Force Carbing Bad?

[Jordan Logo]

Hello All!

What are your guys’ thoughts on force carbing vs just putting on head pressure and letting sit?

Good or bad, and why?

 

[day_trippr]

Any application of pressurized CO2 to a keg is "force carbing".
The convention is to differentiate between "set and forget" carbing - applying the proper pressure given the beer temperature (as determined using tools such as our favorite carbonation table) such that the beer will eventually equalize at the desired carbonation level (expressed as volumes of CO2) - and "burst carbing" - applying some multiple of that pressure to rapidly carbonate the beer (eg: 30 psi for 24 hours to a cold keg).

There's a third method, which I refer to as "shake and bake", where the same temperature vs pressure rule used for "set and forget" is followed but the beer is agitated frequently over the course of an afternoon and can get pretty close to the desired carbonation level, with the down-side being a thoroughly agitated keg of beer - meaning whatever was sitting on the bottom is now mixed into the beer.

The math behind "set and forget" and "shake and bake" is dead simple and if followed will result in properly carbonated beer every time.
The math behind "burst carbing" is less simple and can easily result in overcarbonated beer.

Lengthy sticky on the topic https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/keg-force-carbing-methods-illustrated.73328/

This image was originally at the top of that thread.

Cheers!

 

[Jordan Logo]

The math behind "set and forget" and "shake and bake" is dead simple and if followed will result in properly carbonated beer every time.
The math behind "burst carbing" is less simple and can easily result in overcarbonated beer.

Cheers!

That clears things up for me big time! I always thought the “shake and bake” method leads to oxidation but now I know that if I follow that table I can shake and bake all I want!

 

[day_trippr]

Regardless of carbonation method, oxidation will happen if there is O2 in the keg head space after racking. Ideally "all" of the air is purged from the keg prior to filling to eliminate that potential (see "Star San Purge" method) but if not it's a good idea to flush the head space with CO2 to cut down the damage...

Cheers!

 

[friarsmith]

Agree w/ all of the above. But wait, there's more! Within a day or two after your beer hits FG, transfer to a keg with either:

*3-4 oz corn sugar/water solution (similar to bottle conditioning mix, but a bit less sugar)
*3-4 oz DME/water solution
*1.0 to 1.5 quarts saved wort from the boil kept refrigerated in a sanitized 64oz mason jar during the week of primary fermentation

Then put your keg through any diacetyl rest or temp changes you may have done in secondary before chilling to serving temp. You'll have a beautifully carbonated beer, O2-scavenged keg, possibly increased shelf-life, and save some CO2 since you'll only need CO2 to push the beer. And kegs take up much less keezer space than fermenters to boot.

Just a thought... Cheers!

 

[day_trippr]

Ok, if the scope has broadened that far, might as well add in "spunding" the keg - transferring the beer with enough fermentables left to naturally carbonate the beer and using a spunding valve to dial in the final carbonation level...

Cheers!