Beginner kegging carbonation issue

[TxBigHops]

Finally took the kegging plunge after years of home brewing. My first beer has been in the keg almost three weeks. Originally I was keeping pressure on it for a few hours every day, but the carbonation was great last weekend, so I'm not keeping the gas on all the time. Is that a mistake? Tuesday night I had the gas on for a while, and I filled a growler, which I took to a friend's house yesterday. Beer was excellent. Tonight (Thursday) I hooked the gas back up, appeared to have about 12 psi of head pressure, bled some off, and filled two more growlers to take to my home brewers club competition tomorrow. Then I pulled off a glass to drink and - damn! It's flat!!! How could carbonated beer with head pressure go flat in a sealed keg in two days? Do I have to keep the pressure on constantly, even after it's fully carbed?

 

[TxBigHops]

Followup question. What's the best option to save the half gallon of beer in the two growlers?

Options I've thought of - I have a carbonation stone on my keg lid. I could take it and insert it in the bottles and run some co2 in them, but I doubt that would work. I could probably only keep the gas running for a few seconds (not enough) and it would probably bubble over losing beer, and introducing oxygen when I pulled it out, and it wouldn't be under pressure - so unlikely to work.

Second option would be bring them to room temp, drop in the proper amount of sugar, and put them away to bottle condition for a couple of weeks. Unless I get a better suggestion, I'll probably try this.

 

[TxBigHops]

OK, I think I may know why the beer in my glass was flat. How much beer is in 5 feet of beer line plus the pickup tube? Because I hadn't poured any from the faucet since Sunday, and I only poured 3-4 oz. I filled the growlers from a beer gun that uses different lines. I bet the growlers are fine. But I'm still gonna fill a fresh one in the morning for my competition...

 

[Pkrd]

Yes you should keep the gas on all the time.

 

[PADave]

You keep on the gas all the time. Once the beer absorbs all the co2 it can at your pressure and temp, everything equalizes in the keg. At that point the co2 is just used to push the beer out of the keg.

There is only a couple oz in 5 ft of line.

 

[petemoss]

Yeah, you will want to keep pressure on it all of the time. You can search google for a beer carbonation chart and it will tell you what pressure to use for a given temperature and desired carbonation level. At most common beer storage temps in a refrigerator 12 psi should have got you a decent carbonation. Keep in mind though, as PADave said, it is about equilibrium at that pressure. So if you set it to 12 psi and leave it long enough it will come up to the proper carbonation that 12 psi provides. This could take a couple of weeks potentially though. That is why many of us will set the psi to like 25 - 30 for a couple of days to force carbonate the beer. Then we drop the pressure down to the proper value to maintain that carbonation level and of course to dispense the beer.

 

[TxBigHops]

OK, thanks all. I really didn't think I was supposed to keep the gas on all the time. When I do keep it on overnight, I set it around 12-14, but by morning it has crept up to 18-20. I'm thinking maybe this is because of the carbonation stone. Maybe now that it's fully carbed, I'll move the gas line over to the regular IN post instead of the carb stone post on the lid.

And BTW, my beer placed 3rd out of 12 at my home brew club competition!

 

[petemoss]

Awesome. Congratulations.

 

[petemoss]

Oh by the way, do you guys do a competition every meeting or was this a special occasion. We have monthly meetings where we have a beer style theme and try each others, but we don't compete per se.

 

[TxBigHops]

Oh by the way, do you guys do a competition every meeting or was this a special occasion. We have monthly meetings where we have a beer style theme and try each others, but we don't compete per se.

We do one competition per quarter with one style that anyone competing brews. Our club has grown a lot in the past couple of years and we are trying to build more interest and participation by holding competitions. So far they are pretty low key, but we are planning some bigger ones where we will invite other area home brew clubs and possibly have accredited judges.

 

[petemoss]

Very cool.