Force/Burst Carbing Question

[FirefightingBrewer]

So my LHBS gave me some printed instructions on Force/Burst Carbing, where the techniques are somewhat different than what I have read on here or other sources and I am hoping for some clarification.

1. After adding the beer to the sanitized keg, set regulator gauge to the proper pressure for the carbonation level you want and set your regulator to that pressure.

2. Attach the gas valve to the keg and fill with gas until you hear the gas stop. Turn off the check valve and pull up on the air relief valve and release the pressure. Repeat this 4 times, to get rid of o2 from head space.

3. Reopen the check valve and let the gas flow until it stops. Then vigourously shake the keg, or lay the keg on floor and roll back and forth with foot to agitate beer. You will then hear the gas to begin to flow into the beer. Once you hear the gas stop flowing again, wait a couple minutes and have a homebrew. Now agitate the keg again. Repeat the above process several times. As the beer becomes saturated, less gas will flow from the tank each time you agitate the keg. After a while, very little gas will run into beer and this is when your beer is carbonated. Release the head pressure from the keg and connect it to your lines in your fridge. Let the beer stand in the fridge hooked to gas overnight and the beer is ready.

So the questions I have are...

1. My beer going into the keg requires 2.4 volumes of CO2. With my beer at 42 degrees, their chart says I need to use 12.2 psi. The stuff I have been reading guys are saying they are using 30 psi?

2. After doing the keg rolling to force/burst Carbing the keg it says to release head pressure, and put it on gas overnight, what psi am I putting it on overnight, serving or the 12.2 psi I used to initially Carb

I am totally new at this, just trying to get some clarification.

Thanks

 

[day_trippr]

First, what you're opening and closing is a gas cock, not a check valve. A check valve keeps gas from flowing backwards if the keg has a higher pressure than the gas regulator when you open the gas cock.

What you're describing is probably better termed "accelerated forced carbonation" than "burst carbing", imo, but moving on...

Your procedure wants to have the pressure set to that 12.2 psi from your chart - which ideally is also the serving pressure, if you want to keep those 2.4 volumes of CO2 in the keg until the last drop is served.

The agitation is accelerating the carbonation by exposing more beer to gas, rather than just the small area that forms the "floor" of the head space. It does work, and rather well, with the biggest benefit over high-pressure/short-duration "burst carbing" being it's almost impossible to overshoot the carbonation level.

Finally, if your gas system does not have an actual check valve, be careful about the whole shaking and rolling thing. If beer gets all the way back to your gas regulator, it could brick it...

Cheers!

 

[audger]

if you want to be technical, its a ball valve, not a gas cock.

A circular disc or jumper which is parallel to the flow is raised off its seat when the spindle is turned, allowing gas or liquid to flow.

A valve with a spherical disc, the part of the valve which controls the flow through it. The sphere has a hole, or port, through the middle so that when the port is in line with both ends of the valve, flow will occur. When the valve is closed, the hole is perpendicular to the ends of the valve, and flow is blocked.

 

[blackbear219]

1.) If you set it to the 12psi to achieve your desired 2.4 volumes, that is going to take 2-3 weeks to reach that volume. 30psi would put you at about 4 volumes of CO2, but obviously to get to 4 volumes it has to go past 2.4 volumes. So people will set it to 30psi for a couple days to get a "head start" and jump up to say 1.5-2 volumes faster, then set it back to your desired equilibrium pressure of 12psi to finish the job. I hope I explained that well, does that make any sense?

2.) I just do what I said above, I never shake. I have "drinkable" carb within 2-3 days and full carb (at least as far as my mouth can tell) in about 5-7.

 

[eltorrente]

1. My beer going into the keg requires 2.4 volumes of CO2. With my beer at 42 degrees, their chart says I need to use 12.2 psi. The stuff I have been reading guys are saying they are using 30 psi?

Don't worry about the 30psi thing.

If your beer is to have 2.4 volumes and it's 42 degrees, than you need 12.2psi. Not 30, just 12.2psi.

Just purge any headspace with co2 first, in case there is some o2 in the keg. Turn up the regulator to 12.2, and shake and roll the keg until you no longer hear the regulator releasing co2 into solution. Now, put the keg back in the fridge and keep it at 12.2psi.

The foam in the keg will settle down over the next several hours, and your beer will be carbonated to the exact level you want it to be. If you force carb in the afternoon, you can be drinking it that night.

 

[samc]

It's best to use a high psi to set the lid in place. So 30 psi for the set lid and purge O2 is what I do. On many keg/lids you will hear the lid set in place. Doing that at 12 psi usually won't get it done. It helps eliminate the leak and lose a tank of gas problem, along with a bit of keg lube.

I'm a 30 psi for 24-36 hours kinda guy. Then drop down to serving psi and wait it out. I don't shake my beer.

 

[FirefightingBrewer]

Now I was told that because my kegerator has a shorter beer line, roughly 5 feet, that I was to set the serving pressure at 7.5 psi. Something along the lines of 1.5psi per foot of line? Was that bad information?

I am not in a position yet to change the length of my line and this was the line provided with my kegerator when I purchased it. I was told that longer lines are important, but I simply want to try my first with the lines provided.

Thanks for all the help guys

 

[samc]

You would need to serve beer much colder to use 7.5 psi. If you carb your beer at 12 psi and then lower it to 7.5, it will eventually lose carbonation to equalize down to 7.5. You won't be happy with that.

Simple solution is to use the mixing sticks that McMaster Carr sells to let you get away with short lines or go with longer tubing.

 

[JuanMoore]

Now I was told that because my kegerator has a shorter beer line, roughly 5 feet, that I was to set the serving pressure at 7.5 psi. Something along the lines of 1.5psi per foot of line? Was that bad information?

I am not in a position yet to change the length of my line and this was the line provided with my kegerator when I purchased it. I was told that longer lines are important, but I simply want to try my first with the lines provided.

Thanks for all the help guys

Lines that are too short for the system will result in a firehose of foam. To use your line but have beer that's carbed to 2.4 vol, you'll have to keep the pressure at 12.2 psi until you want a beer. When you go to pour a beer you'll need to lower the pressure way down, then vent the pressure from the keg, then pour the beer, and then turn the pressure back up to 12.2 psi. If you try to keep it at a lower pressure suitable for serving, the beer will lose carbonation. Swapping the beer line out will take you less time than it would to perform this process to serve 6 beers. Another option would be using epoxy mixing sticks inside the diptubes of the kegs to increase line resistance.

 

[day_trippr]

if you want to be technical, its a ball valve, not a gas cock.

Um, no. What you so helpfully provided was a description of a stop cock.
A gas cock is any device which can stop the flow of gas, which includes ball valves, stop cocks, etc...

For just one of the millions of examples http://www.pexsupply.com/Gas-Ball-Valves-Gas-Cocks-833000

And fwiw, my goal wasn't to "be technical", as I'm already technical

Cheers!

 

[Bk2X]

Ive also recently heard about adding mixing sticks to my line setup because of the 6ft length. I recently brewed a hefe that needs 4 vol co2 and i know my line setup will be a foamy mess. When u refer to the mixing sticks, are they wood? If so, wouldn't they need to be frequently changed out? How many would be necessary?

 

[day_trippr]

They're Delrin, and you can pick them up at Graingers.

Pretty much all you need to know about mixing sticks can be found here.

Cheers!

 

[Bk2X]

Wow i was way off. Thanks for link as i have ordered a pack.