Clarification of terms

[bradneal]

Cold crashing: After fermentation, move carboy/bucket into -40F environment until clear; sample for proper taste, then keg or bottle.

Force carbonation: Rack beer into keg, pressurize to 30lbs of C02, shake keg every few minutes, bleeding pressure between shakes, tap and refrigerate.

I would like to try kegging for the first time and want to make sure I understand these 2 procedures before I get started. So do I have it right?

Thanks,
Brad

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Somewhat...

Cold crashing is meant to solidify the yeast cake more than clearing. It will clear a little bit, but not in the few days that it will be cold crashed for.

As for you kegging procedure...I wouldn't recommend ever going above 20psi on your regulator. Some people do it and swear they don't overcarb, but it takes a lot of practice. I would bet that 9 of 10 people who use the 30psi/shake method have overcarbonated kegs.

I would suggest searching the forums for a carbonation chart. Once you determine the temperature of your keg and the desired carbonation level, the chart will tell you the correct psi to set your regulator at. Most of the time, it will be between 10-12 psi. Just hook up the co2, purge your keg, and let it sit for a few weeks with the co2 turned on at 10-12psi. It will be ready to drink in about 5 days, but it should hit it's peak in about 3 weeks.

 

[Homercidal]

-40F degrees is pretty cold. I would go with around 40F

I have tried a few different methods of force carbing. The 30 PSI and shaking works, but I usually do it just to get it up there quick. It takes practice to not overcarb. Then again, as long as it's not too foamy, I don't mind the carb being kind of high. Depends on the beer. After shaking, I drop it down to 12-15 PSI in the fridge.

 

[Donner]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but force carb seems to actually have two meanings. First is that it means using co2 to carb the beer, regardless of psi. So carving at any psi for any length of time is force carbing. As in the opposite of naturally carbing with sugar.

The second definition is the method you mentioned. Using the shake method to carb in hours instead of days.

Generally, I'll put it on 30psi for 24 hours and then drop that to serving pressure (10-12) after that. I don't generally touch it for a week or two, either. Short periouds at high psi won't over carb unless you are aggressive about rolling/shaking to really force the co2 into solution.

 

[bradneal]

Thanks for the reply's. I think I'll just stick to the traditional method that Suthrncomfrt refers to - that being set to 01-12 lbs and wait a week or so.

-40F degrees is pretty cold. I would go with around 40F

Doh! I meant <40F, not -40F (but I think you already had that figured out).

So then, the cold crashing is simply a way to help solidify the cake so that you don't rack junk into the keg?

Sorry for all the newb questions, but I'm a, well... newb

I did search for these answers and thought I understood their meaning, but you know how that goes.

Thanks again,
Brad

 

[Zen_Brew]

Yep.

Cold crashing is dropping the temperature to get some more of the yeast and sediment to drop out of the beer. It also helps prep for force carbonation as you can put the beer into the keg cold facilitating co2 uptake. To further facilitate clearing some people add a fining agent such as gelatine.

Force carbonation technically refers simply to carbonating your beer with co2 vs naturally carbonating with yeast. As to getting your carbonation up quickly, yes you can use the shake method, however as others have stated it is easy to over carb. I have also found another minor downside. By laying the keg down and shaking you are getting lots of beer up against your presure relief valve. It can become sticky due to the beer and may be more likely to stick a bit open when you bleed pressure. I have never had one not reseat, just get a little moody about reseating.

Another way I use sometimes to jump start a carbonation is to make sure the beer is cold, then just turn the regulator up to 25 psi or so and let it sit there. I start checking the carb level after about 36 hours. Check it every 4-6 hours after that and turn it down to serving pressure when it gets close. This is usually somewhere in the 48-60 hour area. Again, easy to get over carbonated if you don't monitor it carefully. Sometimes I will use a mixture of the shake method, then the higher psi till finished method. It just takes a couple times till you get a feel for your system.