Forced Carbonation Techniques

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Samson's Brew&Ski

Samson's Brew&Ski

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Hey guys so Ive brew well over a dozen brews now and every time I get to the kegging stage I end up always back to my original roots which is my first knowledge of forced carbonating your beer in the keg. Ive been looking into different techniques on how to carbonate your beer in a keg and have found different ways such as raising pressure to about 20-30psi and shake it for a few minutes and then pour a glass and tase until you reach your desired carbonation level or to pressure up your keg with 20psi and letting it sit for days or even weeks.

What I always have done is press my keg up to about 25 psi and shake the hell out of it for a solid 30 minutes, then I release the pressure and bring it back up to pouring pressure depending on the beer but usually around 10-12 psi. I always get it cold, to around 36 degrees, overnight and by the next afternoon Im drinking it with dinner.

Basically, I'm really curious to see how other people carbonate their kegs and carbonate them well, every single time. I'm wanting to learn a new path, maybe just tinker with the process I have going on now. But at the moment, not sure where to go from here. I know Im getting "the job done" but I wanna hear how you guys do it!

Thanks :)
 

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The simplest way to force carbonate beer is to store it at a consistent cold temperature and PSI, hook it up to CO2, and just wait. I know... it's boring and requires patience, and there is no immediate gratification... But it's tried and true and works every time.

40F and 12 psi is the combo I'm (mostly) settled on.

Beer needs 2-3 weeks of cold maturation to taste its best, anyway. So it all works out.

And now I'll pass the mic to the shakers out there to regale you with their techniques...
 
McKnuckle said:
The simplest way to force carbonate beer is to store it at a consistent cold temperature and PSI, hook it up to CO2, and just wait. I know... it's boring and requires patience, and there is no immediate gratification... But it's tried and true and works every time.

40F and 12 psi is the combo I'm (mostly) settled on.

Beer needs 2-3 weeks of cold maturation to taste its best, anyway. So it all works out.

And now I'll pass the mic to the shakers out there to regale you with their techniques...
Click to expand...
gotcha, you go with the long haul every time. So you're carbonating it at a steady 12 psi for 2-3 weeks at a solid temp of 40. Ill consider that. Thanks
 
I also almost always go with chart pressure for two weeks plus a few days. It not only guarantees a perfectly carbed keg of beer, it provides time to drop bright.

The highly infrequent times I diverge from that strategy I still use chart pressure, then rock the standing keg until the gas almost stops flowing, let it sit for an hour, then repeat over the course of an afternoon. By evening the beer is acceptably carbed, but it gets better as it drops bright over the course of a week.

I'll add I do that so infrequently the last time I did it on an neipa (a few weeks ago) I thought the different hop strain I added to the usual recipe had thrown it off. But, it was just yeast bite - a character defect I hadn't experienced in years...

Cheers!
 
So far for my ciders, I've been able to get them carbed in just about 48 hours. I start by charging a freshly filled keg with 40 psi CO2, I then agitate it for 5 minutes by rolling it back and forth with my foot while the CO2 is still attached. I reduce the CO2 down to 25 psi and stick it in the fridge. After 48 hours, I reduce the CO2 to 10 psi and it's ready to drink.
 
RolandD said:
So far for my ciders, I've been able to get them carbed in just about 48 hours. I start by charging a freshly filled keg with 40 psi CO2, I then agitate it for 5 minutes by rolling it back and forth with my foot while the CO2 is still attached. I reduce the CO2 down to 25 psi and stick it in the fridge. After 48 hours, I reduce the CO2 to 10 psi and it's ready to drink.
Click to expand...
similar to what im doing now, thank you!
 
day_trippr said:
I also almost always go with chart pressure for two weeks plus a few days. It not only guarantees a perfectly carbed keg of beer, it provides time to drop bright.

The highly infrequent times I diverge from that strategy I still use chart pressure, then rock the standing keg until the gas almost stops flowing, let it sit for an hour, then repeat over the course of an afternoon. By evening the beer is acceptably carbed, but it gets better as it drops bright over the course of a week.

I'll add I do that so infrequently the last time I did it on an neipa (a few weeks ago) I thought the different hop strain I added to the usual recipe had thrown it off. But, it was just yeast bite - a character defect I hadn't experienced in years...

Cheers!
Click to expand...
what chart are you following? and you use the same pressure if you are carbing a couple weeks or a day? thanks
 
My beer carbonates some in primary.
Then I put it in kegerator and turn it up to 50psi for 12 hours and then purge and set to serving pressure (12psi). Beer is perfect in 2-3 days carbonation wise.
 
Hiltonheadmike said:
30 psi x 24hr, purge, 20 psi x 24 hr, purge,set @ serving pressure(8 psi for my system) and ready to drink. No shaking or effort required. 48 hr to beer in glass to enjoy
Click to expand...
I think this is the best one yet. Im really intrigue by it cause youre saying 2 days with no shaking at a higher co2 pressure (30psi) verses low co2 pressure(8 psi) for 2 weeks. Im probably gonna give this a go and see for myself. Thanks man
 
There is some research to suggest shaking the beer to carbonate will decrease your head retention (paraphrasing due to laziness) because the proteins that hold the bubbles together is finite and get spent up when shaking the beer. That's definitely an argument for high pressure burst carbing over the shaking method.
 
Bobby_M said:
There is some research to suggest shaking the beer to carbonate will decrease your head retention (paraphrasing due to laziness) because the proteins that hold the bubbles together is finite and get spent up when shaking the beer. That's definitely an argument for high pressure burst carbing over the shaking method.
Click to expand...
thats interesting to hear, I will look into the more define reason for this. I can sort of relate because I have only used the shake method at high pressure and I have had comments where my head retention was very low. Thanks for bringing this to my attention
 
They are literally referred to as "foam once" proteins, and indeed the notion of post fermentation agitation causing the premature demise of same has been a discussion as old as brewing I suspect, and that I tend to agree with. Hence my highly infrequent use of the rock'n'roll technique...

Cheers!
 
day_trippr said:
They are literally referred to as "foam once" proteins, and indeed the notion of post fermentation agitation causing the premature demise of same has been a discussion as old as brewing I suspect, and that I tend to agree with. Hence my highly infrequent use of the rock'n'roll technique...

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Not being a big beer drinker or connoisseur, (I'm here for the cider) is there a benefit beyond aesthetics for a head of foam on a glass of beer?
 
Samson's Brew&Ski said:
how are you carbing it while fermenting? I dont have any tech equipment to do that
Click to expand...
A keg and some sugar is all you need to experiment with this. It won't be exact though but will give you an idea as to the flavors and carbonation mouth feel to see if spunding is a rabbit hole you want to go down. :ban:

At it's most basic, ferment until FG is reached. Add ~1/2 cup sugar to the 5 gallon keg (can use just plain cane sugar, corn sugar, DME, Honey etc). If you're really familiar with the recipe, put in the keg when it's 4-6 points away from FG. For example, if FG = 1.010, then rack into the keg around 1.014 - 1.016. (And if it ferments more than that, the only downside is simply more carbonated beer).

Doing it cowboy style will get your keg naturally carbonated, but the level of carbonation is going to be a bit of a crap shoot. Likely to be over-carbed and all foamy at first (pull the pressure relief valve to let off some of the pressure, or just pour a bunch of foamy pints). There will be a sweet spot of 4-8 pints where the carbonation matches the beer and it's really good. Then it will become under-carbed, and that's when you hook up the CO2 to push the rest out.

After adding the sugar to the keg, let sit for a day or three at a temperature that allows fermentation. It can be a bit warmer for the yeast to clear up diacetyl. I've done this in the garage in winter, in a room that was 72F, usually around 68F. 48 hours at 68F seems to be more than enough time to keg carbonate.

Pull the pressure relief valve after a day to confirm it is pressurizing. Over time, you can kinda guesstimate how pressurized it is just from the relief valve sound. Note: beer will be a bit sweet and undercarbonated if the sugar hasn't fully fermented out.

Maximum PSI for a corny keg is maybe 100PSI, and you won't get anywhere close to that fermenting half a cup of sugar.

If you do want a spunding valve, get something like this BlowTie or the older version or a brass version. I speak from the voice of experience, that you want to get one of these pre made spunding kits and don't try to put one together (it won't save any real money, and really don't try ordering off of amazon and hope all the dimensions are correct like I did). The new BlowTie is sold out, and the supplier on amazon sent me the older version that I received today instead. I'm going to return this and wait for the new BlowTie just because the new one has an integrated guage.

To go further down the rabbit hole, you can use a floating dip tube. Since you're doing a partial ferment in the keg, yeast is produced. I've never had the yeast cause a problem with the pour or getting clogged, but the first and last pints can be pretty cloudy. A floating dip tube avoids the settled yeast until the keg is kicked. I've got both set ups.

I have to admit that what I have not done is a CO2 ferment and a spund ferment side by side comparison. That said, I believe that the spunded version tastes better (or at least has a non forced carbonated sweet spot of 4-8 pints that are definately superior). I know for a fact that my CO2 cannisters last significantly longer. My wag being that the initial carbonation requires a lot more CO2, and then to push out carbonated beer requires much less.

Relax, don't worry, have a keg conditioned homebrew.
 
Last edited:
There's a lot of good suggestions in @kmarkstevens post above. Natural carbonation in the keg, just like bottles, is not for the impatient, er, enthusiastic 30 psi shakers.

But I have been doing it exclusively for the last few batches I've brewed. For one, I'm not looking forward to dealing with replacing my CO2 tank so I'd like to save gas. But it was really inspired by wanting to try at least a partial take on UK-style cask conditioning.

The one thing I would caution is that my kegs have taken much longer than the 48 hours mentioned above to fully carbonate. I have monitored headspace pressure with a spunding valve, so I know for a fact that pressure continued to increase for about 7-9 days, and only at that point would I call it done and place a keg into the keezer for final cold conditioning.

It may depend on the yeast strain, FG, and other factors, but it's worth mentioning that only 2 days is optimistic. And that makes sense after all. It doesn't take bottles 2 days to carbonate, either. I have used WY1469, S-04, and WLP802 in these experiments so far. I prime with the "normal" amount of sugar, not half (as homebrewing mythology cites).

As for the beer, in my opinion it is better than forced carbonated versions, more deeply bubbled and with a denser, tighter, fluffier head. But it does add at least a week to your delayed gratification. In a pipeline with plentiful batches waiting in the wings :drunk:, it's hardly a problem.
 
LOL, i carb by weight of co2. i cold crash my fermenter, keg, purge. then shake it a bit till the keg takes 1.2oz's of co2, let it rest for a couple hours...perfectly carbed.


i tried 1.5oz's but it was too much.
 
bracconiere said:
LOL, i carb by weight of co2. i cold crash my fermenter, keg, purge. then shake it a bit till the keg takes 1.2oz's of co2, let it rest for a couple hours...perfectly carbed.


i tried 1.5oz's but it was too much.
Click to expand...
interesting, but how do u know when your keg took 1.2 oz of c02? how do you measure it. Thanks
 
kmarkstevens said:
A keg and some sugar is all you need to experiment with this. It won't be exact though but will give you an idea as to the flavors and carbonation mouth feel to see if spunding is a rabbit hole you want to go down. :ban:

At it's most basic, ferment until FG is reached. Add ~1/2 cup sugar to the 5 gallon keg (can use just plain cane sugar, corn sugar, DME, Honey etc). If you're really familiar with the recipe, put in the keg when it's 4-6 points away from FG. For example, if FG = 1.010, then rack into the keg around 1.014 - 1.016. (And if it ferments more than that, the only downside is simply more carbonated beer).

Doing it cowboy style will get your keg naturally carbonated, but the level of carbonation is going to be a bit of a crap shoot. Likely to be over-carbed and all foamy at first (pull the pressure relief valve to let off some of the pressure, or just pour a bunch of foamy pints). There will be a sweet spot of 4-8 pints where the carbonation matches the beer and it's really good. Then it will become under-carbed, and that's when you hook up the CO2 to push the rest out.

After adding the sugar to the keg, let sit for a day or three at a temperature that allows fermentation. It can be a bit warmer for the yeast to clear up diacetyl. I've done this in the garage in winter, in a room that was 72F, usually around 68F. 48 hours at 68F seems to be more than enough time to keg carbonate.

Pull the pressure relief valve after a day to confirm it is pressurizing. Over time, you can kinda guesstimate how pressurized it is just from the relief valve sound. Note: beer will be a bit sweet and undercarbonated if the sugar hasn't fully fermented out.

Maximum PSI for a corny keg is maybe 100PSI, and you won't get anywhere close to that fermenting half a cup of sugar.

If you do want a spunding valve, get something like this BlowTie or the older version or a brass version. I speak from the voice of experience, that you want to get one of these pre made spunding kits and don't try to put one together (it won't save any real money, and really don't try ordering off of amazon and hope all the dimensions are correct like I did). The new BlowTie is sold out, and the supplier on amazon sent me the older version that I received today instead. I'm going to return this and wait for the new BlowTie just because the new one has an integrated guage.

To go further down the rabbit hole, you can use a floating dip tube. Since you're doing a partial ferment in the keg, yeast is produced. I've never had the yeast cause a problem with the pour or getting clogged, but the first and last pints can be pretty cloudy. A floating dip tube avoids the settled yeast until the keg is kicked. I've got both set ups.

I have to admit that what I have not done is a CO2 ferment and a spund ferment side by side comparison. That said, I believe that the spunded version tastes better (or at least has a non forced carbonated sweet spot of 4-8 pints that are definately superior). I know for a fact that my CO2 cannisters last significantly longer. My wag being that the initial carbonation requires a lot more CO2, and then to push out carbonated beer requires much less.

Relax, don't worry, have a keg conditioned homebrew.
Click to expand...
This is so great insight. I dont think I want to go the floating dip tube route so Ill just carb my beer in the keg for now after it has been cold crashed in the fermenter. I will try the sugar in my keg at somepoint and will reference you! thanks
 
McKnuckle said:
There's a lot of good suggestions in @kmarkstevens post above. Natural carbonation in the keg, just like bottles, is not for the impatient, er, enthusiastic 30 psi shakers.

But I have been doing it exclusively for the last few batches I've brewed. For one, I'm not looking forward to dealing with replacing my CO2 tank so I'd like to save gas. But it was really inspired by wanting to try at least a partial take on UK-style cask conditioning.

The one thing I would caution is that my kegs have taken much longer than the 48 hours mentioned above to fully carbonate. I have monitored headspace pressure with a spunding valve, so I know for a fact that pressure continued to increase for about 7-9 days, and only at that point would I call it done and place a keg into the keezer for final cold conditioning.

It may depend on the yeast strain, FG, and other factors, but it's worth mentioning that only 2 days is optimistic. And that makes sense after all. It doesn't take bottles 2 days to carbonate, either. I have used WY1469, S-04, and WLP802 in these experiments so far. I prime with the "normal" amount of sugar, not half (as homebrewing mythology cites).

As for the beer, in my opinion it is better than forced carbonated versions, more deeply bubbled and with a denser, tighter, fluffier head. But it does add at least a week to your delayed gratification. In a pipeline with plentiful batches waiting in the wings :drunk:, it's hardly a problem.
Click to expand...
Yeah id like to save gas too. Im starting to add up my previous brews and running out of kegs so I have been bottleing the rest. so Im definitely going to try to slow carb my next batch in two weeks cause I have time now to enjoy the others! and see how much nicer of a beer it is for myself. Thank you sir!
 
Samson's Brew&Ski said:
interesting, but how do u know when your keg took 1.2 oz of c02? how do you measure it. Thanks
Click to expand...

i keep my co2 tank on a scale that's accurate to the tenth oz, and goes up to 110lb's...i just shake the keg with a QD on a tee, and seperate shut off to the kegs. keep my eye on the scale while i'm shaking. actually just did some alco-pop, so being no residule co2 from fermentation, gave it 2.5oz's, will be perfectly carbed when it equilizes...and Thanks for asking! lol, it's the next big thing in homebrewing i'm trying to start! BIAB? so old news, carbing by weight is in! ;) :mug:
 
bracconiere said:
i keep my co2 tank on a scale that's accurate to the tenth oz, and goes up to 110lb's...i just shake the keg with a QD on a tee, and seperate shut off to the kegs. keep my eye on the scale while i'm shaking. actually just did some alco-pop, so being no residule co2 from fermentation, gave it 2.5oz's, will be perfectly carbed when it equilizes...and Thanks for asking! lol, it's the next big thing in homebrewing i'm trying to start! BIAB? so old news, carbing by weight is in! ;) :mug:
Click to expand...
haha damn man you go hard the paint! some people would call that a little obsessive but we just call that love. love to drink perfectly carbbed beer lol
 
Samson's Brew&Ski said:
damn man you go hard the paint!
Click to expand...


LOL, i had to google "hard in the paint" to make sure that wasn't a typo! ;) :mug:

(i got some cider cold crashing in the mini-fridge now, thinking tonight give a couple kegs a shot of 1.2oz's co2, and be drinking tomorrow when this keg kicks. don't want to get emaressed around you guys, and be drinking miller high life!)
 
bracconiere said:
LOL, i had to google "hard in the paint" to make sure that wasn't a typo! ;) :mug:

(i got some cider cold crashing in the mini-fridge now, thinking tonight give a couple kegs a shot of 1.2oz's co2, and be drinking tomorrow when this keg kicks. don't want to get emaressed around you guys, and be drinking miller high life!)
Click to expand...

hahah looks like we have a bit of an age gap! but no problem lol

yes sir Im sure your cider taste delicious too
 
Samson's Brew&Ski said:
hahah looks like we have a bit of an age gap! but no problem lol

yes sir Im sure your cider taste delicious too
Click to expand...


hmmm, not sure what the gap is? i'm pretty sure i'm the youngest one here.

cider is dry and tart. i'd backsweeten it, if i could spare the calories. and the first keg is probably going to kick early today, but no worries i got 10 gallons of an amber, that will make me cry purging and carbing watching the scale go down! every pull on the PRV at 50psi, the scale goes down like 3 tenths an ounce, and a have to bite the bullet, give it three four of those.

and i'm at 41lb's 3.7oz's now so when i keg this beer, it's going to be extra painfull because the lb'2 will be 1 less! :mug:

(i think the tare weight for the tank is 25lb's though, so not dead yet!)
 
Sunday I kegged 5 gallons of a London Porter Clone and added about 1/3 cup of white sugar. No spunding valve. It was at 70F for 2 days, then into the fridge on Monday. Tuesday it tastes great to my palate. A bit too foamy, but that will subside over the next few pints.

Just sharing that I find a keg conditioned (with or with out a spunding value) can be ready to drink within 72 hours. You can try that before spending money on a spunding value to see if it's something you like to brew.
 
Simple is best. Set and forget all the way. I use 42F @12 psi for minimum of 2 weeks. I don't need to brew beer during breakfast time and want it or need it ready to drink for dinner on the same day. Brewing should not be a race to see who can get done first and claim victory.

Recall the Tortoise and the Hare, the moral and often-repeated adage was that slow and steady wins the race.

The Hare begins the story bragging about how great of a brewer he is and made fun of the Tortoise for carbonating beer the slow and time-consuming way. The Hare cut corners, cheated and blamed the system in order to remain the self-proclaimed fastest carbonator in the fictional land. Whereas the Tortoise continued on his way, patiently, earnestly and eventually came out on top by following the rules and not losing faith.

Burp, ahhhhh it tastes so good now after waiting so patiently......
 
Imhoppy said:
Burp, ahhhhh it tastes so good now after waiting so patiently......
Click to expand...
One of these day's I'll have to do a blind side by side comparison.

I'm not saying one should tap the keg as fast as possible. Just pointing out that I've found it pretty tasty after the 72 hours I let it sit the past few days. YMMV.
 

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