Keg Pressure Bad. 1st Go at Kegging

Alright Guys. I need your help. As much as I can get. I am new to brewing and new to kegging. I decided to go all out from the start. I have purchased the beginnings of a keezer, got a CO2 tank, two kegs. Newbs paradise.

I have an IPA in the keg. Let it cool down and then read around on here for the best way to Force Carb. I hooked the gas line up, put the keg on it's side. Rolled it for 4-5 mins. The gas sounded like it was going into solution. I unhooked the gas, put it back in the keezer and let it sit over night. This morning I went to let off some CO2.... and there was hardly any in there. Is this normal?

I think I am losing some CO2 when I have the gas hooked up, but I soaped the keg top and the stems and no bubbles. "Beer Geek Nation" said I should have beer coming out of the release valve and that when it stopped, to hook the lines back up at serving pressure and let it sit another 24 hours.

Let me know what y'all think... any help would be awesome, this beer is gonna break me.

Ross.

Well, it's normal for the co2 to disperse into the beer (that's why you keep the gas connected, so that the beer can absorb more co2), but I wouldn't suggest rocking or shaking it unless you like foamy beer. (Shake a can of coke to see what I mean).

I'm not sure why you think you have a leak- but you did the right thing by checking all the connections with soapy water. If you don't find one, you may not have a leak. I have no idea who Beer Geek Nation is, or why they would say you should have beer coming out of the pressure relief valve, as you certainly should not!

For now, put the gas line on the keg, probably at 10-12 psi depending on the temperature of your kegerator and let it sit to absorb the c02. It should take about a week to carb up to 2.5 volumes of co2.

Yooper said:

Well, it's normal for the co2 to disperse into the beer (that's why you keep the gas connected, so that the beer can absorb more co2), but I wouldn't suggest rocking or shaking it unless you like foamy beer. (Shake a can of coke to see what I mean).

I'm not sure why you think you have a leak- but you did the right thing by checking all the connections with soapy water. If you don't find one, you may not have a leak. I have no idea who Beer Geek Nation is, or why they would say you should have beer coming out of the pressure relief valve, as you certainly should not!

For now, put the gas line on the keg, probably at 10-12 psi depending on the temperature of your kegerator and let it sit to absorb the c02. It should take about a week to carb up to 2.5 volumes of co2.

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Yoop. You the best. Thanks so much for your response. The idea behind shaking it was... Shake it to let the CO2 absorb, then unhook the lines for 8-10 hours so I wouldn't be tempted to make foamy beer. Then release the pressure and hook it up at 12psi.

On another note. I posted my recipe for this beer on the beginner forum. I tasted it while we were putting it into the keg. Very light on the front, GREAT HOPS on the BACK! I'll be interested to see what it tastes like in the keg

Any other tips would be awesome... Glad to know I'm somewhat doing it right! Again... Thanks Yoop.

rossypete said:

Yoop. You the best. Thanks so much for your response. The idea behind shaking it was... Shake it to let the CO2 absorb, then unhook the lines for 8-10 hours so I wouldn't be tempted to make foamy beer. Then release the pressure and hook it up at 12psi.

On another note. I posted my recipe for this beer on the beginner forum. I tasted it while we were putting it into the keg. Very light on the front, GREAT HOPS on the BACK! I'll be interested to see what it tastes like in the keg

Any other tips would be awesome... Glad to know I'm somewhat doing it right! Again... Thanks Yoop.

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I guess I understand the shaking/letting sit- but if you would have just hooked up the gas at 12psi (without shaking) and let it sit overnight, the beer would be clearing quite well already and on its way to being carbed up. Keeping the gas on is a key part, though, as the gas is absorbed into the beer you want to replace the gas in the headspace.

One other tip- if you are in a big, big hurry for the beer to be ready, you can turn up the co2 to 30 psi for 24 hours. Don't move the keg, or shake it at all! Then, purge and reset to 12 psi. That will make the beer ready in more like 4 days.

What I do is place the beer in the kegerator, let it sit a few days without moving so the yeast and other suspended solids can fall out. Then I pour about 3 ounces and it's all sludge. I discard that, and then it's all beer! Racking to the keg carefully and avoiding trub and then letting it sit without moving it while it gets cold means that just the first few ounces will have yeast/trub in it, and the beer should pour clear after that.

It sounds like a really good beer, if it tasted that good flat! Let us know how it is when it gets fully carbed up.

Thanks again Yooper. I really appreciate it. I have become brew addicted over the past couple weeks. My bank account can tell you all about it. I want to add some malt to the front end of this recipe. I did the ol' pour half in, wait till close to the end and pour the rest of it in... I might do less of that, or switch up the malt. But as for kegging. I'll let you know how it tastes! Probably sneaking a sample tomorrow afternoon.

I've had great luck with doing the set it and forget it method. Just hooking up the gas line to serving temp and forgetting about it for a week or 2. For the blonde ale that I brewed last march, and kegged on the last day of the month. 2 weeks later and the carbonation is spot on. I checked carbonation a week into it and it wasn't quite there. From here on out, i'll be perfect.

rossypete said:

Let it cool down and then read around on here for the best way to Force Carb. I hooked the gas line up, put the keg on it's side. Rolled it for 4-5 mins. The gas sounded like it was going into solution. I unhooked the gas, put it back in the keezer and let it sit over night. This morning I went to let off some CO2.... and there was hardly any in there. Is this normal?

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You might start a heated debate with the "best" method to force carbonate, but in my opinion the easiest and foolproof way is the set and forget method. Set your PSI to the serving pressure and set the kegerator to serving temps and walk away for 2 - 3 weeks. The beer comes out carbonated and has the extra benefit of cold crashing for a few weeks while carbonating.

"Burst" carbonating by shaking or rolling the keg to get the CO2 to dissolve into the beer might be faster but you'll never see a post about overcarbed or excessively foaming beer with the set and forget method.

This is an image from a thread posted that might help you:



The thread is here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/keg-force-carbing-methods-illustrated-73328/