Balancing the line for carbonated water (high pressure)

[DrakeDredgewater]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for having me on the forum. I am trying to carbonate water to give it a bit more bubbles than I find in conventional brands of carbonated water (I aim for about 40-60 psi; i know its a lot but i am curious to see how it will taste). So basically I got my gear pretty much ready but am struggling to find the right calibrations to get the water coming out the keg properly carbonated. I was wondering if anyone has any idea.

So this is bascially how far I am right now: I have a keg and filled it with water till about 1,5 inch from the top. I connected my CO2 tank to the keg and set the regulator at e.g. 60 PSI to start the forcecabonation. I let the water carbonate at about 45F for a couple of days. Based on the calculations on the website ( http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/) I calculated that for a hose with a diameter of 4mm (a bit smaller than 3/16" ) and putting the keg at the same level as the tap, I would need about 23 feet of hose. So i got the hose and connected it with a balllock pin to the keg. The water keeps coming out fast though and results in the water coming out very lightly carbonated. My question is what am i doing wrong; does anyone have an idea on how I can get the suffiencly carbonated water in the keg, to eventually be poored in the glass at around 60 psi?

Perhaps I have to open the relief valve to bleed pressure from the keg, should I turndown my regulator a couple of PSI when tapping the water? I tried to read several threads but didnt seem succesful in finding the solution.

Hope you guys can help me out

 

[Double_D]

I'd suggest more liquid line. I keep most of my beers at about 14 psi. I dispense with 14 feet of line. Nice pour, stays carbonated. You only have 50% more line than I do and you're quadruple the pressure.

 

[DrakeDredgewater]

Okay, I could try that. Any idea of how long the line should be?

 

[Yooper]

Okay, I could try that. Any idea of how long the line should be?

I've only used 3/16" line, so it will be a little different with your smaller line, but I found that 1 foot of serving line per 1 psi on the regulator worked great. I never did 60 psi, though- I did soda at 30-40 psi. I bought some semi-rigid line that was tougher to work with, but it coiled up nicely on top of the keg.

 

[DrakeDredgewater]

Thnx! I just ordered some more hoselength recently (75 feet!) to see how it will come out, am really curious; cant wait for the parts to come in by mail

 

[MrFoodScientist]

At 40-60psi, you're probably at the limits of your overpressure valves on your regulator, unless you're using a regulator made for post mix machines.

At any rate, what temperature are you dispensing at? That's going to make a difference. Get it as cold as you possibly can.
One thing that might help is to turn the gas off, then bleed some pressure before dispensing. It's not a great solution if you only dispense a little bit here and there, but if you plan on dispensing a good portion of the keg, say for some event, then it works fairly well.

 

[DrakeDredgewater]

My regulator can take a bit more pressure, aswell as my overpressure relief valves, so I reckon I am good as far as that aspect. Bit its a good thing to keep in mind, thnx!

As for the temperature, I think I can do a bit better on that, I am going to try to keep it extra cold in my next test. Any temperature you would suggest?

And yeah, I think you are right; bleeding the keg would work well if you would fill several bottles at once. Nevertheless I am afraid that would also imply that the last bottle you fill is less carbonated than the first (since the CO2 escapes from the water in the keg since the pressure in the keg drops as you fill up more bottles). Wouks that happen or is it negletable you think?