force carbonation question

[mechedd]

Hey everyone,

I have been using the let er sit method of force carbonation for almost 5 days, keeping my keg at room temperature (72 F) with a pressure of 28-30 psi. My brother is coming over for the weekend tomorrow and I want to drink some of it with him. From what I have read, 5-6 days is not long enough to fully carbonate the beer. I plan on cooling it down to serving temperature tonight, and I am wondering if it is too late to use the shake method to force carbonate. If I shake it, will this over-carbonate my beer since it is already partially carbonated? If I don't shake, will my beer be under-carbonated?

Thanks for reading/comments.

mechedd

 

[halite]

OK, first thing is that you should really carbonate the beer in the fridge and not at room temp. The reason for this is that CO2 is absorbed into cold liquid faster than warm liguid. When I force carbonate my beers they get 2 days in the fridge to get the temp down and then 3-4 days at 15psi and then there done.

Even at room temp, I would think that your beer should be well carbonated by now, how does it taste?

The problem with using the shake method is that a) you could overcarbonate it and b) you will rouse any sediment in the beer and so will probably end up serving cloudy beer.

 

[944play]

Chill the beer and taste it first. You can shake it anytime. I like to avoid shaking my beer, but it is a quick way to get CO2 dissolved.

 

[hal2814]

The amount of CO2 going into solution as 72F and 30psi is roughly equivalent to pushing 11psi at my personal serving temp (38F). Temperature makes a HUGE difference. At 38F, 30PSI at 5 days would be massive over-carbonation even without shaking while 11psi would be near my usual serving pressure (10-16psi depending on style). It would take weeks to carbonate well at that pressure.

I'm not sure about tomorrow, but if you get the keg chilled now and get the pressure at 30psi, you can probably have something reasonable in two days without shaking. Shaking will do more harm than good IMHO. Somewhat flat without yeast bite is better than carbonated with yeast bite (unless we're talking hefeweizen).

 

[mechedd]

I haven't tasted it yet, but it is in an ice bath right now cooling down.

hal2814, are you saying I should keep it at 30 psi even when it is cooled down to serving temperature?

halite and 944play, thanks for the replies. I probably won't end up shaking it. I am going to let it sit in ice for 4-5 hours and then I will pour a glass and see how it tastes.

 

[BendBrewer]

If it were me, I would get it cooled down in the fridge, hit it with 30 psi and shake the **** out of it then let it sit until tomorrow at 30 psi. at the very least.

 

[hal2814]

Correct. If it were me, I'd keep it at 30psi at serving temp and then back that off when it has some carbonation.