Carbonation help
- Thread starter Jeff20578
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
I carbonate by beers for 2 days at 30 PSI. Sometimes I'll add an extra half day. Hopefully that helps.
I usually to 30 for a day or so then drop it. I was going to be out of town for a week and didn’t have the option to do it that way, so i figured doing 10 for a week would reach the same results. Not so much.
What temperature?
38-40.
I’m wondering if filling the Corny keg nearly to the top has stalled the progress. I’ve decided to push it another day at 30 - but I rolled the keg around a few times to help the gas infuse (maybe)!?
Carbonation level is a temperature vs pressure thing. 30 psi at room temp (68F) is equivalent to 12 psi at 38F. If you keep 30 psi at 38F you'll have foam city.
What I do is purge the air out of the keg with 25 psi at room temp (8 times fill/vent). I do this through the liquid line so it bubbles up through the cider. After purging I shake the keg (mine is small) and I can hear the gas flow through the regulator as it gets absorbed into the cider. Repeat every couple hrs. Then at the end of the day I put the keg in the fridge and drop pressure to 12-13 psi which gives about 2.5 vols at 38F.
Filling to near the top is actually good, it reduces the CO2 you lose when purging.
What I do is purge the air out of the keg with 25 psi at room temp (8 times fill/vent). I do this through the liquid line so it bubbles up through the cider. After purging I shake the keg (mine is small) and I can hear the gas flow through the regulator as it gets absorbed into the cider. Repeat every couple hrs. Then at the end of the day I put the keg in the fridge and drop pressure to 12-13 psi which gives about 2.5 vols at 38F.
Filling to near the top is actually good, it reduces the CO2 you lose when purging.
If you fill the keg to the point that it starts filling the curved portion of at the top of the keg, you reduce the surface area exposed to CO2. This will slow down the rate of carbonation. It's not possible to say how much slower it will be, since the interface area changes very rapidly as the fill level changes a very small amount.
Brew on
