Hello all. I recently got my hands on a keg for a fairly good price so I went ahead and got it. I have been making root beer using the Zatarain extract, following a recipe effectively the same as on the bottle. In the past i have been using yeast to carbonate in bottles but am now trying to use CO2 with the keg. I have read tons of forum posts and have tried carbonating at anywhere between 25-30psi in a 37°F fridge. I have allowed the keg to sit for over a week in this state. I then connected 25' of 3/16 ID hosing to the outlet as many posts suggested either turning down the pressure for serving or using a LONG serving line. However, even under these conditions, my root beer comes out flat. The instant it leaves the serving line and touches the glass (tilted or not) all of the foam comes out and I am left with a flat (or mostly flat) soda. I have no clue if this is due to overcarbonation of the root beer, using too long of a serving line, or some other factor. I am very new to kegging so I have been trying to find my way around this issue for a bit. Any help would be appreciated and I plan to check back regularly if any more info is needed.
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While gas is connected to gas, lay the keg on its side and rock it back and forth. You should hear gas entering the keg. Do this for a minute or two until you’re sure the hissing has stopped.
Thanks for your reply. The shaking method was something I had tried previously and it does provide good carbonation to the pop. However, when I tried doing this, I would still get the same result as described as above - the CO2 would fall out of solution when being poured. I even gave it a day or two to settle but still no success. This is why I have a feeling it has something to do with the serving side but I have no clue what it could be.
One thing I am thinking is that it could be overcarbonated? Having it at 37°F and 30psi would put it in the mid-4 vols. I may try bleeding off some of the gas and dropping down the pressure.
One thing I am thinking is that it could be overcarbonated? Having it at 37°F and 30psi would put it in the mid-4 vols. I may try bleeding off some of the gas and dropping down the pressure.
I carbonated at 40psi. I don't think you're over-carbonating it.
You might need more body to your rootbeer. Try maltodextrine and/or lactose. I think I used 4 tbsp of maltodextrine in mine. I suppose you could add some to a cup of water, boil it for a minute, then dump into your kegged rootbeer. For science!
You might need more body to your rootbeer. Try maltodextrine and/or lactose. I think I used 4 tbsp of maltodextrine in mine. I suppose you could add some to a cup of water, boil it for a minute, then dump into your kegged rootbeer. For science!
Sorry for not updating this thread earlier. I ended up adding 4tbsp maltodextrin to it and that definitely helped it keep a head but it still poured as almost all foam. I ended up just drinking the rest of that keg and then tried carbonating water because I did not have all the ingredients for another batch. For the water, I carbonated at 38°F at 20psi and this came out almost perfect. It had a great amount of carbonation to it. I then tried doing this with another batch of root beer, this time with only 2tbsp of maltodextrin because it was keeping the head a little too well before. Once again, all of the CO2 is released as the foam and I am left with a flat pop. I am still serving through 25' of 3/16" tubing. Is there anything obvious I am missing? The CO2 has had plenty of time to dissolve. It has been resting for a week with light shaking over the first couple days to try to speed up the process.
noahbanks
Member
How did this end up working out for you?
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