Carbonating at room temp

[millhouse9]

Hello all,

I'm in the process of constructing a keezer. In the past all i've done is bottle and frankly, I'm getting lazy with the bottling and decided to upgrade to kegging.

I have two batches of beer that are ready to be kegged, BUT I haven't constructed my keezer yet (I'm in the middle of moving to a new home and things have been hectic to say the least).

I plan on kegging tomorrow - what pressure should I set the kegs to if my house is at about 75 degrees? I don't really want to force carbonate, but I am having a house warming party on the 14th of September so I want to make sure they are carbed up by then. I'm kind of scared of force carbing because I don't want to overcarbonate. So I plan on doing the set and forget method. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[day_trippr]

Referencing our friend the carbonation calculator, if you wanted to hit a fairly typical carbonation level of 2.5 volumes of CO2 with the beer holding at 75°F, you would set your CO2 regulator for 31.8 psi...

Cheers!

 

[millhouse9]

Wow. That seems high but I'm a total noob with Kegging. Would that be considered force carbing? Anyone else have anything to add before i keg tonight?

Also, if I go with the 31.8 psi, how many days at that pressure?

 

[Hopper5000]

The warmer the beer the higher the PSI you have to push to get it to carb. C02 doesn't absorb as effectively at warmer temps which is why it's recommended to cool it down first. You will have to let it sit for probably a couple of weeks.

 

[day_trippr]

Any time you apply exogenous CO2 to a liquid, you are "force carbonating". As opposed to dumping some priming sugar in, sealing the vessel tight, and letting the yeast produce the CO2.

While that calculator is quick and pretty much idiot-proof, it isn't as illustrative as tables and charts. This carbonation table makes it easier to see the relationship between beer temperature and CO2 pressure in achieving a given carbonation level.

As for time, I've never carbed a keg warm, I only carb at serving temperature. I don't think temperature affects the rate of carbonation gain if the correct pressure is used to compensate, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I'm likely more critical of carbonation quality than many, but I have the pipeline infrastructure that enables that, and it takes at least two weeks for kegs to become "good" and a third week to be "excellent".

So figure two weeks at least...

Cheers!

 

[millhouse9]

Thanks for the replies. Hopefully its not at those warmer temps for too long. I should have the keezer constructed in about a week and then I'll adjust according to the calculator. Thanks again!

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the replies. Hopefully its not at those warmer temps for too long. I should have the keezer constructed in about a week and then I'll adjust according to the calculator. Thanks again!

Yep, that will work! Use 32 psi until it goes into the fridge, and then after that it should be 10-12 psi (depending on fridge temps).

 

[Skyphoxx]

As for time, I've never carbed a keg warm, I only carb at serving temperature. I don't think temperature affects the rate of carbonation gain if the correct pressure is used to compensate, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I'm likely more critical of carbonation quality than many, but I have the pipeline infrastructure that enables that, and it takes at least two weeks for kegs to become "good" and a third week to be "excellent".

So figure two weeks at least...

If you have to wait 2-3 weeks to force carb properly, then why do it at all? Why not bottle condition?

I'm in this boat of (1)have a keg, tank and regulator and (2) nowhere to refrigerate it. I too have mine set to 32psi @ 75 F.

Side question, does volume of beer matter? What if it's a 1/2 batch?

 

[day_trippr]

If you have to wait 2-3 weeks to force carb properly, then why do it at all? Why not bottle condition?

Wait - is that a trick question?

I keg. No bottles.

I have a cold-carbing pipeline stage which eventually puts perfectly carbed and bright beer in my keezer when a keg kicks. And it takes three weeks for both of those things to happen, so it's a win-win thing...

Cheers!