carbing a 9.5L keg

[aussie brewer]

Does anyone have a method to carb a 9.5L keg? I seem to be overcarbing, and undercarbing, cant seem to get any bubbles in my beer

 

[day_trippr]

How are you actually carbonating the keg: applying external CO2, or "naturally" via priming sugar (and yeast, if needed)?
For the former, it's dead simple: use our favorite carbonation table or equivalent, find your beer temperature on the Y-axis, scan across that row to your desired level of carbonation (expressed in volumes of CO2, where 2.4-2.5 is typical for many styles) then run up that column to find the appropriate CO2 pressure that will eventually reach equilibrium at your chosen carbonation level.

The latter is trickier and requires a keg that will seal at moderate pressure, but there are plenty of calculators available that will help with the priming charge...

Cheers!

 

[aussie brewer]

How are you actually carbonating the keg: applying external CO2, or "naturally" via priming sugar (and yeast, if needed)?
For the former, it's dead simple: use our favorite carbonation table or equivalent, find your beer temperature on the Y-axis, scan across that row to your desired level of carbonation (expressed in volumes of CO2, where 2.4-2.5 is typical for many styles) then run up that column to find the appropriate CO2 pressure that will eventually reach equilibrium at your chosen carbonation level.

The latter is trickier and requires a keg that will seal at moderate pressure, but there are plenty of calculators available that will help with the priming charge...

Cheers!

thanks day tripper, im using a small CO2 bottle, tried setting to 35psi then rocking for a min, left until next day then it was over carbed, ill have a look at the carb table! im using a short beer line with a picnic tap

 

[day_trippr]

If you're bound and determined to rapidly carb a keg using the shaking method you really want to use the pressure indicated by the chart/calculator, then you can shake your brains out without risk of over-carbonating the beer. Using what would be considered a "burst carb" pressure with rocking/shaking pretty much guarantees over-carbonation...

Cheers!

 

[teddy464]

I agree with day tripper. I used to force keg by rocking it and there were times when I would get good carbing for a day and then it would end up over-carbed. The slow and steady way is by far the best, it takes longer, but in the end you will have perfectly carbed beer by following day tripper's method.

 

[aussie brewer]

I was trying to carb at 65F, the table says 26psi at 64F so do I leave the pressure at 26psi for a week or so and it will have 2.4vol Co2?
cheers

 

[teddy464]

I was trying to carb at 65F, the table says 26psi at 64F so do I leave the pressure at 26psi for a week or so and it will have 2.4vol Co2?
cheers

Yes, but don't be surprised if it takes a little longer. I have had my kegs take up to two weeks to fully carb, but I haven't changed the O-rings/seals in a long time either.

 

[aussie brewer]

Yes, but don't be surprised if it takes a little longer. I have had my kegs take up to two weeks to fully carb, but I haven't changed the O-rings/seals in a long time either.

Ok thanks! im going to try this method

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw...

For a full five gallon keg of ~1.010-1.015 FG beer I've found it consistently takes ~ 2.5 weeks at the appropriate pressure to reach equilibrium, so that green curve is pretty accurate. Smaller volume kegs obviously will take less time - it wouldn't surprise me if a 5 liter keg would be done in a handful of days, a 10 liter in a week...

Extensive thread on carbonation methodologies here

Cheers!

 

[aussie brewer]

Still having trouble getting bubbles in my beer, i think it was over carbed so i hooked up the gas to the beer out and de gassed it. Seemed flat after? last night i turned the pressure up to 30psi then turned the gas off straight after, this morning i had a look at the regulator and its at 15psi. Im confused if the beer is over or under carbed??? someone help please!!!

 

[aussie brewer]

False alarm, its finally carbed properly, turning the psi up to 30 then off last night fixed it