So I recently got a tap a draft. First tried force carbing but didnt work to well so i opened it up and add a couple tablespoons of priming sugar. sealed it up . then added another c02 cartridge. when i add my c02 cartridge i can hear all the c02 pretty much leaking. I did take one out before i guess to early and had those two rubber ringers blow out but i put them back in...maybe they are in wrong? anyone know how o use this correctly? thnaks
Tap a draft question about carbing
- Thread starter brewguy82
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How long are you giving the priming sugar to carbonate before you're adding the CO2 cartridge?
If you're adding that cartridge immediately, you're essentially trying to force carb your beer, which is fine, after all nearly all kegging setups do the same... with one major difference...
You're trying to do it with a dinky little CO2 cartridge, and full kegging setups use a great big tank. Those carts sometimes aren't even enough to PUSH all of the beer without changing, let alone carbonate it first (where the beer is going to absorb much of it into solution).
Put in the sugar (half as much as you'd normally use for the same volume of beer in bottles) and let it prime for a couple of weeks, as if it was a great big bottle itself.
If you're adding that cartridge immediately, you're essentially trying to force carb your beer, which is fine, after all nearly all kegging setups do the same... with one major difference...
You're trying to do it with a dinky little CO2 cartridge, and full kegging setups use a great big tank. Those carts sometimes aren't even enough to PUSH all of the beer without changing, let alone carbonate it first (where the beer is going to absorb much of it into solution).
Put in the sugar (half as much as you'd normally use for the same volume of beer in bottles) and let it prime for a couple of weeks, as if it was a great big bottle itself.
I use these quite a bit. It normally takes 1 cart - 1 week to fully carb COLD beer. This must be done in a fridge or like device. I chill the beer before I add the co2.
If this is a new TAD aka the MC tap heads, these are a bit tricky to use. The big issue is the length of the co2 cart. In the MC head the cart they come with is just a tiny bit longer than the ones we can get in a LHBS. I solved this by taking 2 small pieces of normal paper and folding them in half to make a small strip that is just wider than the hole in the bottom of the cartridge holder to make a + patteren. I push the cart in 97% of the way then slide my paper "risers" under the cart and then push the cart all the way in. Always use new paper.
FWIW if it looks/you can hear the co2 leaking and not INTO the bottle or from the pressure relief part on the opposite side of the head, you do not have a decent seal and the cart is wasted more than likely. I always keep more carts around than I need. Also never crack the cart open unless the container is horizontal, cracking it vertically will trigger the co2 to rush out the pressure relief valve.
GL hope this helps.
If this is a new TAD aka the MC tap heads, these are a bit tricky to use. The big issue is the length of the co2 cart. In the MC head the cart they come with is just a tiny bit longer than the ones we can get in a LHBS. I solved this by taking 2 small pieces of normal paper and folding them in half to make a small strip that is just wider than the hole in the bottom of the cartridge holder to make a + patteren. I push the cart in 97% of the way then slide my paper "risers" under the cart and then push the cart all the way in. Always use new paper.
FWIW if it looks/you can hear the co2 leaking and not INTO the bottle or from the pressure relief part on the opposite side of the head, you do not have a decent seal and the cart is wasted more than likely. I always keep more carts around than I need. Also never crack the cart open unless the container is horizontal, cracking it vertically will trigger the co2 to rush out the pressure relief valve.
GL hope this helps.
thegerm
Well-Known Member
I used these when I started. I don't know if they're very good for force carbing. I naturally carbed, but after my first batch I saw that they could be a bit leaky once pressure started building so I used teflon thead sealing tape. That pretty much did the trick. Also you probably want to make a syrup out of your priming sugar both for sterilization and more importantly because it'll dissolve much better in the beer.
