First time keggin....

[Wobblybob]

First time caring and so happy I don’t ever have to wash bottles again. Here’s what I did, I know I screwed up right from the get go so now I’m eager to try it

racked beer into cleaned, sanitized 5 gal corny

hooked up gas line and sealed at 30

put it in kegerator ( not cold , bummer )

set the regulator to 12

plugged in the kegerator and it’s about 5pm

in the morning pressure down to 5, turned it back to 12

now, I would love to be drinking this asap. what can I do now?

thanks everybody !!!!!!!

 

[day_trippr]

Lots of ways to skin the keg carbonation cat. Might as well give this thread a read to become familiar with different ways to carbonate a keg of beer:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/keg-force-carbing-methods-illustrated.73328/
Otherwise...use our favorite carbonation table to set your CO2 pressure vs beer temperature to hit whatever carbonation level you desire (shown in volumes of CO2, where 2.4 or so is typical for most ales). Adjust for beer temperature - you can start carbonation warm at the higher prescribed pressure then continue once the beer is chilled at a lower pressure. Assuming you have a specific temperature you like to hold your keg while dispensing, again, check the table for the correct pressure to use.

That last pressure is important wrt dispensing: once you know the pressure you'll need to maintain your desired carbonation level at the dispensing temperature you prefer, use that pressure to make sure your system can dispense the beer without making a mess of it. Refer to the only beer line length calculator worth using, plug in your particulars, and it'll give you the minimum length of beer line to use...

Cheers!

 

[Wobblybob]

Yes I’m using the same chart for set it and forget it right? What I’m looking for is the You can do this and be drinking it within the next 48 hours LOL no I mean it

 

[day_trippr]

Ok, so if you came across this graphic in the referenced thread,

you know there's the "burst carb" technique, and the "set and forget" technique. The latter will never let you down by under or overcarbing the keg, but it does take a bit over two full weeks to achieve equilibrium with a full 5g cornelius style keg. The former carries some risk of overshooting. Indeed it's a frequent root-cause of dispensing issues for novitiates coming to HBT for help. But, the general recommendation is to get the keg down to your dispensing temperature then put it on 30 psi for 24-30 hours, then dial back to your "chart pressure". With luck you'll get close without overshooting and after another week on "chart pressure" the carbonation will have smoothed out.

There is a third way, however, that again guarantees you won't overcarb the keg but can be done in an afternoon: what I call "shake 'n' bake", you set your CO2 pressure to whatever the "chart" says for the beer temperature and desired carbonation level - just like "set 'n' forget". But then you rock the keg continuously - doesn't have to be violent, just enough to keep the flow of CO2 entering the keg going - and it will be easily noticeable assuming you're not playing death metal in the background

Rock the keg until you can't hear gas entering, then set it back in your fridge/keezer/kegerator for awhile - an hour or two. Then take it out and do the rocking under pressure thing again. You should realize it takes a lot less rocking to get to where you can't hear the gas flowing again.

Keep doing that and over the course of an afternoon you'll get the beer very close to equilibrium - and certainly close enough to enjoy. The downside is if your racking technique carries trub forward it'll be thoroughly mixed in the keg and will need time to settle again...

Cheers!

 

[Wobblybob]

bingo. that is the graph that I saw a few days ago and could not fine thank you so much And the process you just described is exactly what I am going to do tomorrow thank you so much thank you thank you thank you

 

[day_trippr]

lol! Ok, take it easy there

Note while you'll find folks on the intertoobs that recommend laying the keg over a towel covered pivot, you actually do not have to lay the keg down - in fact, don't do that. Keep the keg upright, start rocking it slowly so the top travels maybe 6" off vertical on either end of the "rock", and get a feel for what's going on inside the keg. Eventually you'll find a rhythm that takes even less travel that gets a nice wave rolling back and forth and maximizes the CO2 uptake. That's what you want to hit, just from the ease of the effort...

Cheers!

 

[Beermeister32]

Make sure you purge the headspace in the keg by opening the vent valve and running CO2 it through for a minute or so. After that you can set the lid O-ring properly by cranking up the CO2 pressure, I usually run mine up to about 60 psi briefly.

 

[Wobblybob]

lol! Ok, take it easy there

Note while you'll find folks on the intertoobs that recommend laying the keg over a towel covered pivot, you actually do not have to lay the keg down - in fact, don't do that. Keep the keg upright, start rocking it slowly so the top travels maybe 6" off vertical on either end of the "rock", and get a feel for what's going on inside the keg. Eventually you'll find a rhythm that takes even less travel that gets a nice wave rolling back and forth and maximizes the CO2 uptake. That's what you want to hit, just from the ease of the effort...

Cheers!

OK it’s almost 7 AM I just gave it a try and I really don’t hear anything now when my compressor is running this cooler is loud. I’m talking microwave loud. And when it’s not running there is still a great big fan running and keeping things cool in there, it’s a commercial cooler that was meant to have the door opened and closed often and still maintain whatever your desired temperature is which for me it’s 33° So you get a window to do that, that’s not all that big so exactly how long am I rocking this thing? Should I purge the keg now?

 

[Wobblybob]

My pressure did drop a pound, turned it back up to 12.

i’m guessing that’s when I turned my cooler down from 40° to 33 which is what I want my serving pressure to be

 

[Beermeister32]

Purge the keg after you install the lid. Purge all the air out and replace it with CO2 before setting the lid with high pressure. Rocking the keg helps to allow the CO2 to diffuse. Air should be purged before you rock the keg to minimize the staling effects of oxygen exposure. If you can refrigerate the keg at 34F, this will assist getting good diffusion of CO2 into the beer.

 

[seanjwalker1]

First time caring and so happy I don’t ever have to wash bottles again. Here’s what I did, I know I screwed up right from the get go so now I’m eager to try it

racked beer into cleaned, sanitized 5 gal corny

hooked up gas line and sealed at 30

put it in kegerator ( not cold , bummer )

set the regulator to 12

plugged in the kegerator and it’s about 5pm

in the morning pressure down to 5, turned it back to 12

now, I would love to be drinking this asap. what can I do now?

thanks everybody !!!!!!!

Congrats! I'm a first time kegger too as of Friday! Makes you warm and fuzzy all over Don't it!?! Bound to hit snags along the way. I was sure I did everything right so carefully 2 days ago. Even though I checked very carefully for leaks, next morning half my CO2 was gone!!! But doing good now. Again, welcome to the kegging club!

 

[Wobblybob]

What a bummer. Notice the red bottle behind the kegs I have to go to a place in Olympia that service is fire extinguishers and things like that to get it filled. I had a couple of leaks everywhere the clamps are you nice but I think I’m going to go to those clamps that you take the special tool that seal all the way around the hose, and then put a quick disconnect in the line . Yes I am so excited to drink some beer tonight.

 

[seanjwalker1]

What a bummer. Notice the red bottle behind the kegs I have to go to a place in Olympia that service is fire extinguishers and things like that to get it filled. I had a couple of leaks everywhere the clamps are you nice but I think I’m going to go to those clamps that you take the special tool that seal all the way around the hose, and then put a quick disconnect in the line . Yes I am so excited to drink some beer tonight.

It's a nice set up

 

[Wobblybob]

Damn. I did not run any BLC through my lines do I need to do that or just go for it let the beer clean it

 

[Wobblybob]

Well here it is. This is the first pour it taste great I want to get drunk tonight my friends. A picture of the second poor

 

[Wobblybob]

I went with 10 feet of 3/16 serving line.

 

[day_trippr]

Congrats! Looking good! And that line length will work fine for up to ~11-12 psi.

Cheers!