Keggingm catastrophy, and confusion

I just bought my first two kegs and had a total meltdown. I bought from northern brewer and used their tutorial on youtube to carb in 2-3 days. Wouldnt ya know, I froze thr keg and turned the entire thing into foam and was flowing through the picnic line a zero psi. I was carbing at 22 psi at below freezing temps which I realized is where I went comletely haywire. Worst part was that the Irish Red was absolutrly killer. Heres a few questions.

1. To carbonate In 2-3 days, is it implied that I am carbing at room temperature?
2. A lot of people on here say they carb a week or two. Which way is correct? Quick or slow?
3. If I am to carb at room temps when is the proper time to cool it? Do I carb it first and then cool it, then set it to srving pressure?

Any help would be great, I feel like thrres something big I missed.

Thanks guys and gals.

 

First, carbing will happen faster and the beer can hold onto the carbonation better, at lower temps.

You can carb a beer to average volumes in 2-3 weeks (I think 3 weeks is better) if you set to the serving pressure and let it carb up on it's own.

You can also burst carb by chilling the beer to serving temp, bumping the pressure up to 20+ and shaking the keg to get the CO2 into the beer. The downside is that it's easy to misjudge the carb level that way, causing you to overcarb, which creates foamy pours. The better way is to do this but be slightly conservative with the pressure until you get the hang of it.

Also know that there are a few other things that can cause foamy pours. You must consider liquid line inner diameter and length, along with serving temp and serving pressure, AND the carbonation level of the beer. There are beer line calculators that can help you pick the right diameter and length of line to match the temperature and carb level of the beer you are serving.

The only reason to keep a beer not chilled is if you are aging it, or if you just don't have room in your kegerator. Otherwise, get the beer cooled down and carbing!

 

Then how can you carb in 2-3 days? Thats the part that is bugging me the most. The video says carb around 20 psi for 2-3 days, bleed the pressure, then set to serving temps. (They also say dont say anything about not freezing it, lol)

 

Here's a sticky in this forum that explains kegging pretty well: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/keg-force-carbing-methods-illustrated-73328/. And here is a temp vs. pressure chart for carbing to the correct volumes: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php. Or a calculator if you like that better: http://www.brewersfriend.com/keg-carbonation-calculator/.

And actually it should take the same amount of time to carb at room temp as cold (actually it may be slightly faster at room temp because there is more diffusion at higher temperatures), but you have to set the CO2 to a much higher pressure. But, like Homercidal said, if you have room in your fridge you might as well carb it cold. It's really just up to whatever works for you though.

I usually rack to the keg, put it in the fridge, and hook it up to CO2 at ~30 psi for 36 hours. Then I drop it down to the correct pressure for my fridge temp (as found on the chart or the calculator) and leave it there until it kicks. This will usually get it to the right level within a week. I would say you need to have at least 10' beer lines to be able to serve at the right pressure without foam though.

Also I was just wondering, did you purposefully have the beer below freezing? I'm not trying to be a jerk, but what did you think would happen other than freezing the beer? I keep my fridge around 38F or so.

 

It can work that way, but by quick carbing it all the way at a high pressure you run the risk of overcarbonating it. That's why I leave it at a high pressure for only about a day or two, just to give it a jump start and bring it close to the right carbonation level. Then I put it at the correct level to bring it up the rest of the way there (which should only take another few days).

 

Huge help! Thanks!

 

Don't get discouraged- you will get the hang of it. Bump your fridge to serving temp and thaw that frozen keg, then you can burp it using the pressure release on the lid or gas out post to "flatten" it out. Don't worry about removing too much carbonation- you can always re-carb! I know that there is a science to this, but for me it is feel and testing. Sample it during the carbonation process! I use both the burst and shake method and the resting method with good results.

 

Also if you're leaving the psi really high for a few days i'd disconnect the beer line. Too high of a pressure can actually push beer out the picnic tap even if its closed and you'll end up with a mess and an empty keg.

 

To carb in 2-3 days - I set the pressure to 15 - 20, hook it up to the keg, turn on some good tunes, sit in a chair with the keg laid across the knees, rock the keg slowly by tapping my heels to the tunes for 10 - 20 minutes. Place the keg or kegs in the fridge. Bleed most of the co2 off daily.
Prost!