Soda advice

[skyalight]

Hello Everyone,
I just started to play around with making birch beer in 5 gal korny kegs to hopefully eventually sell on draft in our business. I am having a few issues and am hoping to get some insight from those with more experience with this. I am using a TRUE kegerator with an air-cooled tap tower to dispense. Here is my process:

Make the birch syrup, combine with water, and chill in a sanitized korny keg
Pressurize keg to 20psi and purge air
Let the keg sit for approx 2 weeks
Dispense the soda at 15psi from approx 4' of tubing.

After 2 weeks the soda was somewhat carbonated. Not as much as I would like. I took a temp reading on the product and it was at 41f. I realized that the thermostat in the kegerator was not holding temp as precisely as I would like. I replaced it with a digital control and it is now holding at 38f. I then dialed the regulator to 25psi and let the soda sit for a few more days. Now I seem to be dispensing a lot of foam that is leaving behind a less carbonated beverage then before. I was surprised by this as i thought that the slightly elevated pressure and the colder temp would allow the soda to absorb more co2. I have been reading the perhaps my line is too short and this is causing excessive foaming and the co2 to leave suspension. Should I increase line length? I am trying to think about the long term setup of this. I don't what to have 20-30' of line that I am potentially wasting product in each time we switch a keg. Also curious. If I lower the pressure to dispense, will this cause the product to lose carbonation? I would like to leave the product tapped and able to be dispensed for 2+ weeks. Any thoughts and experience you have would be much appreciated!!

 

[garvinator70]

Hello Everyone,
I just started to play around with making birch beer in 5 gal korny kegs to hopefully eventually sell on draft in our business. I am having a few issues and am hoping to get some insight from those with more experience with this. I am using a TRUE kegerator with an air-cooled tap tower to dispense. Here is my process:

Make the birch syrup, combine with water, and chill in a sanitized korny keg
Pressurize keg to 20psi and purge air
Let the keg sit for approx 2 weeks
Dispense the soda at 15psi from approx 4' of tubing.

After 2 weeks the soda was somewhat carbonated. Not as much as I would like. I took a temp reading on the product and it was at 41f. I realized that the thermostat in the kegerator was not holding temp as precisely as I would like. I replaced it with a digital control and it is now holding at 38f. I then dialed the regulator to 25psi and let the soda sit for a few more days. Now I seem to be dispensing a lot of foam that is leaving behind a less carbonated beverage then before. I was surprised by this as i thought that the slightly elevated pressure and the colder temp would allow the soda to absorb more co2. I have been reading the perhaps my line is too short and this is causing excessive foaming and the co2 to leave suspension. Should I increase line length? I am trying to think about the long term setup of this. I don't what to have 20-30' of line that I am potentially wasting product in each time we switch a keg. Also curious. If I lower the pressure to dispense, will this cause the product to lose carbonation? I would like to leave the product tapped and able to be dispensed for 2+ weeks. Any thoughts and experience you have would be much appreciated!!

 

[garvinator70]

im trying to keg soda but not sure how any help would be appreciated ?

 

[TheBluePhantom]

carbonate and dispense at 25 psi. 25 foot of 3/16 line would be appripriate. There is only a few ounces in that. not much waste. If you really hate the length, get some of the 4mm line, it works at a much shorter length. I can't really tell you more, I use 25 foot lines for soda. There are also some high end faucets with valves on them to slow the flow, I have no experience with those either.

Be sure to purge the headspace, otherwise it will take forever. You can fast carb at a higher pressure, if your lines can take it. but only for a day or two. You might want to learn at the set and forget method before moving to quick carb.

There are lots of articles on kegging, do a search and read many. Soda is easy to put in, less worry about oxygen. Pay attention to cleanliness and leaks. There are many opinions on cleaning. i prefer a kpowered keg washer, and a full breakdown of the posts. Also lots to hread on those topics here as well.