First time force carb question

[heybillharlan]

Hi all- first post, first time kegging, sorry in advance...

I think I jumped the gun; I've been force carbonating at 30 psi for about 40 hours. Bled it out, hooked up service line, out at 5 psi pressure.

Flow was very foamy and beer itself tasted flat. It seems I have to let it carbonate longer? I was going to just disconnect my service line, and put it back to 30 psi, maybe shake it a bit.


Am I on the right track?

 

[day_trippr]

If the beer was room temperature-ish, 30 psi for 40 hours would have been a good start on a burst-carb cycle.
But if the keg was cold when you started, it would likely result in an over-carbed keg of green beer.

Excessive head robs the beer of its carbonation, and in the extreme will indeed result in an apparently flat glass of beer.

At the least, let the keg sit sealed up for a few days and see if it calms down, but you may have to vent it repeatedly over a day or more to get it there...

Cheers!

 

[heybillharlan]

Thanks! Would you turn off all the CO2 while you let it sit or would you let it sit at serving pressure? Also, let sit warm or refrigerated?
Thanks again!

 

[day_trippr]

Shut off the gas and either latch the PRV open or pop it every time you think of it.
No reason to warm the keg up...

 

[heybillharlan]

Gotcha- thank you!

 

[wilserbrewer]

How long and what inside diameter are your serving lines?

Short or large diameter lines will cause foaming.

Typically you want 6-10 feet of 3/16" not 1/4" lines.

 

[heybillharlan]

About 8 feet and used the 3/16" lines

 

[seatazzz]

+1 on the purging every couple hours or so. I force carb my kegs the same way, although my regulator won't go above 25 and I'm too cheap to buy a new one. Once your keg is chilled, REVERSE your disconnects so you have the BLACK one on the c02 line, going into the BEER OUT post. Leave the IN post without a disconnect, but I always put the GRAY disconnect on the line to keep it clean. Ramp up your regulator to 30, purge it a couple of times to get the o2 out, then purge one more time until the bubbling stops, then leave it for 24 hours. The next day, pull the PRV every hour or so (you'll hear the c02 bubbling into the keg). The next day, purge it one more time; once the bubbling stops, switch your disconnects back to the correct lines, connect to the keg, set the regulator to about 5-7 psi and leave it a few hours. You should have well-carbed beer at that time. You may need to purge some excess c02 from the keg, but in my experience this method works fairly well. I'm too antsy for the "set and forget" method.

 

[heybillharlan]

thanks seatazzz; sadly, i think I've exposed it to too much oxygen (I think?) by taking the pressure off and frequently burbling and leaving the valve open. Def a loss in flavor, has a mental after taste.

Also, the foam continues. I did try a version of what you suggest, I switched the connects, and put the C02 in the 'out' post; hit it for a few secs, then pruged slowly. but now matter how slow, just made a foamy mess. Did that about 4 times. Frustrated, i connected it back to normal and left it on 10 psi, and it's been sitting like that.

I'm starting to think i may just be best to cut my losses and drink foamy beer for a while and do better next time Don't want to risk more flavor loss. But, let me know if you think I should give it another try and what you would do.

Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

Do you know if your regulator has an anti-backflow-preventer on the regulated side? It would typically be integrated into the gas shut-off valve.

If it does not, you could shut the cylinder valve completely, attach the gas connector to the keg, close up the keg PRV, and read the keg pressure via the regulator low pressure gauge. Then you could take a glance at our favorite carbonation table to see how much CO2 is in that beer.

If your regulator does have an anti-backflow-preventer this won't work because the keg pressure can't drive back to the gauge.

fwiw, a metallic note can be characteristic of an over-done burst-carbonation attempt...

Cheers!