1st Time Kegging - CO2 Question

[choosybeggar]

I never bother using the outlet to carbonate. The CO2 gets in eventually.

If I am in a hurry, I use a higher pressure than desired (eg. 30 PSI in a beer at 40F that I plan to serve with 12 PSI), put the keg on it's side and rock it like a baby in my arms for 10 minutes or so. You will hear/feel gas running into the keg as you agitate. I always keep the air inlet valve up to avoid backflow into the air line. Caution advised b/c you may overcarb. Frequent sampling during the carbing process will help avoid this adverse event

 

[spaceyaquarius]

Also just an fyi and imo, I have also found that when using Co2 to carb my beers, the taste is much better after 8 to 10 days of being on the gas, anything before that and it just dosn't taste right (ether forced or forget it)

When my beers are on the gas (forget it method) I set my regulator at 9 psi and leave it for 10 days at 38 deg before tasting, this seems to work very good for me and my system.

Hope this helps

Cheers

You're right. Even after 36 more hours, it tastes better and looks better. It's a Belgian Wheat, so the chart says 18 PSI, but it doesn't take into account line length, and it seems 18 PSI is too high no matter what for serving pressure. I put it back down to 9 PSI and it's looking better every day.

Thanks Everyone! I was being impatient on my 1st keg. Next time it's serving pressure only and check it once a day.

 

[Echoloc8]

Heh, I've had my keg system for over two years and I'm still learning things. Somewhere along the line I forgot that it's EITHER 30 lbs for 24 hours OR shake at desired pressure, and I did both, completely overcarbing my recent IPA.

Like any new tool, a CO2 and keg setup takes time to master. It's easy to oversell how easy a kegerator is to use, forgetting that it can be hard for someone just getting started to tell one good approach from another completely incompatible good approach.

The good news is that CO2 isn't generally that expensive, and there's no damage you're likely to do to your beer that some "purging time" off the pressure won't fix.

Years of enjoyment await. Sounds like you're on track! :rockin:

-Rich

 

[spaceyaquarius]

Cool, thanks everyone for the input. The force carbonation process wasn't as easy as it sounded. I can wait 7-10 days next time at serving pressure. That beer line equation can't be right, I'm sure 10 feet of lines would be better than my 4.7 foot line.

Thanks!!!

 

[spaceyaquarius]

Just FYI (and to summarzie), after having an o-ring leak, refilling my new CO2 tank for $12, then attempting to force carbonate at 30 PSI at 62 F, then releasing all the head space pressure, then setting the PSI to 19 in a mini-fridge for days. . . then the beer tasted flat while also having half of a pint glass of foam (beer lines were not warm). Then 4 days later the foam completely disappeared but the taste was so bitter and acidic I poured out the last 1/6th of the 5 gallon Corny keg!

Crap! I screwed this up so much that I went from undercarbonated beer to overcarbonated beer and it never tasted good the whole time. There is one more issue, I let the wort get too hot while steeping the grains (over 200 degrees F). I've read that tannis leeches out and will cause a bitter taste. What did I not do wrong in my 1st kegging?

No more force carbonating for me. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone who is kegging for the 1st time. I just kegged my 1st Blue Moon clone and am just going to set it at 10 PSI and wait 7-10 days to try it. Set it and forget it.

 

[spaceyaquarius]

No more force carbonating for me. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone who is kegging for the 1st time. I just kegged my 1st Blue Moon clone and am just going to set it at 10 PSI and wait 7-10 days to try it. Set it and forget it.

Yeah right, I'm a liar.

Slow or fast forced carbonating are both called force carbonating. Only (natural) corn sugar carbonation is not called forced.

I've only slow force-carbonated since then. It literally took me about 4 more kegs to figure out that my CO2 regulator gauge was reading wrong, I bought a new one and of course had old seals for every single seal of the "reconditioned keg" that was sold for $100.

I've also learned the hard way that no matter what the recipe states, one week of conditioning/carbonating does not work (at least not for ales). It takes me 2.5 to 4 weeks to properly slow-force carbonate my 5-gallon keg at serving pressure ("set it and forget it method").

The 30 PSI thing for 2-3 days, and the rocking the keg back and forth under 30 PSI never worked for me. All I got was over-carbed beer that tasted horrible.