Kegging question

[njd2766]

Hi, I'm been brewing/bottling for a while....couple weeks ago my friends suprised me with a kegerator for a wedding present (it's um, for me and my wife...)

Just tried my first beer out of it, and was a little flat.

My question, is it standard procedure to 'bleed' the keg after a few days of carbonitation?

Carboniting an IPA, and after looking through the forum decided to use the instructions posted on the Alternative Beverage website (they're right down the stree from me, great shop).

http://www.ebrew.com/primarynews/intro_keg_system.htm

"After the third day, turn off the gas. Bleed off the head space pressure"

I chilled the beer to 40, set it at 16 psi, sat it for three days, turned it off, set to 10, and poured, not much, if any carbonation in there...

I reset to 16, and am going to give it a couple of days. No where else in the forced carbonation have i seen anyone reccomend the bleeding procedure. Is that unusual?

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[seattleducati]

Well this is what I do and it seems to work, but other may have other ideas.

Keg your beer, hit it with 10 pounds of Co2, release the pressure a bit, this should kick out the oxygen leaving just Co2. Hook up your Co2 line again and hit it with 30psi, while sloshing the keg around, as you slosh it, you'll hear more Co2 going into the keg. I do this for a bit then throw the keg (Co2 still attached) into the kegerator. I let it sit for 2 days in the kegerator at 40 degrees (or so). After 2 days I release the pressure then hook the Co2 back up at 10-15 psi and serve.

I've only used this method a few times but it seems to work for me.
Good Luck!

 

[xoltri]

They are advising you to bleed pressure in your keg so you are not pushing beer into your regulator. If you have a keg that's at 16psi, and you set your regulator to 10psi and hook it up, the higher pressure in the keg could push beer back into your regulator, damaging it. Bleeding the keg before hooking it up is the only sure fire way of making sure the keg never has higher pressure in it than your regulator.

I will also add that carbonating takes more time than you'd think. I carb and server my beers at 12psi using the set and forget method. At this pressure and 38f it takes my beers about 3 weeks to be perfectly carbonated. They are drinkable at two weeks but have no head retention.

 

[njd2766]

Ahh, now the bleeding makes sense...thank you for the advice! I'll try and follow it...patience with this first keg is gonna be tough!

 

[audger]

If you have a keg that's at 16psi, and you set your regulator to 10psi and hook it up, the higher pressure in the keg could push beer back into your regulator, damaging it.

normally, you shouldnt have to worry about this because you would have a check valve in the air line, and the liquid level in the keg wouldnt be high enough to get sucked up the very short dip tube on the gas-in post.

stranger things have happened though, and not all peoples' setups are 'normal'...

 

[DustBow]

+1 on "set it and forget it" and it taking 3 weeks for it to really be ready

 

[JonK331]

I set my pressure to 30 psi and wait 2-3 days. It is possible to overcarb with this method so it is important to check regularly after the first 24 hours. Once you get accustomed to your system, you will not have to monitor as much. I kegged a batch on Tuesday and it will be ready tonight, it was already cold when I kegged it though. Don't let anyone tell you that your beer will "taste better" with the set and forget method. Dissolved CO2 is dissolved CO2, it does not matter how you get there.

 

[H-ost]

But with set and forget you get more time for aging. Do people who force carb usually bulk age for a little longer so your beer isn't changing flavor through the first week? I will start kegging soon and I like the idea of force carbing because I'm impatient but if you still have to wait the extra 2 weeks in primary (or secondary) they would be ready about the same time, yes?

 

[RoadKing]

This is an easy, I just copied and pasted a reply I made a week or so ago....
Say I want 2.47 volumes and by beer is 40 degrees that would be about 12 lbs..
I set regulator for 30 psi and shake , roll, push ,kick, etc..for 20 mins..
then I shut the co2 valve off and continue to shake. The high pressure gauge will drop off to zero then the low pressure gauge will begin to drop. If you keep shaking and it stops at 10 lbs ya need a little more, if its at 12, your done.
It takes a little getting used to but it works for me.
The co2 bubbles may be a little large at first but I set the serving pressure to the volumes I want ,depending on how cold kegerator is, and in a day or 2 it's perfect.

 

[audger]

but if you still have to wait the extra 2 weeks in primary (or secondary) they would be ready about the same time, yes?

carbonating and conditioning are different things, though a lot of the time people interchange them. if you like giving your beer 2 or 3 weeks to age or mellow, its going to take that long regardless of wether you carbonate it in 2 days or two weeks. some people dont give their beers time to age, and just want to force carb them to drink as soon as possible. its up to you what you like.

if you like giving your beer 3 weeks to age for flavor, just hook the CO2 up at 10 or 12 psi for those 3 weeks. then it will be fully carbonated at the same time its done aging.

 

[Hang Glider]

+2 to set and forget.
anywhere from 10-12 lbs, 38F, 3 weeks.
easy.

while I'm waiting, I'm drinking from one of the other three taps....

 

[krenshaw]

12psi usually takes 10-14 days to be good.. for how much time i spend brewing it i would rather put in a couple more days to mellow and age a bit