Carbing ??? Noobie

FxdGrMind · Jan 24, 2009

Ok, racked to keg Tuesday night and put on CO2 10 psi on the regulator gage. Dropped temp in fridge to 38 deg then up to 40 (serving temp). Daily checked the CO2 reg pressure and adjusted to maintain 10 psi. Lines are 3/16" and 4 feet 6 inches long, with a vertical gain from mid Keg of 28 inches, so my calculated line should be 2.75 feet for a 9.6 PSI CO2 load (but mine are longer).

This is an Alaskan Amber Ale (ALT Bier) German style made with S-04 yeast, 7 days primary, 15 days Secondary and 3.5 days on CO2.

I pulled 1 cup off the bottom as I had cleaned the keg and purged the lines before Racking to Keg. and noticed that there was no head.

I pulled off another cup in a glass. So that I could inspect it and taste it.
It's a beautiful amber color and very nice little (almost chanpagne) bubbles.. but no head again (no froth) at aprox 10 psi on the regulator.

I brought the reg pressure up to 14 psi. Have I just not waited long enough for the carbing? or was it lack of pressure in the line that caused the smooth (no froth) pour?

Cheers

thereefgeek · Jan 24, 2009

Could be a soapy residue in the glass killing the head. After my glasses leave the dishwasher, the get an additional rinse just in case (we don't usually use Jet-Dry for some reason).

I may be an anomaly, but I've never worried about the "perfect line length" or flow resistance, or whatever else people obsess about when pouring a draft. My serving hose is about 3' of 3/16" beer line. I usually force carb at 25psi for a day or two and drop it down to about 3-4 psi to start pouring. Once in awhile I'll tweak the regulator ever so slightly until the ideal volume of CO2 end up in the glass. For bottling off the picnic faucet I'll usually push it up to 5-7 and use the "poor man's beer gun" method. Works like a charm.

edit: my beer is already been cold crashed prior to kegging, so CO2 tends do disolve into solution a little easier.

McKBrew · Jan 24, 2009

3.5 days at 10psi isn't anywhere near long enough. You are looking at closer to two weeks to be carbonated.

Look through some of these results for carbing times and methods to speed things up.

FxdGrMind · Jan 24, 2009

Dang... I read that force carb thread ... alas it was last weeks ago.... I meant to go back and re-read it before I went to keg... but forgot and for some reason had it in my head to bring it to serving pressure and that 3-4 day's would be fine.. rather than 3-4-days after 30 PSI force carbing...

Thanks for the reminder!
Cheers... maybe by tomorrows NHL Allstar game it will be carbed enough as I've bumped up to 20 psi (half the difference) due to the carb level currently and I'll turn it back down tomorrow morning and balance for 10-12 psi for pouring.

Cheers

FxdGrMind · Jan 25, 2009

Dang.. 24 hrs at 20 psi... still "Nothing"...

I ramped up to 30 psi now, but it's too late for the NHL Game today...

So as I have a Heff coming on "Tuesday" next week. Should I ramp to 30 psi for 48 hrs straight off then back down?

Seems that my beer is taking an awfull lot longer than the Chart (in the link above) would seem to indicate it should take.

Cheers