First time Carbing

Recusit8m · Jul 31, 2009

Hey now all...Hope everyone is having a great weekend...Question is this, Ill have my first kegging adventure this weekend and was wondering what the correct method of force carbing would be? Ive heard about the set it and forget it along with the Sit n Shake...Any ideas either way? I have a Cali Pale (in secondary for 5 weeks) and a Lil Opal clone just done primary...I purchased the Midwest dual setup and would like to try the Cali sometime next week...Any ideas? Thanks

Dwain · Jul 31, 2009

Congratulations!
Do a search for force carb. There are several ways to do this. I always put the keg in the fridge over night, take it out, put my regulator at 30psi, put the gas on the outlet side of the keg and rock it back and forth until it quits putting CO2 into the keg. You can hear it going in. Unhook the gas, put my regulator back to 12psi, put the keg in the fridge and hook the gas up normally. Let it sit for 24hrs and it's good to go. Some people will tell you not to do it this way. It's always worked for me. Here is a thread to get you started:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/force-carb-51615/
Good Luck - Dwain

boogyman · Jul 31, 2009

I like to do a hybrid approach that's faster than the set and forget, but WAY harder to overcarb than the 30psi method.

Basically, get the keg cold, set your regulator to serving pressure, hook it up, give it a quick shake, and leave it. Then every time you go by the fridge, give it a shake. If you shake it 3 or 4 times per day, you'll be carbed in less than a week and have perfectly carbed beer.

Personally, I wouldn't carb with the 30psi method unless I absolutely had to have the beer carbed within a day or 2 (like for a party). If you've waited this long, just wait a bit longer for it to carb. Don't rush it.