Carbonation vs. Pressure

[danapellerin]

Ok, I just got my keezer built and am carbonating my second keg. The first keg I did at 12psi and my keezer is set to 38 degrees. Came out wonderfully.

The second keg however is a porter. So referring to the many carbonation charts that say porters should be carbonated less, I set it to 8psi. I poured a pint last night and while it tasted ok, it just kind of dribbled out of the faucet.

I understand about beer line length and resistance and all that, so my question is: How are you folks handling carbonation for different styles of beers while keeping all other parts of the system the same and still getting nice pours? Or would it be more realistic just to carb everything the same?

 

[bruteforce]

I carbonate most everything the same. However, if you want to use a lower carbonation, you can carb at 8 psi, then up the pressure while serving, then reduce again. 8 psi is pretty low to push the beer through (at least on my system)

 

[Morrey]

Ok, I just got my keezer built and am carbonating my second keg. The first keg I did at 12psi and my keezer is set to 38 degrees. Came out wonderfully.

The second keg however is a porter. So referring to the many carbonation charts that say porters should be carbonated less, I set it to 8psi. I poured a pint last night and while it tasted ok, it just kind of dribbled out of the faucet.

I understand about beer line length and resistance and all that, so my question is: How are you folks handling carbonation for different styles of beers while keeping all other parts of the system the same and still getting nice pours? Or would it be more realistic just to carb everything the same?

To carb all the same is understandable for convenience sake, but you'll be missing the subtleties that each style of beer offers being at various carb levels.

As all brewers face this kegging challenge, I bought a Taprite regulator that allows me to "add a body" which in essence allows you to serve various psi levels to different kegs off the same CO2 tank. I have one that has three bodies off one regulator (one tank) so I can have three unique serving pressures. I also have a Taprite with two bodies in a different chamber allowing two unique serving pressures. Lots of flexibility so its worth a look. Simply google Taprite add a body.

Another variable is the faucet on your tower. Again a debatable topic, but I switched to Perlick flow control 650SS taps and cannot say enough good things about them. With these taps you can run shorter lines and still be able to control flow and foaming with the tap's internal resistance mechanism. I mention this since you referred to the dribble from your tap.

 

[danapellerin]

To carb all the same is understandable for convenience sake, but you'll be missing the subtleties that each style of beer offers being at various carb levels.

As all brewers face this kegging challenge, I bought a Taprite regulator that allows me to "add a body" which in essence allows you to serve various psi levels to different kegs off the same CO2 tank. I have one that has three bodies off one regulator (one tank) so I can have three unique serving pressures. I also have a Taprite with two bodies in a different chamber allowing two unique serving pressures. Lots of flexibility so its worth a look. Simply google Taprite add a body.

Another variable is the faucet on your tower. Again a debatable topic, but I switched to Perlick flow control 650SS taps and cannot say enough good things about them. With these taps you can run shorter lines and still be able to control flow and foaming with the tap's internal resistance mechanism. I mention this since you referred to the dribble from your tap.

I have a three body secondary regulator so I can run different pressures. However, they all run at the same temp, and have the same length of lines. I might have to check out those flow control faucets. I saw them when I bought mine, but wasn't sure what they were for.

 

[dyqik]

I use mixing bits from epoxy glue nozzles in the liquid out dip tube of my kegs for beers with high carbonation to provide extra resistance to flow. That allows me to use the same length lines on both kegs, while keeping foaming down. 3-4 mixer inserts in the dip tube lets me serve at 20psi on a line sized for 12 psi. For 8 psi, I'd just drop the serving pressure as it doesn't slow down too much with my lines.

I saw the epoxy mixer nozzle idea here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=100151

I have a dual regulator, so I can run two carbonation/serving pressures to keep the carbonation right for my two kegs.

 

[Morrey]

I carbonate most everything the same. However, if you want to use a lower carbonation, you can carb at 8 psi, then up the pressure while serving, then reduce again. 8 psi is pretty low to push the beer through (at least on my system)

I thinks as bruteforce said, that 8 psi would be a very low pressure to force thru your serving lines and get much volume. Since you have the ability to serve at unique pressures, maybe you can keep the carb level at 8 psi, bump it to 12psi or so to serve, then back to 8 psi for storage. Tricky part will be to remember to turn it back to 8 psi after a pint or three!

 

[danapellerin]

I thinks as bruteforce said, that 8 psi would be a very low pressure to force thru your serving lines and get much volume. Since you have the ability to serve at unique pressures, maybe you can keep the carb level at 8 psi, bump it to 12psi or so to serve, then back to 8 psi for storage. Tricky part will be to remember to turn it back to 8 psi after a pint or three!

Yeah, I'm sure I'll forget. LOL. What I might do after thinking about it is just put together some short lines for lower carbed beers and just swap them out with the beers. A few feet of tubing and a disconnect shouldn't cost much.