Can I force carbonate a keg at room temp?

[tgmartin000]

According to the force carbonating chart, it appears that I can force carb at room temp. However, I'm assuming when I cool to serving temp, it will become overcarbonated? I usually keep my regulator about 15 psi.

I have an extra line coming out of my CO2 regulator (which sits outside my fridge) - it splits at the regulator, and only one line goes into the fridge, to a 3-way splitter. My fridge is currently full (2 serving kegs and one lagering). I've got a full keg waiting to carb, which I'd like to do with the spare line outside my fridge.

What does everyone else do in this sitch?

 

[JonM]

I've carbed keg 1 for two weeks, then pulled it out of the fridge and done keg 2 for 2 weeks. Not ideal, but it does the trick. By the time that close-to-empty keg kicks, you've got one ready to go.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

If you carb it at Room Temp and 15PSI it will be undercarbed. So when you put it in the fridge you'll still have to wait a week or so. If you had another regulator and tank you could sit it at ~22PSI at Room Temp for 1-2 weeks.
The * would be that when you carb at room temperature, you need to disconnect the CO2 line before chilling. The problem arises if you leave it at 22PSI and chill it to say 40F, then it will be severely overcarbonated.

 

[Vigo_Carpathian]

Set it to 30 psi at room temp for two weeks. This is the SAME carbonation level as 12 psi at 4C. When you cool it to 4C, it will come to equilibrium around 12psi, which is around 2.6 volumes. No need to worry about overcarbing under these conditions.

 

[hilts]

Set it to 30 psi at room temp for two weeks. This is the SAME carbonation level as 12 psi at 4C. When you cool it to 4C, it will come to equilibrium around 12psi, which is around 2.6 volumes. No need to worry about overcarbing under these conditions.

If I use this same procedure, when would you add gelatine? I know that gelatine need to be cold to work, but what if I carb at room temp around 25psi for a week, then put the keg in the fridge at 12 psi for another week. Any foreseeable problems with that?

 

[masonsjax]

If not serving the keg for a couple of weeks, why not prime it and let it naturally carbonate? Add around 3oz of fermentable sugar (dextrose, white sugar, etc.) and seal the lid, purge air, let it ride until you're ready to tap.

 

[hilts]

Natural carbonation in the keg has a few negatives. First being yeast propagation, second inconsistency. I've only tried it a couple times, but there seems to be a bunch of gunk in the first few pints, and it is sometimes under or overcarbonated. I think this has to do with the amount of head space in the keg, which isn't always exactly the same.

 

[masonsjax]

If you keg, there's gunk in your first pint regardless, unless you filter. I naturally carb a lot of my kegs and haven't really noticed large inconsistencies when it comes to carb levels. I do try to fill my kegs to about the same level, and as with any keg, I let the serving pressure fine tune the carb level. All kegs I've ever primed were very drinkable as soon as they were chilled. Personally I'm fine with those negatives if they're just sitting there waiting their turn anyway. To each his own though.