Carbing first keg

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Twofox

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Didn't see any clear answers to this so here goes.

Per a friend, I set the keg at 30psi (it's at about 70F) and then unhooked the tank. That should take about a week to carb right?

It loses about 5 psi per day when I check it by hooking up the regulator to the keg with the tank off. Is that c02 being absorbed by the beer?

Once it's carb'd it will sit for a few weeks before the campout I'm taking it to. Do I just put a few lbs on it and let it sit or what?

Thanks all!
 
Didn't see any clear answers to this so here goes.

Per a friend, I set the keg at 30psi (it's at about 70F) and then unhooked the tank. That should take about a week to carb right?

It loses about 5 psi per day when I check it by hooking up the regulator to the keg with the tank off. Is that c02 being absorbed by the beer?

Once it's carb'd it will sit for a few weeks before the campout I'm taking it to. Do I just put a few lbs on it and let it sit or what?

Thanks all!

No.
Yes.
Maybe.

Ok, now let's do them one by one. If you unhooked the tank, the beer will NEVER carb. So, hook it back up and leave it at 30 psi at room temperature for three weeks. Then it will be carbed.

The reason you're "losing" the co2 is because it is being absorbed by the beer. That's what you want to happen.

After it's carbed up, you can either leave it on the gas (I would) or if there aren't any leaks, you can take it off of the gas.

Remember, if you carb the keg and room temperature and then chill it, you may have some foaming issues. Are you going to chill the keg the day you serve it?
 
Thanks for the info.

It will sit in the fridge at about 65F till the campout, then it will be hooked up to a jockey box for serving, not chilling the keg.
 
I would set it at more like 11or12 for 3weeks. If you leave it set at 30psi for 3weeks its going to be over carbed. You want to set it at your serving psi.
If you want you can set it at 30 for 36-48 hours, then turn it down to your serving psi
 
That seems a little long. The stores around be say to 30 pounds for 3 days or 40 pounds for 2 days. I know that I do the 30 for 3 rule then back it down to 5 pounds and serve.

OMG, so wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I need to stay out of this forum, it's killing me.
 
What you need to understand is that the volume of CO2 absorbed by the beer is dependent on pressure AND temperature. The amount of time is only relative to allowing the entire volume to absorb what it can at that particular temp. and pressure. Once the beer absorbs all it can, the time you let it sit at that temp/pressure is irrelevant.
If you are charging a keg and then disconnecting it, you're kinda flying blind unless you have a gauge on it and know what it's temperature is. This chart should be helpful to understand the concept of shooting for a specific volume by setting the pressure based on the temperature.

CARBONATION.png
 
Match your kegerater temp to the chart, locate your desired carb level and set the regulator to the pressure indicated and leave it sit connected to the gas at that pressure for about 3 weeks, perfectly carbed beer.

Follow that procedure and you wont have to worry about causing Wildwest to have an aneurysm by posting a thread about over carbed beer.
 
3 weeks? I thought one of the benefits to kegging was that you could force carb it and drink it within a few days instead of weeks (in a bottle)? Maybe I heard wrong from other sources.
 
When I space out on getting a beer carbed up in time for a party (like hooking it up and forgetting about it, tank went empty shortly after and it never carbed) I have set the pressure according to the chart and at serving pressure and shook the piss out of it to carb it fast, there will be some carbonic bite to it for a week or so but it will be carbed, if you try to shake with the pressure higher than target you risk over-carbing it, you can also over carb if you set it to like 30psi for a few days, I have done both without over-carbing, but the one I did over carb was a pain to get back down to the correct pressure.

Bottom line is over-carbed beer sucks to get back to the correct pressure, by setting your pressures correctly the risk is virtually non-existent
 
Ok very cool. I set it for 35psi @ ~65F and will let that sit. It already has some carb to it. So 3 weeks for aging, and carbing too. That's a nice way to go it seems.
 
What I do is simple. Once I'm ready to serve, I put the keg on the gas at 30 psi. I leave it there for about three days or so. Then I dial it back to serving pressure. 10-12 psi. Voila.
 
What I do is simple. Once I'm ready to serve, I put the keg on the gas at 30 psi. I leave it there for about three days or so. Then I dial it back to serving pressure. 10-12 psi. Voila.

That's pretty meaningless unless you tell us what the temperature of the keg was throughout that process.
 
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