How/when to carb this beer.

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Chrisde

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Long story short...
Having work get together the 28th. Brewed 3 batches mid March to early April (I have 3 cornies) with a heat stick. When kegging first batch it tasted burnt. So tried the others and they were 2. Dumped them all remade all 3 4/25 using stove (done several batches this way before).

All grain 5 gallon ipa, pale ale, Belgium wit.

I usually primary 1 week, secondary 2 weeks and keg 2-3 weeks but I don't have time for this due to my ignorance with the heat stick. I want this to taste as good as possible since my coworkers haven't had home brew before.

How would you go about finishing this?

I want to dry hop the ipa and pale ale. Due to time I was going to do this in the keg.

All are still in the primary. I was going to put them in secondary tomorrow and keg next weekend but worried about carb level since it will only be a week before party. I know a lot of people don't secondary but it has worked for me to this Point so I would like to continue with this.

Does anyone have a suggestion of leaving them at X psi for Y# of days to get to correct level faster? My kegerator is at 38 degrees.

Thank you.
 
I'd do 2 week primary with temp raise towards the end, cold crash then keg. Once keg set to serving pressure and shake/roll the crap out of the keg until it won't absorb any more CO2. Then leave a couple of days and you should be golden.

Don't bother with secondary.
 
You can use a carbonation stone, such as this:http://www.homebrewing.org/Dip-Tube-Carbonating-Stone-Diffuser_p_3729.html to speed the process along. But it's pretty pricy.

Or you can crank up the PSI to say 30 and constantly draw samples until you are happy. Remember to bleed the pressure and set to normal dispensing pressure or you will have foam laden beer no matter the carb level. But this could easily lead to over carbing.

A lot of folks like to crank the pressure up and shake the keg (helps diffuse the CO2 quicker by allowing for more surface contact). But I've never done this. Possibly could over carb as well.

My choice would be to eliminate secondary. Especially on the Pale Ale and IPA it isn't needed and can actually be detrimental. I know you say secondary works for you, but in this instance I think a change in process is the simplest solution. My usual IPA/Pale Ale primary time is 10 days, followed by dry hopping. Just make sure you take gravity reading and taste the sample for remaining fermentation byproducts that need additional time to clean up.

What ever you choose, good luck and I hope it works out for you.
 
If you set to *correct* serving pressure for temperature and roll / shake keg, there is no chance of overcarbonation. Yes it might be foamy at first but that will settle down after about a day.
 
Sounds good. Thanks for the help. I will dump them in the kegs either Sunday or Monday and see how it turns out. I will cool them down then shake at serving pressure for awhile as well to force more co2 into it the first couple of days then let them sit until the party.
 
Don't really have a way to cold crash or raise fermenting temp right now. My fermenters r 5 gallon water bottles and to get 6 gallons in them I split the batch into 2 3 gallon batches for the primary. This is also why I usually 2ndary after a week. Mix the batches to let the flavors blend I guess. Thanks.
 
I don't feel you are pressed for time at all. You have around 33-34 days grain to glass. 1/2 that time in the fermenter, and 1/2 that time in the kegs at serving pressure should work fine. Dry hop in the kegs.

FWIW, I don't care for the shaking force carbing a keg. If time is of the essence, I will put a warm keg in the keezer at 30 psi for 36 hours, takes that long to chill anyways and will get you close to serving co2 volume, and much easier.
 
+1^^

36-40hours at 30 psi and then serving pressure. No shaking no work no problems.

Primary for 2-3weeks for most beers, then keg

I dry hop in FV for <7 days before I keg and after all signs of fermentation have stopped. Have not dry hopped in the keg yet but it seems to work great for most folks.
 
I don't feel you are pressed for time at all. You have around 33-34 days grain to glass. 1/2 that time in the fermenter, and 1/2 that time in the kegs at serving pressure should work fine. Dry hop in the kegs.

FWIW, I don't care for the shaking force carbing a keg. If time is of the essence, I will put a warm keg in the keezer at 30 psi for 36 hours, takes that long to chill anyways and will get you close to serving co2 volume, and much easier.

I didn't like the idea of the shaking either. A lot of work and afraid of breaking something so I will do 30 psi for 3 days then 8 to serve. Thank u all.





+1^^

36-40hours at 30 psi and then serving pressure. No shaking no work no problems.

Primary for 2-3weeks for most beers, then keg

I dry hop in FV for <7 days before I keg and after all signs of fermentation have stopped. Have not dry hopped in the keg yet but it seems to work great for most folks.
 
That's 72 hours at 30psi. Not a good plan.
-1 to that

8psi is not likely to result in a good serving pressure and retain the correct level of carbonation for the majority of styles at normal storage temperatures.
-1 to that also I'm afraid
 
That's 72 hours at 30psi. Not a good plan.
-1 to that

8psi is not likely to result in a good serving pressure and retain the correct level of carbonation for the majority of styles at normal storage temperatures.
-1 to that also I'm afraid

This is what I have been serving at since getting my kegs and it seems right to me. Kegarator is at 36- 38 degrees. Acording to my carb chart this is 2.2-2.3 volumes. What do u serve at?

Oh... right now I am using the cheap picnic taps so more serving pressure give me a lot of foam. The pour is a little slower than I would like but carbonation is fine.
 
Don't do 3 days at 30 psi unless your trying to make a fire extinguisher :)

30 psi for 36 hours, or a day and a half then reduce to 10-12 psi

Okay. I will start here. Easier to add carb then remove it. Thanks.
 
This is what I have been serving at since getting my kegs and it seems right to me. Kegarator is at 36- 38 degrees. Acording to my carb chart this is 2.2-2.3 volumes. What do u serve at?

Oh... right now I am using the cheap picnic taps so more serving pressure give me a lot of foam. The pour is a little slower than I would like but carbonation is fine.

If that's is working for you then who am I to argue. Results, not theory is what counts. I serve at 10-16 psi depending on style. Usually about 12-14psi.

I've got 5 ft lines and a tower on the kegerator so a very different scenario. The tables are very useful up to a point. I just have worked out over multiple kegs what does and doesn't work for me.

Most recent batch, a Munich Helles wasn't giving much head retention at 12 psi. Upped it to 14 and prOblem solved. In short, work out the serving pressures that work well on your setup. It just takes some tweaking.
 
I would leave in primary the whole fermentation. With that time, you have plenty of time for they to ferment all the way - you're at 2 weeks already. I would leave it in for another week, then straight to keg. You will have plenty of time for carbing almost any way you like - shake and bake, or just set and forget.
 
This is what I have been serving at since getting my kegs and it seems right to me. Kegarator is at 36- 38 degrees. Acording to my carb chart this is 2.2-2.3 volumes. What do u serve at?

Oh... right now I am using the cheap picnic taps so more serving pressure give me a lot of foam. The pour is a little slower than I would like but carbonation is fine.

I go for 2.5 volumes so it's more like 11-12 psi at that temperature. The picnic tap isn't what's giving you foam, it's your beer line length. You want about a foot of 3/16" ID line per psi to balance the pressure. That will slow the beer down enough to keep it from foaming up at higher pressure. Just a thought if you want to go to a higher CO2 volume in the future. It seems like you have it equalized well at 8psi though so pour on! I just like my American ales a bit more carbonated.

I agree with @jrgtr42 though. Its been in primary for 2 weeks today. That's as long as I usually leave most beers. Get it in the keg tomorrow and chill it down. You can set to serving pressure and it will be perfect by the 28th. Don't put it in a secondary. Your keg is the secondary. It will age and develop even at cold temperatures. Trust me. Every beer I've started drinking too early becomes so much better after 2 weeks chilled in the keg, it will also be a lot clearer. Unfortunately that is sometimes the last pint

Another option if you want to leave the beer to condition warm in the keg is to carbonate it at higher pressure in a warm environment (i.e. to get 2.3 volumes at 68F set the pressure to 25psi for 2 weeks. Use a carbonation calculator to figure this out) and chill it a couple of days before your event (do this at whatever your serving pressure will be for the cold temperature). Vent the keg first before putting the lower pressure on to prevent beer from going back into your CO2 lines. This will only happen if your CO2 tube is submerged though.
 
Don't forget, when working with our pressure gauges the accuracy is pretty low. I remember reading that they can be off by as much as 3psi. The charts are nice, but definitely go with what works.
 
I go for 2.5 volumes so it's more like 11-12 psi at that temperature. The picnic tap isn't what's giving you foam, it's your beer line length. You want about a foot of 3/16" ID line per psi to balance the pressure. That will slow the beer down enough to keep it from foaming up at higher pressure. Just a thought if you want to go to a higher CO2 volume in the future. It seems like you have it equalized well at 8psi though so pour on!

I have 15 feet if 3/8 line. I am going to run my kitchen so I don't have to go to the basement for beer. It is cooled up in kegerator for now with the taps just sticking out the side.

I don't have much head retention so maybe I should try pushing psi by a couple. And see what that does.
 
Thanks for all of the replies. I kegged the ipa and pale ale last night and set to 11psi. I have to dry hop the Belgium for 3 days with orange peel so will keg it Wednesday.
 
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