ants in my pants about cracking this keg

[JLivermore]

I know I'm supposed to wait 3 weeks.

Also I suspect I know what the advice here will be (wait).

BUT...

Is there any real harm in pouring off a glass after a week?

I realize it won't be properly carbonated, but it won't affect the rest of the beer which will continue to carbonate at 15 psi, right?

 

[brewingmeister]

Nope, go ahead and pour away if you want.

 

[Yooper]

My kegs are just about gone at three weeks..................................

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Why wait? If you have it set to 15PSI and its cold (< 40F) its not going to take 3 weeks to carbonate, maybe 1...but you can drink it whenever you want there will be no harm in it.
If anything it will be better since you will be able to dial in the carbonation to the level you want, then cut back to like 8-10 PSI just for serving.

 

[strambo]

You waited a week? I typically force carb and start pouring the next day or two. Before I run out...I brew more!

 

[willness33]

My kegs are just about gone at three weeks..................................

Somehow you typed the exact words that were in my head when I read the first post.

 

[jbaysurfer]

3 weeks is a bottle conditioning standard. I find that I can carb my beer in a week at standard serving pressure (10 PSI) and never have to worry about it again. As far as when is too soon? Well you can push flat beer with c02 just as easily as you can push carbonated beer. I take an ounce or two from mine every single day while it's carb-ing.

 

[JLivermore]

Thanks for all the responses.

This thread is where I got 3 weeks from.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/keg-force-carbing-methods-illustrated-73328/

It looks like 3 is ideal, 2 is acceptable, and 1 is pushing it.

But hey if the beer will be decent this Friday (I kegged Saturday morning) then I look forward to finishing this week of work more than most!

 

[willness33]

Thanks for all the responses.

This thread is where I got 3 weeks from.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/keg-force-carbing-methods-illustrated-73328/

It looks like 3 is ideal, 2 is acceptable, and 1 is pushing it.

But hey if the beer will be decent this Friday (I kegged Saturday morning) then I look forward to finishing this week of work more than most!

Maybe I'm imaptient, but the beauty of kegging over bottling is not having to wait weeks to drink the fruits of your labor, IMO.

My process is simple. Rack from my secondary (at ferm temps) into the keg. Put the keg into the fridge. Hook up the gas at 5 psi or so and purge the keg for a few seconds. Crank the gas to 30psi and let it cool and carbonate for 48 hours. Reduce pressure to 8psi and start drinking.

It's very rare that I'm over or under carbed doing it this way.