Alright I just brewed a levitation ale clone and will be using my buddies keg to serve at a hb event, my question is what's the best way to force carb a keg to get perfect carb and how long does it usually take? Sorry for a question that's prolly been beat to death but figured I could get some quick solid advice with a post lol I'm beat after my brew day, band the brew day was easy getting my water not so much from Walmart there machine was down for RO water so they gave me two 5 gal carboys full of RO for the price of refills from the machine im kind of stoked but the hole ordeal took 1.5 hrs
Force carb question
- Thread starter 1fast636
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My personal opinion is that the BEST way is get the beer to serving temperature, adjust pressure to the desired carbonation level at that temperature (use a carbonation chart) and leave it there for two weeks. You can get it carbed up in less time, but in my experience, the beer is best when it's kept cold and under pressure for two weeks.
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1fast636
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Sweet I should beable to have it sitting at temp and pressure for 2 weeks if all goes as planed on fermentation schedule. If like the rest of my beers primary is done in 4-5 days dry hop for 6 at a raised temp cold crash then will be going into the keg thanks for the quick reply, I'll proly have more questions being its my first time kegging lol
brewprint
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First chill the keg for 24 hours. Then you can do on of two things. Set psi to 30 and roll the keg for 1 minute. Then remove the gas and let sit for 12 hours. Purge and put at 10 psi or whatever you like.
The other option (my preferred method) is to chill for 24 hours and set the gas to 30 psi and just let it sit for 36 hours. Then purge and put to your desired pressure.
Either way let it sit at your pressure for a few days to achieve perfection.
The other option (my preferred method) is to chill for 24 hours and set the gas to 30 psi and just let it sit for 36 hours. Then purge and put to your desired pressure.
Either way let it sit at your pressure for a few days to achieve perfection.
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1fast636
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Ok noob question, once it's sitting when I take it to the event what's the best way to re set up? Guessing just take it off the gas to travel then re gas to serving pressure at event? Mine will not be threw a jocky box just a cobra tap any tips on best set up to keep cool and serve perfect threw a cobra? It's a public judge home brew competition so looks are everything to the public lol
Once it's fully carbonated, it no longer needs to be on gas to stay carbonated, so yes, disconnect to transport. If you're serving with a cobra tap, keep the pressure low while serving so you don't get too much foam. Also keep the keg cold, either in ice water or by another method.
Yep, perfectly fine. You'll find some that claim that you use more co2 that way or some nonsense, but that's not true at all.
fantomlord
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36 hours at 30 psi, then drop to serving pressure is a pretty common method...usually ready in under a week total.
If your line is long enough, you can keep it at serving pressure. I've got a 10' line with a cobra tap, and don't have foaming issues...I manage to pour nice pints from that setup.
agreed...you'll use the same amount of CO2 regardless of the temp. You'll just need to set the head pressure higher at higher temps because the gas won't dissolve as readily.
ibrewmyown
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If the beer is nice and cold, you wont need to crank up the pressure to force carbonate it and if its not cold, don't bother trying to force carbonate it. Cranking it may speed up the process slightly but its easy to over carbonate. It doesn't take long to force it using serving pressure. If I must in a beer emergency force carbonate, I make sure the beer is nice and cold, leave the gas at serving pressure (12-15 psi, I have 10' lines) set the keg horizontal on my knee (or whatever) and just rock it slowly back and forth about every two seconds and in 5 - 10 minutes you can get a nearly fully carbonated beer. There's no need to shake the hell out of it. You want to expose as much surface area to the gas as you can so that's why you lay it down. When you set it and forget it, it carbonates from the top (surface area) down. You will hear gas flowing and bubbling as you rock it. It will start out flowing and bubbling like crazy and it will get slower and slower as the beer cant absorb the gas any longer. If you want to let it sit, leave it at serving pressure and you'll never over carbonate it. I'd rather not be in a position where I have to do it but when I do, this works well for a full corni. FYI, if you don't have a back flow preventer, make sure you keep the keg lower than the regulator when the absorption stops so beer doesn't flow into the regulator.
When you take it to the event, you'll resuspend all of the sediment in it and it will take a few hours to resettle, and it could be foamy as a result, especially if it warms up.
Do you have an extra keg? If so, it's super easy to 'jump' to a new keg, and then leave all of the sediment behind so it doesn't resuspend on the travel.
All you need is two black disconnects (the 'out' ones), and about 4' of beer line.
ibrewmyown
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Yes, A jumper set up is great to have. I have two 2.75 gallon cornis that fit in a igloo cooler with room for ice around it. Those are my "travelers". I pressurize the empty keg, then hook up the jumper and just purge the keg I'm filling periodically. This prevents it from getting foamy and which would prevent the keg from filling fully.
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1fast636
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No unfortunately I'm borrowing a buddies keg so one keg only I was worried about sediment on the travel,
On a side note the wife is wanting me to build a jocky box for events rather then just using a cobra tab I have seen a couple different things I want the id of my coil to be 1/4 inch to match the 1/4inch lines so there is no expansion right? Would 20 ft of coil be enough or would 50 make it be less hassle of chillin? Sorry didn't think she would be on board with building a jocky box but she wants to be presentable lol and I'm not complaining if she's on board lol
On a side note the wife is wanting me to build a jocky box for events rather then just using a cobra tab I have seen a couple different things I want the id of my coil to be 1/4 inch to match the 1/4inch lines so there is no expansion right? Would 20 ft of coil be enough or would 50 make it be less hassle of chillin? Sorry didn't think she would be on board with building a jocky box but she wants to be presentable lol and I'm not complaining if she's on board lol
