Force Carb Issues

[dancingfetus]

Hey guys, Im hoping that you can help me figure out whats going on. Im new to kegging beer, and recently put together my first kegerator. Everything's going good, except my carbonation.
Ive bottled beer before with no issues except some over carbonation, and it all turned out fantastic. My issue comes with force carbing. I started with kegging my beer in corny kegs, I half hartedly tried to force carb, as ive never been in a rush before. at 25 psi i rolled my kegs for a few minutes, with them at room temperature, then put them into the kegerator to chill under pressure(30 PSI). I had leaks in my lines.

I sorted out my leaks, after losing a fair bit of CO2. With the temperature of the kegs sitting between 0-5 degrees attempted to force carb one of the kegs, did not hear any bubbling when hooked up from from air side. Left them sitting at 30 PSI for 6 days. Result is no carbonation, a slight amount of bubbles on top, and small bubbles that dissipate within 20 seconds.

Air pressure seems to be holding, tank pressure sitting at 500 with 20 PSI. Air lines split from regulator between 2 kegs. beer lines are 3/16, leading into 1/4 barbs, all leading into perlick s650 taps (regulated) even leaving the taps open on full, and pouring a full pint, minimal to no carbonation, and minimal foam.

I have no clue what to check for now. any help would be appreciated.

Thanks guys!

Rob

 

[UberHasselhoff]

I'm learning my way through kegging issues as well, so I'm no expert. Your foundation looks solid and the setup should work so...

With the gas line turned on, try the ole dishsoap in a spray bottle to check for leaks. Spray every gd inch of that thing and look closely for leaks. Most of my problems came from bad o-rings or the lid not sitting perfectly flush when closed.

If I had to wager, I bet your beer is actually over-carbonated. I know it sounds strange -- but that's a really long time at that pressure. Counterintuitive, but that much pressure can have the same results you are talking about. Generally around 2 or 3 days under 30PSI at 34F does the trick for me.

I'd check out a carbonation chart and go from there. The best solution (IMO) is to let the beer sit at a lower pressure for a week or so according to those charts. Good luck.

 

[RodrigoEick]

With 6 days a 30 PSI you will have overcarbonated beer for sure.

you can try the below:

- check the keg temperature. make sure its around 3 to 4C

- with the gas line connected to the keg, pull the pressure relief valve to check if have gas inside and if the gas is refilled after you release it. You should hear a hiss of the pressure coming back.

- Check your connections. make sure the gas ball lock is properly connected. sometimes it takes a lot of strength for it to engage. You can use keg lube if thats the case.

- when you roll over your keg you must hear the hiss of the gas coming inside.

hope that helps

 

[dancingfetus]

Thanks for the input guys, I have my PSI set to 20 now, with 7 & 6 ft 3/16 line. which should be roughly no pressure at tap due to restriction. I have burped the kegs multiple times and gas is going in after. I also thought the beer may be overcarbed, I turned off the air pressure and drained both kegs of pressure for the night. In the morning, there was minimal pressure to be released in the kegs.

Ill try the spray bottle again, but I'm confident i got the leaks. any more input is always appreciated.

Robbie

 

[MagicMatt]

Why not just force-carb the easy way, by just setting it at the desired pressure (at temp) for 7-10 days? It is fool-proof. No need to jack up the pressure or shake anything.

You say you had it at 30psi and 5°C (~40°F) for 6 days. I can tell you 100% that if this is true and you don't have any leaks, you will have extremely overcarbed beer, around 4.15 volumes of CO2. The appropriate pressure for that temp would be between 8-16 psi depending on style or preference (2-3 volumes). Either you didn't have the CO2 hooked up at 30psi for the entire time, or there is a leak.

For future reference, the best way to force carb is to use the following chart. Find the temperature of the beer on the left, and move to the right across that row until you reach the desired volumes of CO2. The number at the top of that column indicates the pressure to set your regulator to for a minimum of 7 days. You can't go wrong by doing it correctly.

 

[actionjackson905]

Why not just force-carb the easy way, by just setting it at the desired pressure (at temp) for 7-10 days? It is fool-proof. No need to jack up the pressure or shake anything.

You say you had it at 30psi and 5°C (~40°F) for 6 days. I can tell you 100% that if this is true and you don't have any leaks, you will have extremely overcarbed beer, around 4.15 volumes of CO2. The appropriate pressure for that temp would be between 8-16 psi depending on style or preference (2-3 volumes). Either you didn't have the CO2 hooked up at 30psi for the entire time, or there is a leak.

For future reference, the best way to force carb is to use the following chart. Find the temperature of the beer on the left, and move to the right across that row until you reach the desired volumes of CO2. The number at the top of that column indicates the pressure to set your regulator to for a minimum of 7 days. You can't go wrong by doing it correctly.

This is how I have been force carbing for well over 20 years. Works perfectly with 10ft 3/16 ID liquid lines to either a tap tower or a picnic tap. I stopped shaking/rolling and what not because it was always never consistent. 7-10 days set and forget.... Cheers!

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the input guys, I have my PSI set to 20 now, with 7 & 6 ft 3/16 line. which should be roughly no pressure at tap due to restriction. I have burped the kegs multiple times and gas is going in after. I also thought the beer may be overcarbed, I turned off the air pressure and drained both kegs of pressure for the night. In the morning, there was minimal pressure to be released in the kegs.

Ill try the spray bottle again, but I'm confident i got the leaks. any more input is always appreciated.

Robbie

That sounds explosive to me. 20 psi in a fridge would be overcarbed, and it should shoot out of a short line of 7' like a fire hose.

It should be greatly overcarbed if indeed it's been at 30 or 20 psi in a fridge.

However, if the beer has a foamy pour, it seems to be undercarbed as the co2 comes out of solution through such a short line and lack of restriction.

The first thing to do is to try get normalize and equalize the pressure via the above chart. For 40 degrees, about 12 psi is good. Having a high pressure, rolling/shaking/etc usually means screwing that up. The thing to realize is that while carbing can be hurried a bit, no one comes on the forum and says, "My beer has been at 12 psi for 7 days and I have a problem"- it's always via shaking or turning up the pressure that the problems occur.

The best fix (but longest) at this point would be to purge the pressure constantly whenever you walk by, and keep the gas off and decarbonate the beer. Then, start by setting it at 12 psi and leaving it alone until it's ready. Also, 10-12' lines of 3/16" would ensure enough restriction for a good pour.

 

[dancingfetus]

Thanks again for the input. I bought a spray bottle and found one more small leak. just too eager to get my keggerator up and running. Ill de-carbonate tonight, and set to 12 PSI and leave it for a week.

Thank you everyone for your input.

Robbie

 

[actionjackson905]

Also, 10-12' lines of 3/16" would ensure enough restriction for a good pour.

This is key. 3/16 ID, (inside diameter) good liquid line, thick walled, not the Crappy stuff from HD or Lowes. Trust me, I learned the hard way.

 

[dancingfetus]

This is key. 3/16 ID, (inside diameter) good liquid line, thick walled, not the Crappy stuff from HD or Lowes. Trust me, I learned the hard way.

I have 3/16 ID 7/16 OD that came with the tower.