CO2 pressures when force carbing

[Javaslinger]

Just built my keezer and am force carbing my first keg. I'm using the typical method of charging to 30psi and then agitating the keg (rolling back and forth) for 7 minutes. Then I hooked back up to 30 psi.

I noticed about an hour later that the pressure had dropped to ~25psi. I assumed this was CO2 being absorbed so I turned it up a bit back to 30psi and went to bed. In the morning it appeared to have fallen again back to ~25psi.

Is this normal? Should I be turning it back up? How do you handle this?

 

[devils4ever]

Sounds normal to me. If you're not in a super rush, I would leave it at 30 PSI for 12-18 hours, drop to 20 PSI for another 12-18 hours, and then down to normal pressure. This is what I do. Less fuss and work.

 

[Upthewazzu]

If it's hooked up to a CO2 tank and regulator it shouldn't drop once you set the pressure to 30psi.

My process is similar to yours except for the shaking. Just leave it at 30psi for 24-48 hours and don't mess with it.

 

[Javaslinger]

Ok, if it is dropping... Do I have a leak or a bad regulator?

 

[Upthewazzu]

Honestly not sure. I'd assume a bad regulator, but since its never happened to me I can't say.

 

[eltorrente]

I never use that much pressure - I'm always afraid of over-carbing. I set my regulator to my serving pressure (12-13psi usually), and shake and roll the keg until I don't hear the co2 anymore, then I put it in the kegerator and it's perfectly carbed in another couple days or so.

 

[DownHillonWater]

As long as you've got liquid in the tank its likely that your regulator isn't operating perfectly. I often see a few psi drop when I force carb. No big deal IMHO. I also use the the 30/20/final pressure approach outlined above (or 40/20/final if in a hurry). Good beer in 24–36 h. I bottled a batch 24 hr after starting to carb once, although I prefer at least a few days at final pressure to let things equilibrate.

 

[GPP33]

If you set your regulator at 30 and it drops to 25 you have a regulator problem. A leak won’t make it drop unless it’s big enough that the regulator can’t keep up but you’d notice that. The only other thing I can think of is you may be turning the regulator up to 30 then backing it off, once the CO2 is absorbed it’ll drop to the new setting. Slowly turn it up until it hits 30 then don’t touch the knob, turning it counter clockwise will lower the pressure setting but it will not respond right away.

And you’ll get better beer quicker if you just set the pressure a little higher and skip the shake. I go 50 for 24 hours, 30 for 24 hours then serving. It’s always good after the first 24 hours at 50, perfect after the 2nd 24 hours at 30 (skip the 24 @ 30 for dark beers).