Any way to carbonate a keg without opening it and without a regulator?

[dazsnow]

I have a 19L corny keg full of NEIPA that I wanted to force carb and get drinking quickly. After cooling the keg to 6 degrees I gave it an initial blast of CO2 to 30 psi. As I was shaking the keg, I knocked over the tank and broke my only regulator. It's not easy to buy one where I live so I ordered a new regulator online, but it will take about a week to arrive. So now I have a keg in my fridge with about 0.5L of headspace that's pressurized to 30psi; it's been like this for a couple of days, so I'd guess the beer is probably carbed to only around 3psi /1.5vol at this point.

I don't want to open it and risk introducing oxygen, so I can't prime it naturally, and my regulator would likely arrive before it's fully carbed anyway.

Should I:

1. Continue to shake the keg frequently (how frequently?)
2. Try (with difficulty) to think about something else until my new regulator arrives
3. Other (what?)

 

[Jtvann]

Wait and do nothing.

 

[bracconiere]

i'd go with option #2....

 

[Transamguy77]

Yes option #2, maybe go brew another beer to take your mind off that delicious NEIPA that you can’t drink.

 

[dmtaylor]

Prime it naturally anyway. Use 1/3 cup table sugar, boiled in a little water. The tiny amount of oxygen you add will be just fine.

 

[bracconiere]

Prime it naturally anyway. Use 1/3 cup table sugar, boiled in a little water. The tiny amount of oxygen you add will be just fine.

you just gave me an idea! what about using a tube on the gas post, and pour the sugar water through it! could bleed the air out of the QD and tube before attaching to the keg and adding it....?

 

[dmtaylor]

What about just pouring it in the normal way? Yes I’m serious.

 

[bracconiere]

What about just pouring it in the normal way? Yes I’m serious.

well, that's what i'd do. but i'm reading some people are really serious about oxygen.....i'm the same way about water! lol

 

[Golddiggie]

Reason 876976875 NOT to do the high pressure burst/shake carbonate method AND to have solid SA (situational awareness).

Of the options already listed, I'd go with #2 and leave it alone until your new regulator arrives. I'd also leave it in the kegorator/keezer at serving temperature.

There are also ways to have the finished beer ready to drink as soon as you put the keg into the kegorator/keezer and connect it up. No more effort to get the carbonation done, or waiting ~2 weeks for the set and forget method. As soon as I move my beer from fermenter, it's ready to drink.

 

[Tom R]

Do you have a big syringe?
If so, do like dmtaylor suggests in post #5, using a syringe into a ball lock to inject the sugar solution without opening the keg.

Very little oxygen exposure if you get the air out of the syringe and ball lock before injecting. I frequently do this with gelatin.

 

[jerrylotto]

Definitely keep it at serving temp. CO2 is a lot more soluble in water/beer at 37F than at room temp. PS - what broke on your regulator? Broken gauges can be replaced.

 

[dazsnow]

Definitely keep it at serving temp. CO2 is a lot more soluble in water/beer at 37F than at room temp. PS - what broke on your regulator? Broken gauges can be replaced.

It is at serving temp. I intend to serve at 6 degrees. I usually leave the tank hooked up at 15psi.

I just accidentally knocked the tank over when cleaning the floor and it must have fallen in precisely the wrong way or the regulator was already crap. Both gauges got dented so don't show an accurate reading, but they're not leaking at least. The issue is the pin doesn't work so the gas now just comes out at max pressure. So I can still pressurize the keg and bleed off pressure with a spunding valve to set it at a precise pressure, but that isn't going to help much... that's why I was considering maybe trying to keep hitting it with 30psi and shaking it then just leaving it to settle in the fridge for a day or so... but I suspect doing it that way will still take about as long as it will for the new regulator to arrive.

 

[jerrylotto]

At 37F you can dissolve 4 vol of CO2 - way overcarbed. Of course, that assumes that you keep it up to 30 psi by adding more gas as it dissolves. Your headspace calculation is just an estimate anyway. Why not just tap a glass and see?

 

[TheMadKing]

For the love of all things sacred stop shaking it! that's begging for overcarbonated beer

If you have a spunding valve just inject priming solution into the gas port with a syringe purged of air as suggested above and wait for it to carbonate naturally.

Another option is to hit it with 30 PSI and put your spunding valve on it and see what the pressure levels off at after 24 hours or so. If its less than 12 PSI, hit it again and wait. Shaking to carbonate kegs is just asking for trouble IMO. Degassing a keg is way more difficult than just carbonating it right in the first place.

 

[Beermeister32]

Go build yourself a gelatin injector. You could also use it for carbonating corn sugar solution. Easy to build, Lowe’s meat injector from the barbecue section, JB weld and a ball lock fitting. Works great!