CO2 Tank doesn't fit into fridge- Force Carbing Keg

[BykerBrewer]

Hello,

I just bought my first keg and am really excited to rack my house IPA into it in a couple days. My keg fits into my fridge, but my CO2 tank does not. I want to force carb now that I am not required to wait at least 2 weeks for the beer to carbonate in bottles. However, every force carbonation method I have read about requires first cooling the beer, then connecting the CO2 tank to the keg and shaking/rolling it for a few minutes, then placing the connected keg and CO2 tank in the fridge together for a few hours at a predetermined pressure. None of this is an issue except for that last step of placing the keg in the fridge while connected to the CO2 tank, as my CO2 tank does not fit into the fridge.

Is there a way I can force carb without at some point needing to put my CO2 tank into the fridge with the keg? Because the CO2 tank will not fit.

Cheers!

 

[day_trippr]

"every"? You've been hanging out with an uncivilized crowd

You can force carbonate beer at pretty much any temperature you want, it's just a matter of CO2 pressure.

Refer to our favorite carbonation table.
Find your beer temperature on the Y-axis, scan across that row until you hit your desired carbonation level expressed as Volumes of CO2 (a multiple of your beer volume, and where 2.4-2.5 volumes is fairly typical of most ales).

Run up that column, and you'll find the proper CO2 pressure setting that once the beer has reached equilibrium will provide the desired carbonation level.

But...if you just calculate the proper pressure and put the keg on gas, it's going to take a couple of weeks to reach that equilibrium, mostly because it takes that long for the gas to diffuse through the full column of beer, of which about 99.999% is not directly exposed to the CO2.

If you want to accelerate the process, that's where the "shake 'n' bake" procedure comes in. Using the exact same pressure setting you can gently rock the keg until you don't hear any gas entering the keg. Let it sit for a hour, do it again, and repeat until done...

Cheers!

[edit] As that table runs out at 65°F, if you need to run warmer you can use this calculator instead.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/keg-carbonation-calculator/

 

[treacheroustexan]

I would say just drill through your fridge because you're going to need the tank connected to the keg to dispense it.

 

[BykerBrewer]

"every"? You've been hanging out with an uncivilized crowd

You can force carbonate beer at pretty much any temperature you want, it's just a matter of CO2 pressure.

Refer to our favorite carbonation table.
Find your beer temperature on the Y-axis, scan across that row until you hit your desired carbonation level expressed as Volumes of CO2 (a multiple of your beer volume, and where 2.4-2.5 volumes is fairly typical of most ales).

Run up that column, and you'll find the proper CO2 pressure setting that once the beer has reached equilibrium will provide the desired carbonation level.

But...if you just calculate the proper pressure and put the keg on gas, it's going to take a couple of weeks to reach that equilibrium, mostly because it takes that long for the gas to diffuse through the full column of beer, of which about 99.999% is not directly exposed to the CO2.

If you want to accelerate the process, that's where the "shake 'n' bake" procedure comes in. Using the exact same pressure setting you can gently rock the keg until you don't hear any gas entering the keg. Let it sit for a hour, do it again, and repeat until done...

Cheers!

[edit] As that table runs out at 65°F, if you need to run warmer you can use this calculator instead.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/keg-carbonation-calculator/

Oh excellent! Thank you very much, I was unaware of that calculator.

Could I rack the beer into the keg, purge, put a few pounds of CO2 on it, disconnect the CO2 tank, toss the keg in the fridge overnight to cool it to 40 F, remove the keg from the fridge the next day, reconnect the CO2, put 10.1psi on it (2.3 volumes CO2 at 40F) and shake it for a few mins, put it back in the fridge for an hour or more, pour a sample to see where its at and repeat till its right?

Would this work okay?

 

[BykerBrewer]

I would say just drill through your fridge because you're going to need the tank connected to the keg to dispense it.

Haha I would consider that, but its only a 2.5g keg. Very easy to move. I'm planning on just pulling it from the fridge, connecting the CO2 tank and setting it to 8 psi or so whenever I want a pint.

 

[day_trippr]

Oh excellent! Thank you very much, I was unaware of that calculator.

Could I rack the beer into the keg, purge, put a few pounds of CO2 on it, disconnect the CO2 tank, toss the keg in the fridge overnight to cool it to 40 F, remove the keg from the fridge the next day, reconnect the CO2, put 10.1psi on it (2.3 volumes CO2 at 40F) and shake it for a few mins, put it back in the fridge for an hour or more, pour a sample to see where its at and repeat till its right?

Would this work okay?

A few minutes isn't going to get there.

Basically the rocking/shaking thing at its best is trying to expose the full volume of the keg contents to the CO2 in the head space. That takes much more than a few minutes. I've done this once and it took an afternoon to get fairly close to acceptable, with a 10 minute session to start, then every time I remembered another few minutes, until I snapped a cobra on it and gave it a taste.

Still, for those in a hurry that's a lot quicker than the typical 2.5 week "set and forget" process I use...

Cheers!

 

[Bilsch]

Since carbonation level isn't fixed and can be changed by adding more CO2 or venting it out.. you can just pressurize your keg to 20 or 30 lbs depending on the head space, toss in the fridge and then after a few days adjust as necessary. More accurate to drill a hole though certainly.

 

[BykerBrewer]

A few minutes isn't going to get there.

Basically the rocking/shaking thing at its best is trying to expose the full volume of the keg contents to the CO2 in the head space. That takes much more than a few minutes. I've done this once and it took an afternoon to get fairly close to acceptable, with a 10 minute session to start, then every time I remembered another few minutes, until I snapped a cobra on it and gave it a taste.

Still, for those in a hurry that's a lot quicker than the typical 2.5 week "set and forget" process I use...

Cheers!

Thanks a lot day trippr, that makes sense. I'll be sure to give it a few shake sessions before even trying it. Other than that, looks good?

 

[Thorsbrew]

or if that little keg is the only one you intend to use grab yourself a little fridge off craigslist for 30-40 bucks. Or grab yourself a bigger one to fit a dozen 5 gallon cornies for 100.

 

[BykerBrewer]

or if that little keg is the only one you intend to use grab yourself a little fridge off craigslist for 30-40 bucks. Or grab yourself a bigger one to fit a dozen 5 gallon cornies for 100.

Haha I like where your heads at! Unfortunately, I'm in a tiny studio apartment with no space for more refrigerators (I already have 2 refrigerators for fermentation chambers). If I had more space I definitely would as I'm sure I will be acquiring more than this one keg in the not so distant future...

 

[Maylar]

What works for me is to purge the keg and pressurize at 25 psi at room temp. Shake the keg good every 1/2 hr or so until the regulator doesn't 'hiss' any more. Leave it overnight, then next day bleed the PRV and put the keg in the fridge at 12-13 psi. Carbonation will be good after just a day. My keg and fridge are small too, and a hole for the gas line is no big deal.

 

[BykerBrewer]

Thank you everyone for the responses!

Today is the day, first time I will keg a beer. So here us my plan...
1. Get the beer under CO2 in the keg,
2. Cool the keg to 40 F overnight,
3. Then tomorrow set the regulator to 12-13psi, and then shake it for 15 mins every hour or so,
4. Repeat about 3-4 times,
5. Taste to determine carbonation...

Sound good? If I where to do this some super high number sessions, like 20, would I run the risk of overcarbing the beer? If the pressure (12-13psi) and temperature (40F) don't change, is it possible I end up with much more then 2.3-2.4 volumes CO2 in the beer? I'm just trying to better understand this. Cheers again!

 

[Thorsbrew]

If i had to do it that way id follow youtube videos ive seen where you cool to serving temp then set co2 to 30 PSI and shake keg for a few minutes, let settle and test. You'll just have to experiment to find what shake time at 30 PSI gets you where you want to be. Just based on what youtube videos have told me that couple be anywhere from a couple minutes to 15 minutes of shaking.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1dwBC-gKc8[/ame]
There's a video for ya.