Keg Force Carbing Methods Illustrated

[billc68]

Is there any benefit to shaking the keg at chart pressure (e.g. 12 psi in the example in the OP)? Will that decrease the carbonation time without having to overpressure the keg?

Slightly. I read to set it at your desired PSI and shake it until the CO2 stops flowing (to the ear) then let it sit for a week.

What I don't understand is both the 30 PSI method and teh 10-12 PSI method bot hsay to leave it for a week.... Why?

 

[opalko]

Ok, I've read 17 pages and am now more mixed up than before.

My situation. Tonight I racked 65F pale ale to corny. Set gas at 13psi, put both gas and keg in 42F fridge. Do I leave it like this and be all set in 3 weeks?? Should I increase pressure to 36PSI for one day, vent it, then reduce to serving pressure?? I feel so ignorant and I won't even tell you what my college degree says!

Thanks, and cheers.

 

[Brewer3401]

Ok, I've read 17 pages and am now more mixed up than before.

My situation. Tonight I racked 65F pale ale to corny. Set gas at 13psi, put both gas and keg in 42F fridge. Do I leave it like this and be all set in 3 weeks?? Should I increase pressure to 36PSI for one day, vent it, then reduce to serving pressure?? I feel so ignorant and I won't even tell you what my college degree says!

Thanks, and cheers.

Don't increase to 36 PSI unless you do it on the FIRST day that it is kegged. Example, you have it at 12 for 5 days then you go to 36 for a day - I'd bet good money that it would be overcarbonated.

3 weeks (from my experience) is a good wait. It's about as good as it's going to get.

If you have the time, that's really the best way to carbonate - let the beer take in the CO2 at it's own pace - lots of time, forcing anything is usually not the best way.

 

[fatman]

What I got out of this thread in the most basic of terms:
Chill Keg (38-42 degrees)
Place at 30psi for 24 hours
Purge and Reset to 10-12psi
Wait 5 days + and Serve!

After reading a bunch of this thread I am more confused before I started. This seems like the dummy instructions on how to do this. I am a kegging noob and I want to do a sideby side comparison to see which way tastes better or not, force vs priming. I have my keg blasted at 30PSI right now. Is the above method correct? If not correct me. Thanks Beer Gurus!

 

[Brewer3401]

After reading a bunch of this thread I am more confused before I started. This seems like the dummy instructions on how to do this. I am a kegging noob and I want to do a sideby side comparison to see which way tastes better or not, force vs priming. I have my keg blasted at 30PSI right now. Is the above method correct? If not correct me. Thanks Beer Gurus!

Easy way:

Determine temp your beer will be before force carbonating

Look at chart to determine how many volumes of CO2 you want

Set pressure on your keg based on the chart

Wait 1 week, blow down, and set pressure to about 3 psi

Dispense some beer - should be good - will be even better after another week.

Pressure back up to your original pressure - this will MAINTAIN your carbonation level.

 

[jgourd]

Easy way:

Determine temp your beer will be before force carbonating

Look at chart to determine how many volumes of CO2 you want

Set pressure on your keg based on the chart

Wait 1 week, blow down, and set pressure to about 3 psi

Dispense some beer - should be good - will be even better after another week.

Pressure back up to your original pressure - this will MAINTAIN your carbonation level.

1. What is meant by blow down?

2. Why reduce pressure to 3 PSI after 1 week? Is this only for dispensing?

3. Suppose my beer is at 45F and I want 2 volumes of CO2. Chart says that's 9 PSI. So I should set to 9 PSI for 1 week, blow down, set pressure to 3 PSI. Dispense (for what purpose?). Set it back to 9 PSI.

4. Can I just set it to 9 PSI and wait 2 weeks and just dispense with it always set to 9 PSI?

Danke!

 

[Bobby_M]

Well, I'll chime in and reiterate my view that no beer at chart pressure reaches equilibrium in one week. I'd also advocate not releasing pressure for dispensing but rather compensate for the pressure with longer serving lines if necessary.

The foolproof way is to measure fridge temp, determine volumes of CO2 you want, look up on the chart for the PSI you need to run. Set it and leave it alone for 2 weeks (3 weeks better). Pour 4 oz and dump, then fill the glass and enjoy. If you get too much foam, you need longer serving lines.

I would take a guess that just about everyone boosts the pressure for at least the first 24 hours to give it a jump start to avoid waiting 2-3 weeks. Anywhere from twice or three times the chart pressure for 24 hours will shave a few days off. Don't shake it though.

 

[billc68]

NOW, what is the easiest way to set both a lager and ale at the same time, with the lager slightly more carbonated? I read something about line length somewhere. Or any combination for brews or soda or sparkling wine etc.

 

[Brewer3401]

Well, I'll chime in and reiterate my view that no beer at chart pressure reaches equilibrium in one week. I'd also advocate not releasing pressure for dispensing but rather compensate for the pressure with longer serving lines if necessary.

Totally agree with you.

Simpleton method is to pressure up to carbonation pressure and let sit for at least 2 weeks. Other than 30 psi for first 24 hours, this is what I do.

It seems that the beer "matures" if left to carbonate on it's own - kind of like bottle conditioning, which is about 2 weeks.

Thanks for chiming in - I think he'll be on the right track shortly

We all started out knowing nothing - just keep reading valid information and keep brewing - KEEP NOTES - and refer back to them.

 

[Phunhog]

Well now I am really confused....I thought one of the benefits of kegging was "force carbing" conditioned beer? If I am hooking up a keg for 2-3 weeks waiting for it to carbonate I might as well just naturally carbonate. I am not saving any time. Also if it is hooked up and chilled I will naturally take "samples" to see how it is progressing.

 

[Brewer3401]

Convenience and potentially clearer beer are a couple of the benefits of kegging.

I've heard of people bottle conditioning in a keg

I let my beer sit for at least 2 months in a brite tank before kegging - very clear beer.

 

[AlchemyBrewing]

What are you using for a brite tank?

 

[Brewer3401]

Brite tank is 7.50 gallon S/S "turkey frying" pot - S/S ball valve on bottom with a modified S/S elbow looking up (so I won't pull any bottom)

Fermenter is the same setup.

 

[Bobby_M]

Well now I am really confused....I thought one of the benefits of kegging was "force carbing" conditioned beer? If I am hooking up a keg for 2-3 weeks waiting for it to carbonate I might as well just naturally carbonate. I am not saving any time. Also if it is hooked up and chilled I will naturally take "samples" to see how it is progressing.

No one said you have to wait, it's just the no nonsense method. If you want fool proof, set and forget. If you don't mind micromanaging the process for a couple days, go for one of the endless varieties of boost carbing. "Force Carbing" is very confusing. Anything you carbonate with a CO2 tank, it's force carbed. That includes both set and forget (3 weeks) and crank and shake.

 

[Patirck]

If I wait 2 to 3 weeks for carbonation to occur, why not just add priming sugar when I keg? It seems this will do the same thing. I bet flusing the air out and putting CO2 on top after adding priming sugar would be even better (less chance of oxidizing).

Add priming sugar to keg
Move beer from secondary to keg
Add some CO2 while bleeding off air
Leave at room temperature for two weeks
Hook up to CO2 tank with recomended psi for beer type) and tap and put in refregerator
Wait for cooling to happen (say 24 hours)
Serve and enjoy

Does this work?

 

[Brewer3401]

If I wait 2 to 3 weeks for carbonation to occur, why not just add priming sugar when I keg? It seems this will do the same thing. I bet flusing the air out and putting CO2 on top after adding priming sugar would be even better (less chance of oxidizing).

Add priming sugar to keg
Move beer from secondary to keg
Add some CO2 while bleeding off air
Leave at room temperature for two weeks
Hook up to CO2 tank with recomended psi for beer type) and tap and put in refregerator
Wait for cooling to happen (say 24 hours)
Serve and enjoy

Does this work?

Not using priming sugar makes for a cleaner beer.

Some people say natural carbonation is better, some say not - I'll stay with the force carbing method.

 

[babalu87]

Man, if I wait three weeks to start drinking Hefe/Dunkelweizens they are starting to get old.

If the beer is clear, carbonation is carbonation

 

[Bobby_M]

Sure you can carbonate by adding priming sugar. This thread is specific to force carbing methods though ;-)

 

[babalu87]

Not using priming sugar makes for a cleaner beer.

Some people say natural carbonation is better, some say not - I'll stay with the force carbing method.

How so?

Using priming sugar can help dry a beer out as well as carbonate it.

Other than that though CO2 is CO2

 

[mezman]

Anywhere from twice or three times the chart pressure for 24 hours will shave a few days off. Don't shake it though.

Why do you say not to shake it? If I've already purged the headspace of the keg of O2, what's the harm in shaking?

 

[944play]

Not using priming sugar makes for a cleaner beer.

There may be a couple reasons that a refermentation would improve the beer: active yeast would uptake oxygen absorbed during racking, and fed yeast may also more readily metabolize acetaldehyde and diacetyl.

If I've already purged the headspace of the keg of O2, what's the harm in shaking?

Agitating beer will coagulate proteins that contribute to foam (as I understand it), plus obviously you will resuspend any sediment. Not the end of the world, but certainly not best practice.

 

[MW66]

I apologize if this has been answered somewhere before, but that first thread by Bobby_M was a great read for me. My question is that after I have my kegs up to my desired equilibrium pressure, I usually keep the pressure at 10-12 psi, but then every time I do a pour, I have to bleed off the pressure. Then after pouring, I hit it again to 10-12 psi. For those of you that have keg systems, I cannot imagine you go through this gyration, but keep it at 3-5 for dispensing. However, by keeping it at dispensing pressure, won't the keg eventually go back to 3-5 psi to equalize and then the beer is under carbonated? Of course, I know the quick answer is to consume the keg faster, right?:cross:

 

[Bobby_M]

No, we actually balance our serving lines so that we can pour at 10-12psi or whatever the equilibrium pressure is. I use 10 feet of 3/16" ID line.

 

[MW66]

I assuming you have a typical beer style faucet. How would I do that for a pcinic style faucet head? Would it be trial and error to determine the correct length? I can fit three cornies in my fridge with a 5 lb. CO2 tank and I would love to have a manifold so I could keep them all at pressure and dispense any of them at will without adjusting the pressure.

No, we actually balance our serving lines so that we can pour at 10-12psi or whatever the equilibrium pressure is. I use 10 feet of 3/16" ID line.

 

[Bobby_M]

The faucet type doesn't matter. 10 feet is a pretty good guess. You'd just coil most of it up and zip tie it. Another trick to getting a slower pour with picnic faucets is to hold the glass and faucet up at head level.

 

[akthor]

OK I have found some C02 kits that are fairly affordable. I have a corny keg already and I will buy a kit that comes with another.

BUT I do not and will not for quite some time have a kegerator so......... I am a little confused about a couple things and there is so much info its hard to find what I wanna know.

SO...

I brew the beer, transfer to corny keg, hook up CO2 to carb it, this will be in the basement where it's a constant 60 - 65 degrees.

How long till it is carbed?

Once it is can I disconnect the C02 and set the keg aside and store it till later on down the road (when I can afford some sort of portable dispensing method, jockey box ect.)

That way I can free up the C02 rig to start the 2nd corny?

 

[Yooper]

OK I have found some C02 kits that are fairly affordable. I have a corny keg already and I will buy a kit that comes with another.

BUT I do not and will not for quite some time have a kegerator so......... I am a little confused about a couple things and there is so much info its hard to find what I wanna know.

SO...

I brew the beer, transfer to corny keg, hook up CO2 to carb it, this will be in the basement where it's a constant 60 - 65 degrees.

How long till it is carbed?

Once it is can I disconnect the C02 and set the keg aside and store it till later on down the road (when I can afford some sort of portable dispensing method, jockey box ect.)

That way I can free up the C02 rig to start the 2nd corny?

It takes about 10 days- 2 weeks to be fully carbed up. You can disconnect the co2 once it's carbed up if you want to. In theory, as long as there aren't any leaks at all it should stay carbed up.

In my mind, it would be far easier to use priming sugar (just like for bottling) in this case. Just add 1/2 the amount you would for bottling, fill the keg, give it a shot of co2 to seat the lid and let it sit until you need it. At 65 degrees, it'll carb up in a couple of weeks. When you want to dispense, put the cornie in a tub of ice for a few hours and hook up the co2. It's that easy.

 

[akthor]

I pretty much would never drink these at home but would take them with me to events and occasions at friends houses so they will travel so I am thinking I shouldn't carb with suger because of the sediment??? I used to bottle years ago and I remember every bottle had some in it. Good idea or bad? Am I making too much of the sediment issue?

 

[akthor]

Anybody?

 

[Bobby_M]

Yeah, if you're sure they'll be transported often before consumption, force carbing is preferred. You can do as you mentioned. Hook it up at the chart pressure and leave it for at least 2 weeks.

 

[akthor]

So to be clear since this will be a first time thing for me. Brew the beer then transfer to keg. Set the C02 to 12 psi and leave it be (in the basement 60 - 65 degrees) for 4 weeks. Then I can turn off the C02 pull the C02 line off and store the keg till we drink it?

If I get an air distributor can I carb two kegs off the same C02 bottle at the same time? How many kegs can I do off one 5lb bottle?

 

[akthor]

Ok been reading more, so the chart says for an ale, the first green box for an ale @ 65 degrees is 24psi? for how long?

 

[jaobrien6]

So to be clear since this will be a first time thing for me. Brew the beer then transfer to keg. Set the C02 to 12 psi and leave it be (in the basement 60 - 65 degrees) for 4 weeks. Then I can turn off the C02 pull the C02 line off and store the keg till we drink it?

If I get an air distributor can I carb two kegs off the same C02 bottle at the same time? How many kegs can I do off one 5lb bottle?

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. If you carbonate to 2.5 volumes, that would take just over 0.2 lbs of CO2. So, if you do nothing with that CO2 tank but carbonate beer. Don't serve, don't purge kegs/carboys, etc., don't use it to push sanitizer from keg to keg, etc, then you could theoretically do about 24 kegs. However, this is the perfect best case scenario, no CO2 is wasted and is used only for force carb'ing. That also doesn't take into consideration how much headspace might be in the keg (I don't honestly know how much space if any is in a corny with exactly 5 gallons of liquid). If there's any headspace, there's some wasted CO2 there, too. The short, simple answer is: A bunch of kegs.

Edit: after all that, I might have misunderstood your 3rd question. If you meant how many can you do simultaneously, the answer is as many as you have the hardware to physically hook up. If you make a CO2 manifold to hook up 10 kegs simultaneously, then you can do 10 kegs at a time, it doesn't make any difference.

 

[jaobrien6]

OK I have found some C02 kits that are fairly affordable. I have a corny keg already and I will buy a kit that comes with another.

BUT I do not and will not for quite some time have a kegerator so......... I am a little confused about a couple things and there is so much info its hard to find what I wanna know.

SO...

I brew the beer, transfer to corny keg, hook up CO2 to carb it, this will be in the basement where it's a constant 60 - 65 degrees.

How long till it is carbed?

Once it is can I disconnect the C02 and set the keg aside and store it till later on down the road (when I can afford some sort of portable dispensing method, jockey box ect.)

That way I can free up the C02 rig to start the 2nd corny?

How long before you can afford a dispensing method and plan to drink this beer? Are we talking weeks, months, a year? Depending on the beer style, I assume you realize that you're not going to want to go down this path if the beer won't be consumed for a long period of time, right?

Also, you don't need a jockey box or anything fancy to dispense the beer. Take a cold keg to whatever event you are heading to, throw the keg in a bucket/trash can/etc. with ice, set your CO2 at 1 or 2 psi and use one of these: http://www.homebrewstuff.com/servlet/the-194/picnic-ball-lock-tap/Detail

IMO, if that gets you drinking the beer sooner, go that route for now.

 

[akthor]

Weeks to a couple months, I am in no rush and I know it just tastes better the longer I wait. I could carb naturally but like I said earlier I am force carbing pretty much only to have as little sediment as possible.

These kegs will get moved from house to house on bumpy Maine roads so I think in the end it will be better to force carb.

All my friends are lifelong beer drinkers so I gotta try to bring as good of a product as I can or I will NEVER hear the end of it.

If I can't make a jockey box before we want to drink it we will do the tried and true bucket method. The kit I am buying has a hose and picnic tap for dispensing ( this one: http://stores.kegconnection.com/Detail.bok?no=463 )

I may also try a cooler instead of jockey box, I remember reading about someone getting a igloo 10 gallon cooler,one of the beverage ones, the round
ones, and cutting a hole in the top for the top of the corny to stick up thru.

Something like this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Igloo-Beverage-Jug-Orange-and-White-10-Gallon/14550424

How long before you can afford a dispensing method and plan to drink this beer? Are we talking weeks, months, a year? Depending on the beer style, I assume you realize that you're not going to want to go down this path if the beer won't be consumed for a long period of time, right?

Also, you don't need a jockey box or anything fancy to dispense the beer. Take a cold keg to whatever event you are heading to, throw the keg in a bucket/trash can/etc. with ice, set your CO2 at 1 or 2 psi and use one of these: http://www.homebrewstuff.com/servlet/the-194/picnic-ball-lock-tap/Detail

IMO, if that gets you drinking the beer sooner, go that route for now.

 

[crlova2]

I have thoroughly read the first 15 pages and skimmed the rest. I am still left with questions:

1.) What is the "typical" beer line length and diameter that is good for someone who usually brews pale ales and occasionally wheats?

2.) I have heard that if you have a dry hopped beer it can easily lose its aroma through aging so is letting the beer sit and carb for 3 weeks after a 3 week primary and 2 week secondary (including cold crash) going to result in a noticeable drop in hop aroma?

3.) If I carb a beer for a week at 13psi and around 37F and then vent all the pressure then take off the top real quick to take out a bag of mangoes and put it back on right after and pressurize again is that going to make the carbonation process substantially longer?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[jaobrien6]

1. 10' is the most commonly recommended number I've seen. I went with 10' because of that in my kegerator and it works well for me.

2. Not really. The 3 weeks in the primary are meaningless because you're probably dry hopping in your secondary I assume? If you're dry hopping in the secondary for a week, that'll be the last week of your secondary time. So basically it's just the 3 week carbing process. 3 weeks, you don't lose much aroma. 3 months on the other hand, you'd notice.

3. Nope, it won't.

 

[crlova2]

Sweet thanks. I don't really understand the science of how hop aroma is lost if the beer in under pressure the entire time?

 

[jaobrien6]

Me either, honestly. But it absolutely happens. I've experienced it both in the bottle and the keg, homebrew and commercial. Not sure of the chemistry of what's going on, but it definitely happens.

 

[crlova2]

Guess I just need to get me an randalizer!