HELP! Beer was carbonated but is now flat :(

[tcox85]

So I recently kegged a saison, I hooked it up to gas and left it at 12 PSI for about 48 hours. When I came home I tried it and it was close but not carbed enough so I let it sit for another 24 hours. It is now pouring flat with no carbonation at all. Would it be a leak somewhere? Any help is much appreciated!

 

[evsol]

It can take up to a week or 2 before it is ready to sample at that pressure...Carbonation takes time without using higher PSI or shaking of the keg to equalize the pressure...48 hours at serving pressure isn't near time enough to call it done...wait at least a week or better 2 weeks at 12 PSI to carbonate...Takes time for the gas to equalize into the liquid with the headspace available in a keg...

 

[day_trippr]

If this is a full 5 gallon keg of cold beer it'll take much longer than 48 hours to reach a decent carbonation level at a constant 12 psi - two weeks would get you pretty close.

If you want to safely speed up the process, rock the keg back and forth with the gas line attached (at 12 psi) until you don't hear any gas entering the keg. Repeat every so often and you can get that keg carbed up in a day...

Cheers!

 

[evsol]

This is of course assuming you have the keg at serving temp and not at room temp...see https://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table/ for temp vs. PSI timetable...this would be after 1to 2 weeks at that pressure....

 

[tcox85]

Yes the keg is at serving temp, around 36 F / 2 C. I thought it was odd myself that it seemed carbonated so soon when I drew the first pint...it had good head and lacing and bubbles, but then the carbonation seemed to dissipate so I was worried something went wrong. I'll just wait a bit longer then and see if it carbonates back up. Thanks for the help!

 

[day_trippr]

Unless that beer was fermented under pressure it likely was in the .6-.8 volume range entering the keg - much nearer to still than carbonated...

Cheers!