Bottle Carbonation vs Room Temp

[bigdawg86]

I am in the process of getting a 3 tap keezer put together. In my research for determining beer lines, keg pressure to carb, and dispensing pressure I came across what I would consider an inconsistency in the beer theory.

1.) When force carbing a keg, the beer has to be at temperature in order to absorb C02 properly.

12 PSI @ 34 degrees should get you carbed in 2 weeks, but it would take 30 PSI to do the same at room temperature.

2.) When bottle carbing "put it in a warmer closet so it carb faster".

I understand that a warmer climate good to get the yeast active so they produce the C02, but then what? By the logic above in #1 you won't properly bottle carb your beer unless the bottle pressure was also in the 30PSI range. Wouldn't you then need to cold condition the bottles for a week or two so that the C02 in the headspace can then dissolve into solution?

I guess I am not sure what to do with an IPA I bottled close to 1 month ago. Should I leave it in a closet until ready to drink? Should I store in keezer? If so, when?

 

[Kharnynb]

you should cool bottles for at least 1 week indeed after carbing them.

 

[doug293cz]

There is no inconsistency in the physics.

When you bottle condition at room temp, the headspace pressure is indeed about 30 - 35 psi. But most of the CO2 is still in the beer. When you chill the beer, you do dissolve most of the headspace CO2 in the beer, but since the new amount dissolved is a small fraction of what's in the beer already, the carb level in the beer changes very little after extended chilling.

If you are curious about actual numbers, just ask and I will whack you over the head with all the math.

Brew on