Hambleton Bard CO2

[Murray]

I have just bought a second-hand corny fitted with a pressure guage, a dispensing tap, and the gassing procedure is through a Hambleton Bard CO2 cylinder. I have a few questions :

I am told to follow these steps :

1 : Don't prime your beer.
2 : Transfer from secondary to sterlised keg
3 : Inject gas, vent through pressure relief valve a few times to remove O2
4 : Gas to 12PSI
5 : Over time as CO2 is absorbed, the pressure will fall.
6 : Top up gas to 12PSI again every time pressure falls to below 10PSI
7 : When pressure is stable at 12PSI, you are properly carbed and just need to allow conditioning.
8 : As you start drinking the beer, and pressure will reduce. Keep topping up to 12psi by adding CO2.

Now, obviously, a pressure cylinder with a regulator set to 12psi makes life a lot easier. You just set to 12psi, wait a few days for the beer to carbonate and start drinking. Can I use my current corny which has a pin fitting for the Hambleton Bard cylinder, and get a cylinder with regulator later and switch to that method?

Apologise for the step-by-stepping, but I am new to this and can't take anything for granted!

Any help would be much appreciated

 

[Double_D]

Is this something that you have to manually inject Co2 into the system? That's why you need to watch the pressure so much? I'd take it back and go get a regulator and a Co2 tank.

 

[audger]

Can I use my current corny which has a pin fitting for the Hambleton Bard cylinder, and get a cylinder with regulator later and switch to that method?

im not quite sure what you mean by that, but those steps you list are basicly correct. remember that you need to chill the beer to a certain temperature to get the desired amount of carbonation. 12 PSI at room temperature will result in a flat beer. depending on what beer style it is, you want a slightly different amount of dissolved CO2. google "beer carbonation chart" to figure out exactly what temperature and what pressure.

if your target CO2 pressure is, say, 12psi- for the first few days you can safely hit it with 20-25 or so, just so that you dont have to frequently come back to recharge the keg. if you had a regulator, i would just tell you to set it at 12 and leave it until its finished. its going to absorb a lot of CO2 initially, and then once it gets more and more carbonated, it will absorb more and more slowly.

also if you are using small disposable CO2 cylinders, it might be cheaper for you to naturally carb the beer in the keg first, and just use the cylinders to dispense. you will go thru a lot less CO2 that way.