Problems carbonating in the keg

I recently started kegging and I started out just putting them on the gas and waiting a few weeks. I'd get perfectly carbonated beer but I can only fit two kegs in my fridge along with the co2 tank so I started cask carbonating in order to put a ready to drink keg in the fridge when one runs out. Problem is these are usually overcarbonated gushers where nothing but foam comes out of the tap, yet the beer is virtually flat. I've used the full recommended amount all the way down to half the recommended amount of priming sugar with the same results. Does anyone use this method successfully? Any tips would be helpful.

 

I've only naturally carbed in a keg a few times and didn't have any problems. If the beer is truly overcarbed I'd reduce the amount of sugar even more. Possibly even 1/4 the bottle carb calcuators give. Worst case scenario is that they're undercarbed and take 1 week on gas to "top up" carbonation instead of a full 2 force carbonating. Not too bad of a worst case.

How long do you let them chill before trying to pour? Quite possible that it's chilled but hasn't re-absorbed all the co2 from the headspace before you start pouring and that's the problem. Since you mention you get great results from the set and forget method I'm assuming that you've already balanced line lengths.

 

I keg carbonate with corn sugar most of the time for the same reasons stated. I use half the recommended sugar for bottling and have never had the problem you describe. If anything, I find the kegs are slightly under-carbed, so I put them in the kegerator on gas and wait a few days. I'd rather get the beer partially carbonated before it goes in the kegerator and on gas than have to wait.

 

Hmmm... now I'm wondering if there's something else I'm doing wrong. I did cask carb a couple that came out great. I've recently started dissolving the priming sugar into boiling water instead of just dumping the priming sugar. I like to cold crash before I add priming sugar, maybe it's not dissolving very well. I usually let them carb at room temp for 3-4 weeks so I cant believe it's not getting dissolved properly.

 

I mix the sugar with 1/2 cup of hot water and pour it into the bottom of the keg before I transfer the beer from the fermenter into the keg.

 

do you bleed out excess pressure before putting it on the co2?

 

How long are you cooling the keg down before you tap it? Could be you aren't allowing enough time for the C02 to dissolve back into solution...?

 

Second the recommendation to chill the keg completely before taping.

I would definitely continue to boil the sugar into some water to make a light syrup. Not only is it more sanitary, it's also better distributing the sugar through the beer. You might find a faster turn around as well, keg carbing was always quicker than normal bottle conditioning for me.

Worst case scenario, you could be getting minor infections in some of these. Do the gushers taste thin or funny in any way?

 

I believe The Complete Joy Of Homebrewing says something like use 1/3 cup cup sugar when priming a keg vs. 3/4 cup sugar when priming bottles of the same volume.

 

The kegs sits in the fridge 3-4 days before I tap it. No I don't bleed out extra pressure. I've never heard of that. I take the carbed keg and put it in the fridge a few days then hook the gas to it at serving pressure... is that a bad thing? From the research I've been reading it may be that I'm not hitting it with enough co2 to seat the lid, then it only starts carbing when the natural pressure seats the lid. Any thoughts?

 

You should definitely seal the lid after kegging, this will keep it tight and prevent air from getting in. You could possibly introducing bugs into your beer if its not sealed up. This will not affect natural carbonation process at all though, it just means your lid isn't making a perfect seal until the residual yeast produce enough co2 to put pressure on the lid, and that might not happen for awhile if it's bleeding out slowly and not staying in the beer.

This is more true of older kegs with older O rings. Several of mine need a big hit of CO2 to make a good seat and stop leaking. Which really means I should replace the o-rings more often...

 

Yeah I think today I will put all my kegs on the gas at about 30 psi for a few seconds just to make sure they are properly sealed. All the o rings are new so that shouldn't be a problem. What I'm confused about is that there is tons of foam and yet they are flat.