 bottle and the chilled keg out to the living room
hook them up with the co2 to the side and the keg laying down right in front of you
roll the keg gently with a foot (switching off feet) through a movie
drink tomorrow

Click to expand...

Do this at my normal serving pressure?

things that will speed the dissolution of CO2 into beer
1 lowering the temperature CO2 more readily dissolve in a cold liquid.
2 put keg on its side. increasing the surface area of the beer will cause CO2 to dissolve faster
3 shake the keg. turn up the CO2 pressure and shake the keg. this has to do with increasing the surface area as well as constantly changing it.

Turn it up how much?

Turn it back down after movie, or leave it up overnight?

Will just turning it up while chilling in the kegerator speed things up?

And do I need to let it rest at serving pressure for a certain amount of time before drinking?

Will any of this cause foaming issues?

Turn it up to 30-40 PSI for 24-48 hours. then turn the pressure off and purge the keg, then turn it up to serving pressure. Yes this method will cause excess foaming but thats the price you pay for having it sooner. If it is excessively foamy just turn the pressure down to enough to just push it out of the keg and purge it every day as the excess co2 will come out of solution.

Well, I guess I can start by just cranking up the pressure while it's in the kegger.. Then tomorrow I'll see if I can come up with the fittings to do the outside of kegger method..

If I just leave it under high pressure standing up in the kegger, how long will it take to carb up?

I guess I could take it out and roll it around every couple hours if worse comes to worse...

if you over carb your beer do this to fix it asap.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/overcarbed-keg-heres-instant-solution-127655/

-=Jason=-

Flomaster said:

if you over carb your beer do this to fix it asap.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/overcarbed-keg-heres-instant-solution-127655/

-=Jason=-

Click to expand...

So all I gotta do is turn the keg upside down and open the tap? Wow!

Question, if I were to put high pressure on the thing right side up for a few hours, and then upside down for a few hours, then right side up again, in the kegerator the whole time without opening the tap, wouldn't this help to speed up the carbing process?... I mean, it's then getting carbed from both ends...

This forum is awesome!

Okay, I've had this thing at 40 psi for about 24 hours... twice I've taken it out and shaken it, and then rolled it on the floor back and forth with my foot for several minutes, and each time I hook it back up to the gas, I can hear gas rush in....

So, I'm gonna do this one more time a little later...

Some time after that. I just turn off the gas, release the pressure, hook a hand faucet up to the keg, turn it upside down, turn the pressure back on at serving pressure, repeatedly open the hand faucet to release gas, while listening to the keg for the gas to pass through the beer, and then a few minutes later, it should be ready to turn right side up and tap, right?

I just put it to 20psi and shake it for a awhile till i stop hearing the co2 going in then leave in the fridge over night. good to go!

I'm gonna shake it some more in a bit.. but I want it tonight, so I gotta try that trick to instantly fix overcarbed beer that was linked to above...

culturejam said:

turn up the gas and shake the keg like a polaroid picture. :d

Click to expand...

+1000

Okay, I shook it some at 40psi, then cranked down the pressure and shook it some more.. could hear it foaming up in there.. and suddenly, beer started moving up the gas line.. So I panicked a little and stood the keg up and pulled the pressure relief...

well, that stopped the beer moving up the gas line... but it also got me a face full of foam.. So I attached the party tap, and turned it upside down.. The beer started moving up the gas line again, so I turned up the pressure till it went the other way.. This was about 26 PSI... evidently the beer has some carbination in it... LOL

So then I started the trick of opening the tap into a glass with the keg upside down... you could hear the gas moving through the beer.. big bubbles...

I kept repeating this as I turned down the gas until I got to about 14 PSI and then I just went through the opening the tap and waiting for the bubbling to stop process about 5 times..

I think it's actually carbed 14PSI right now, otherwise it would be pushing beer up the gas line... or raising the pressure on the regulator.. which it's not..

So I'm letting it sit upside down for a few, and then I will gently turn it right side up and let it sit for a bit.. then see what comes out... All of the foam I've captured is settling into 'very' cloudy beer.. but that's to be expected.. I just shook the crap out of it... and any sediment is now resuspended..

In any event.. I think the beer is carbed if not conditioned at all.. and will be ready to drink depending on how much sediment I'm willing to put up with from it.. And even that should be largely dealt with by this time tomorrow..

What a great trick.. How many times have I just 'dealt with it' when I've over carbed a beer? Do more.. Now I know how to 'fix it'..

And if I want to put the stuff together at some point, I can do it right side up...

Thanks for the tips.. Will report back later how it actually tastes...

AMAZING!

Just poured first beer... only about an inch and a half of foam.. I bet the second is perfect... Tastes a 'little' undercarbed... hazy.. but not ridiculous for what it's just been through...

24 hrs from now will be the true test...

Hey! This is pretty good beer! First time ever brewing it...
B3 American Pale Ale 2 (extract)... It's probably really good with more time... It's been fifteen days since I brewed it.. so this is pretty fast.. Very easy drinking.... sweet with a nice mild hop bite...

Used SA04..

Think I'll make a 10G batch of this in the near future.. It's pretty cheap in the AG form...

I have a columbus IPA extract kit waiting to be brewed and 10G of American IPA fermenting.. Hopefully, they get near done before this Pale Ale runs out...

Flomaster said:

if you over carb your beer do this to fix it asap.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/overcarbed-keg-heres-instant-solution-127655/

-=Jason=-

Click to expand...

My Christmas is saved!

Third glass.. Perfect 3/4" head.. perfectly carbed, and it's even starting to be somewhat 'clear!'... I think there was still some water in the line from my cleaning it moments before, that caused me to think it was undercarbed...

This has been a great Christmas in that I 'learned' a lot this week in many areas of this hobby! And an education is the best of all presents! You can actually do something with it for the rest of your life!

This is 'really' good Pale Ale.. Maybe the best I've ever had... And I didn't even give it time to condition!
:rockin:

If I'm in a pinch like that I turn the pressure up to 30 psi and shake or roll the keg vigorously for a 100 count let it settle for ten minutes and check the carbonation. If it needs more, I repeat as many times as necessary decreasing the count if I'm close. I then let it sit for as many hours as I can wait and then serve. The beer must be cold to do this, the colder the better. Also beware of getting beer in the gas lines.

JonK331 said:

If I'm in a pinch like that I turn the pressure up to 30 psi and shake or roll the keg vigorously for a 100 count let it settle for ten minutes and check the carbonation. If it needs more, I repeat as many times as necessary decreasing the count if I'm close. I then let it sit for as many hours as I can wait and then serve. The beer must be cold to do this, the colder the better. Also beware of getting beer in the gas lines.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I need to make some modifications to my gas system in a couple weeks. so I'll take it all apart at that time and make sure no beer got any farther than the supply tube from the manifold..

The great thing about this exercise, is that I now do not 'ever' have to fear overcarbing my beer again.. In fact, I might do it on purpose.. because the fix sets the carbonation 'perfectly!'