Carbonation in kegging critique

[sak3358]

I have a question about this. First of all this forum has been great resolving many questions I've had and I've banked a bunch of the advice for future reference. Now the question. I did the 30 psi force carb, shaked, purged and repeated..no purge. Then I set the keg in the fridge for 36 hours...WITHOUT the CO2 connected. I pulled it out of the fridge, purged and connected the CO2 @ 12 psi....foam. I purged and dropped the psi to 8, still had foam. I set the keg bac in the fridge and waited until the next day.....nice pour, head could have been better...but the taste was just fine. Please critique and offer advice.

Thanks!

 

[TexLaw]

Seriously, don't mess around with the shaking at high PSI. If I shake my kegs at all, I do so at my desired storing/serving pressure. After shaking and leaving the CO2 hooked up, I get a great pour after about 4 or 5 days without adjusting the regulator, bleeding the keg, or futzing around in any way whatsoever.

If I am willing to give it a few more days, I just hook it up at storing/serving pressure and wait a week or so. No messing around at all, there.


TL

 

[JVD_X]

I have a question about this. First of all this forum has been great resolving many questions I've had and I've banked a bunch of the advice for future reference. Now the question. I did the 30 psi force carb, shaked, purged and repeated..no purge. Then I set the keg in the fridge for 36 hours...WITHOUT the CO2 connected. I pulled it out of the fridge, purged and connected the CO2 @ 12 psi....foam. I purged and dropped the psi to 8, still had foam. I set the keg bac in the fridge and waited until the next day.....nice pour, head could have been better...but the taste was just fine. Please critique and offer advice.

Thanks!

I did my first secondary in a corney with this last batch... so cool! As soon as the head started to fall (or I should say the day after) from the primary I racked it into my corney, sealed it up, purged the 02, and started lagering. Each day I use my pressure guage and bleeder valve to adjust the pressure to the 15 PSI that Beersmith says I should be at... much much easier than going to glass for the secondary that I can't believe I haven't done this sooner.

To boot.. it takes up less space in my fridge.

This is something you might want to try.

 

[Bobby_M]

When you shake and/or use higher PSI than your desired equilibrium pressure for the volumes you want. You really have no idea what kind of volumes you have. You say you have a nice pour but you might be at 1.7 volumes or 2.5. You just don't know. Starting from where you are now, you can set to equilibrium pressure and it will eventually make it to the volumes in the chart given a week or two but..... I wouldn't do it this way.

I'll give my 2.5 volume beers a head start with 48 hours or so at 20psi, but then i purge and dial back to my "zone" pressure and leave it for a week. That's usually enough, sometimes not.

I highly doubt that most brewers can pour a beer, take a sip, and tell you the volumes of carb within a few tenths. Maybe it's not important.

 

[BierMuncher]

Seems like you went nearly 48 hours from first shake to "tasted okay".

Shaking is fast and effective, but inaccurate. Plus, shaking undoes any settling that may have already occurred in your quest for a clearer beer.

If you're in a hurry:
Set the PSI to 30 for 36 hours...no shake. (This assumes your keg is cold. If it is room temp, add 12 more hours)

If you're not in a hurry:
Set your PSI to serving pressure and wait 10-14 days.

 

[Dominator6]

Very true about force carbing and shaking at 25-30 PSI. I got impatient about my cream ale and did the shake. It took me a week to get it to pour and serve correctly. If I would have just waited and set to 10-12 PSI I wouldn't have had this problem. Best thing to do from here is bleed it off for a day and then set to your serving pressure(be sure to take beer line length into consideration) for another day and see if it levels out. 12psi is a little high unless you have quite a long line that you are serving from. I would have it at 6-8psi and move up from there!

Good Luck and remember...Patience is a virtue...especially in brewing!