First time kegging

[timschram]

Kegged a blonde for the first time this past Tuesday, June 17. Had it at 10 psi in a 65 degree basement. This morning it was still not very carbonated. Upped it to 10 psi and got it into a refrigerator.

Will this be ready tomorrow? Or will this require another few days??


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[Omahawk]

At 10 psi, it would take longer than 5 days to carbonate. There are several threads on here about how to speed the process up. If you jack the PSI up to 30-40 PSI tonight, and agitate the keg a little, it can probably be close to ready tomorrow.

 

[hezagenius]

My brews usually take a few weeks to carb up at 12-14 psi. Definitely won't see much carbonation in a week. Some folks up the initial psi to around 30 to force carb the beer and then back it off to serving pressure after a few days. That will speed things up.

 

[day_trippr]

You can carbonate beer at nearly any temperature by compensating with pressure. Using our favorite carbonation table one can see that to reach a roughly "typical" carbonation level of 2.5 volumes at 65°F the CO2 pressure would have to be set to nearly 30 psi - and that 10 psi would only get the beer a little past half way there.

Otoh, if you chilled the keg to say 40°F, the table would have you set the CO2 pressure down to ~12 psi to hit the same 2.5 volume carbonation level.

As for time, it takes roughly two weeks at the pressure prescribed by the carbonation table for five gallons of beer in a corny keg to reach 2.5 volumes of carbonation (reference the chart in the first post in this thread - it's pretty much spot on). My guess would be your beer's going to need more time on gas...

Cheers!

 

[k1ngl1ves]

Usually takes about 3 weeks for the carbonation and taste to be perfect with the "set and forget" method. Week one, you won't have much of anything. After two, you'll be about fully carbed but you might have a little carbonic bite. After 3, carb and taste should be perfect.



Temperature plays a huge role in carbing your beer. Definitely save that link that day trippr gave you...

 

[timschram]

I thought one of the reasons to keg over bottle is because it will be ready to drink faster. Have I been misinformed??


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[j1n]

Do 30 psi for the first 24 hours then 12 psi for a week after. should be good to go after that.

 

[ericbw]

I thought one of the reasons to keg over bottle is because it will be ready to drink faster. Have I been misinformed??


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It can be faster, depending on how you do it. Pay attention to the post and link above about temperature. Your temp is too high for that PSI or your PSI is too low for the temp.

You need to adjust one factor. Do you have a fridge to chill the keg?

Also, if you're looking for faster, then you can crank the pressure and shake it, and you'll get it carbed faster. But it has to be cold to really absorb the CO2.

I know you can get it done faster, but all the batches I have done seem to benefit from sitting 2 weeks at least. Some for longer. I have an Irish Red that just tastes better after 4 weeks.

 

[LLBeanJ]

I thought one of the reasons to keg over bottle is because it will be ready to drink faster. Have I been misinformed??

No, you haven't been misinformed. You can have good, cold, carbed beer in about 36-48 hours after kegging. But it does take some understanding of how carbonating with CO2 works so that you don't end up with an overcarbonated beer that pours as a glass full of foam. And, though it will be good beer, it usually doesn't become great beer for a few weeks or more due to the need for most beers to condition.

As other have posted above, 30 psi for 36-48 hours will get you about 75% carbonated, which is perfectly fine for drinking, then drop the pressure to 10-12 psi and leave it there. It will continue to carb up over the next few weeks, over which time the beer's flavor should improve. These numbers assume the keg is at serving temp (36-40°F)

 

[BPal75]

In a pinch I have found 30 psi for 24 hours, then 20 psi for 48 hours, then 12 psi to serve has worked really well and gets you there in 3 days. All of the above at serving temps by the way (38-40 for my preference).

Set and forget does work best but will take about as long as bottle conditioning. For me the benefit of kegging over bottling isn't getting to drink it faster (you can't rush aging and most beers just taste better after a little aging IMO), it's the speed of kegging versus bottling, not having to store bottles everywhere, much easier and faster to clean a keg then to clean 50 bottles, etc .


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[timschram]

This a blonde sitting at about 5%. Does this change anything? (Sorry for all of the stupid questions.)


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[GilSwillBasementBrews]

The only stupid question is the one not asked.

Aside from that no doesn't change anything. Still need to get it chilled if possible or give it more PSI. I prefer to chill that way it's ready to go when it's ready to go. Plus you will use less co2 carbing a cold keg than a warm one since you need to increase PSI with temperature increase to achieve the same volume of co2 in the beer.
As you can see here:


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[GilSwillBasementBrews]

So as you see it would take 30PSI To get 2.5volumes at your 65F. And that will take the usual 2-3weeks using set and forget. You would need even greater psi than that at room temp to force carb it faster.


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[BPal75]

In a pinch I have found 30 psi for 24 hours, then 20 psi for 48 hours, then 12 psi to serve has worked really well and gets you there in 3 days. All of the above at serving temps by the way (38-40 for my preference).

Set and forget does work best but will take about as long as bottle conditioning. For me the benefit of kegging over bottling isn't getting to drink it faster (you can't rush aging and most beers just taste better after a little aging IMO), it's the speed of kegging versus bottling, not having to store bottles everywhere, much easier and faster to clean a keg then to clean 50 bottles, etc .


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[day_trippr]

Rushing a brew is almost always counter-productive wrt quality, and "burst-carbing" in all forms is an impatient tendency best avoided.

Today was "Sampling Day" here, first pours on four kegs that aren't even in the keezer yet, they're still doing the slow carb/cold conditioning thing. I've tapped three so far and they're close to wonderful. By the time they fill holes in the keezer they'll be perfect.

Build a pipeline. You'll never regret it. Craig's List and a discerning eye are your friends...

Cheers!

 

[timschram]

Well, good news: brew wasn't ideally carbonated, but it was carbonated well enough. It was a hit at the party and we easily polished off the whole 5 gallons. We know for next time the optimal time for kegging, but this worked this time.


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