How long to carb in keg?

[damdiver]

How long does it take for a 5 gallon keg to carb in a kegerator? I use the simple "wait" method. I push the beer at 11-12 psi, so I just put the keg in the fridge and put it on CO2 at that pressure...and wait.

The reason I ask, is that it has seemingly taken a couple of weeks for some of my beers to carb up. There is usually a little fizz after 3 or 4 days, but it doesn't seem properly carbonated for 2 to 3 weeks.

Normal?

 

[Hammy71]

Yes. If you do the "set it and forget it method", it will take several weeks to be carbonated properly. It's what I do and I've never had a beer be too carbonated....but just right.

 

[subliminalurge]

Sounds normal.

What I do is rack into the keg, then put the gas on it at 30 psi while it's still warm and shake until it stops readily accepting more gas. Leave the 30 psi on it overnight while it chills down, then the next day shake again until it stops readily accepting more gas. Drop the regulator to serving pressure, and give it another day or two. Comes out perfect, and the fact that it still took a few more days tells me I wasn't really in danger of overcarbing.

 

[damdiver]

OK, good to know. I always pull the trigger too soon! Curiosity kills the cat every time!

Thanks!

 

[subliminalurge]

Yeah, sometimes it's pretty hard to just sit and wait when that 5 gallons of delicious homebrew is calling your name.

You can use the method I described if you want to speed it up. The flip side of that is that many styles will benefit from that additional 3 weeks of waiting anyway.... But if you've got a Hefe in the keg, no real reason not to help it along.

 

[afalconc]

what has work for me is, chill the beer to 34f overnigth, hook the gas line to the keg, turn the pressure to 38psi and leave it for 48 hrs, drop pressure to 8psi and purge keg presure and serve. have work well so far.

 

[Bobby_M]

Yup, at set and forget, 3 weeks is where I don't notice any additional carbonation.