Force carbing help

Ts my first time using a keg and need some help. Im using a 19litre corny keg. I have filled keg with my american pale ale and refrigerated for 24 hours as i beleive its better to carb when its cold. So ive hooked up the co2 to the gas inlet and set to 40psi and rolles the keg back and forth for a few minutes and have put back in fridge with gas still on and still set to 40 psi. How long do i leave the gas on for?? About 24 hours should see the beer carbed?? Then do i turn gas off and release headspace pressure and set to desired pouring psi say about 5-10 psi. Also if i have say a few beers one night but wont be pouring any again for a week can i turn the gas off until next time?

 

That's the quick way of carbing beer. It will work. Personally I prefer to set the psi to 10 or 12 for a week and carb the beer up slowly. If you have a good set up (no leaks) you should be able to turn the CO2 off and it will still hold pressure. I tend to carb the beer on constant pressure then shut off the tank. If it goes down in psi I just give it another blast.

 

Thanks for your help ill leave it over night at 40 psi. If i over carb it is there a simple way to let some of that co2 out of the beer?

 

you should be fine leaving it at 40 psi for 24 hours. Then check this chart:

http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

and set to the pressure based on temp and how fizzy you want it.

I tend to leave my tank on - I don't have leaks so it works fine. You need to address leaks either way - if you choose to turn things off and have a leak your beer will go flat, if you leave things on and have a leak you'll lose all your CO2.

But yes, in a well sealed system you can turn off pressure for storage. One the beer is at temp and fully carbonated you don't need to add more CO2 until you take out beer.

 

oh yeah, and if you over pressurize - turn off the CO2, vent the keg, let it sit. Vent every couple of hours for a day or so. Total time to reduce dissolved CO2 depends on how far you overshot and temp. After you're in the right range- re apply CO2 @ appropriate temp.

 

Thanks for your help much appriciated

 

For the future, I have found shaking the keg to be of no real value and can lead to overcarbing problems...unless of course you want carbed beer now. 30 psi for 36 hours w/ cold beer is a good starting point to get some initial carb goin, after that go to seving pressure 10-12 psi, or a bit more if still needing more carb.

 

Ok thanks for that. I set it to 40psi shook it for a few minutes then left it on fridge for 24 hours. Tuned down to 10 psi and poured the first beer. Had a nice 1 cm head wasnt over carbed left foam rings around the glass. Was perfect. Oh forgot to mention taste great my best one yet. Whats the best way to age the beer before kegging?? After fermentation is complete could i transfer to keg and let it sit for a few weeks at room temp before carbing?

 

You'll have less disolved CO2 at first. It'll pour with a head - but the beer might still be under carbed for a week or so. That's normal with quick force carbing. The taste and balance will improve as things even out.

As for aging - my general rule is that I want to get some CO2 in the keg as soon as I rack the beer in. If I'm going to do a room temp age in the keg I hit it with CO2 at 10-15 psi then let it sit with no additional CO2. That's my insurance against oxidation. I usually let me beers do their thing in the carboy since I have more fermentation than keg space. Since my beers are finished when they go into the keg I don't expect the yeasties to get me the layer of CO2 I want on top of the beer.

 

Yooper so you let the beer carb for a week on 10-15 psi ?? Cheers for the advice too bryce.

 

And bryce one u give it a hit of co2 for adging how long could i leave the jeg at room temp for until im ready to carb it ?

 

depends on a lot of things. It depends on the beer, how long it was in primary and secondary, what I want it to taste like, how soon I'll be out of other beers etc.

In general, bigger, higher gravity, more complex beers need more time to get good.