I'm having a bit of trouble carbonating my latest dunkel. I initially set it to roughly 38PSI for about 24 hours, then let it sit around 15PSI for 9 days as of today. There's very little carbonation on that thing, at least in the samples I've tried thus far (after the loads of foam has settled). Could the fact that the beer finished a bit malty (~1.020) have anything to do with it? Should I shake the keg around a little bit and then try it again?
Beer not carbonating in keg..
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TipsyDragon
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figure out what the PSI should be for the temp you are carbonating at and style you are making. there are plenty of online calculators out there. pressurize and shake shake shake till you don't see any more movement in the regulator gauge.
"loads of foam" makes me think you overcarbed it. Or maybe you have a leaking keg lid?
I don't want to shake though as that will give me some uneven carbonation. While lots of foam may lead me to believe I overcarbed it, the liquid itself holds little to no carbonation. Normally I will set the psi a little higher than normal and test from my faucet daily until I achieve a carbonation I like, and will stop it there. The temp is roughly 40F.
Not even possible, a keg is a single, well-mixed volume.
Over-carbonated beer produces excessive foam and leaves very little CO2 in the beer. The bubbles strip additional CO2 out as they form. Somewhat counter-intuitive, but it's like an avalanche leaving bare rock behind.
Oh wow I never knew that. Why is that? How should I handle it then?
Take it off the gas, and purge the excess co2 every few hours for a couple of days. Then put the gas on at serving pressure (something like 8-12 psi) and leave it be for 2 weeks at serving temperature.
There are lots of calculators/spreadsheets out there that provide the appropriate pressure given the temperature and desired carb level.
There are lots of calculators/spreadsheets out there that provide the appropriate pressure given the temperature and desired carb level.
What are your serving lines like? Do you have at least 6 feet of 3/16" ID?
you ALWAYS beat me to asking this question Bobby!
so I'll ask it a different way...
how long does it take you to fill a pint glass? if its quick, you're dispensing too fast!
agree...i'm guessing short lines..
I'm actually just using a faucet directly on the keg...so yeah, it's dispensing pretty fast. :cross:
Edit: I know about all the tables and appropriate temps vs pressure to achieve the desired volumes of CO2. I actually was aiming for lower than what is desired for a dunkel, keeping my PSI around 16 (as opposed to ~20). I gave it an initial boost of a little over 24 hours at 38 PSI, and then brought it down to 16-17 and have kept it there since. This is my first time using a chrome faucet (my picnic taps were....stolen. Yes.) so I'm not used to it yet. Should I bring the PSI down before serving? It comes out pretty damn fast. But even then, with all that foam, shouldn't the beer itself be carbonated still?
Edit number 2: Figured it out. Turns out it wasn't an overcarbonation problem at all. Thanks for the heads up on the line length. I lowered the pressure to 4 PSI and it came out perfectly. Guess I'll have to wait until I build my Kegerator this summer to serve at equilibrium pressure.
Edit: I know about all the tables and appropriate temps vs pressure to achieve the desired volumes of CO2. I actually was aiming for lower than what is desired for a dunkel, keeping my PSI around 16 (as opposed to ~20). I gave it an initial boost of a little over 24 hours at 38 PSI, and then brought it down to 16-17 and have kept it there since. This is my first time using a chrome faucet (my picnic taps were....stolen. Yes.) so I'm not used to it yet. Should I bring the PSI down before serving? It comes out pretty damn fast. But even then, with all that foam, shouldn't the beer itself be carbonated still?
Edit number 2: Figured it out. Turns out it wasn't an overcarbonation problem at all. Thanks for the heads up on the line length. I lowered the pressure to 4 PSI and it came out perfectly. Guess I'll have to wait until I build my Kegerator this summer to serve at equilibrium pressure.
bendavanza
Well-Known Member
You might also read
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/cure-your-short-hose-troubles-100151/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/cure-your-short-hose-troubles-100151/
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/beer-line-assembly.html
This could be what your looking for in the short term.
This could be what your looking for in the short term.
wildwest450
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That statement makes no sense and is completely untrue.
Nah, well that's just a standard picnic tap. I was curious if there were any connectors to a chrome faucet that would allow it to be hooked directly onto a hose, as opposed to a picnic faucet. That way I could still use it to serve for the time being without needing to lower the pressure. Think kegerator, but the type with the faucet drilled directly onto the fridge as opposed to a tower.
bendavanza
Well-Known Member
maybe you're looking for http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=2270 or just http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=2344 and add your own threaded QD and faucet (many homebrewers prefer perlick forward seal faucets, if you're looking for investment in your kegerator's future)
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This works as a generic "stop my foam problem", but isn't a proper setup either. He needs to find first what level of co2 he wants in his beer, then decide what temperature. Then he can use the charts to determine the pressure needed to achieve the volumes he wants at the temp he wants. After that he can use the online calculators to determine what length of 3/16 line he needs to balance his system.
I know the "crank it high and shake it" method is appealing because it's "faster" but is it really faster if you have to then purge and recarb several times because it keeps causing you to severely over carb you beer?
Just setup a balanced system, and set it and forget. The 1-2 weeks to carb the beer will do the beer some good anyway.
My setup is 10-11 psi, at ~40° and 5ft lines. The calculators told me to use 3' lines but I couldn't bring my self to do after I'd previously used 10' 1/4" lines. I get hardly any head on my beers and think it would benefit from 3' lines, but am just too lazy to change them.
I run many types of beers at different volumes of co2 adjusted w/ serving pressure and can always pour a perfect beer (almost)...8' of 3/16" just allows for pressure to drop gradually as long as they are cold...
There is nothing "improper" with this method and it allows a little leeway...Trust me if you quick carb to 4 volumes it will still foam....
lol This thread is taking off in all sorts of directions. I figured out my problem a ways back though...See, this is my 3rd kegged beer, and the first two I used picnic taps for. With the picnic taps, as you know, you lower the psi to 3-5 to serve and it comes out fine. For these, I followed the procedure of setting the keg to triple the desired psi on day 1 for 24 hours, then lowering it to the desired equilibrium psi (which, in the case of those two beers, was around 13-15). This worked perfectly and had me exactly what I wanted in roughly one week. What happened here was, even though I followed the exact same procedure as previously, my picnic taps were stolen, and I was under the impression that you could just use a chrome faucet under any pressure and have perfectly flowing beer...so I just bought one of those quick disconnect attachments to a chrome faucet. I forgot to take into account the line length. So now the only components I have are the chrome faucet and quick disconnect to the keg...once I lower the pressure to 4-5 PSI, the Dunkel comes out perfectly. Btw, I'm doing ~40-43F @ 15 PSI to give me a slightly higher than normal carbonation, which is desired for wheats.
Though don't get me wrong, this whole line length discussion is great, I completely overlooked it when figuring out my kegerator plans.
Though don't get me wrong, this whole line length discussion is great, I completely overlooked it when figuring out my kegerator plans.
I use a picnic tap at 12psi (just need longer lines)...
Wait, really? I remember reading somewhere on here that, no matter how far you go, you can't use a picnic tap @ higher pressures.
