I think I might have messed up my force carbonation...

[wsender]

I followed this method: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ_YGcJEcOc[/ame]
and it seems pretty straightforward. I turned up to 30psi, laid the keg down on its side, and rolled it back and forth for about a minute, and then disconnected the gas and let it sit for 24 hours. I hooked up my gas and beer lines today and set to serving (10 psi) and went to pour myself a beer. Beer came out, but it was flat.

I don't think my force carbonation took (obviously). What should I do now? Should I try the same method again? I'd like a little bit of a faster solution than letting sit at my serving pressure for a week.

FWIW - I heard very little hissing of the CO2 going into solution when I was rocking it. Did I not slosh it around hard enough?

 

[vNmd]

I have not seen this particular vid, but I have done the shaking the keg exercise before. First you haven't messed up. You can fix it by leaving the co2 on the keg. It will eventually carbonate. You didn't mention what temperature the contents of the keg was. I don't shake the keg around every time I keg, but when I have in the past, the keg is about 32 degrees. I might shake it around a few times the first day when the pressure is 30 but I leave the co2 connected and under that pressure. I lower it down after the first day. On mine I have never really seen a nicely carbonated keg doing the rush force carb thing. It might have a head of foam, but I like watching the little bubbles in the beer for several minutes after the pour. For this I leave it carb at the lower pressure for a week or two before testing.

 

[govner1]

I don't care for the "rock & roll" nor hi pressure method. After many years of keg conditioning I've started putting 10-12 lbs of pressure on my kegs after cold crashing at least 24 hrs.
I leave it for 5 days & all is good plus clear. Here's a pic of my just tapped Belgian IPAView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1436048582.782752.jpg

 

[doug293cz]

Shaking or rolling a keg at 30 psi is an easy way to over carbonate a keg, and then you have a PITA to deal with.

Any carbonation process that uses pressurized CO2 is a "forced" carbonation method. Using higher than equilibrium CO2 pressure, and/or keg agitation is "accelerated" force carbonation. Mixing high pressures and agitation can result in over carbonation (because it is difficult to control precisely), so should be avoided.

For high pressure accelerated carbonation the process is:

1. Keg beer & chill to 38° - 40°F. This can be pretty quick if beer was cold crashed before kegging.
2. Choose one of the following options:
   • Pressurize to 30 psi for 36 hours
   • Pressurize to 40 psi for 24 hours
3. Vent the keg and reset the pressure to 10-14 psi, depending on actual temp and carbonation volumes desired.
4. Start serving a few hours later, although it will be better after 2 - 3 days.

For agitation accelerated carbonation the process is:

1. Keg beer & chill to 38° - 40°F.
2. Pressurize to 10 - 14 psi depending on the actual temperature and carbonation volumes desired.
3. Shake or roll the keg for a couple of minutes and until you don't hear any more gas entering the keg. Be sure you have a check valve in your gas line between the keg and regulator before agitating, or you risk getting beer back flow into your regulator. Close the gas valve (otherwise you won't be able to hear CO2 rushing in on the next iteration.)
4. Open the gas valve and repeat the above step every half hour or so until no gas is heard entering when you open the valve. Leave the gas valve open after the last iteration.
5. Serve. Beer will tend to clear over the next few days as the sediment mixed up from the agitation settles back out.

Brew on

 

[rawlus]

I'm not a huge fan of over carbonated green beer. To me if you have to accelerate carbonation then you're not making enough beer. I personally find a benefit in letting a keg carb at 10-14psi over the course of 7-10 days, I know I am exactly hitting the target and the beer has time to drop clear and also mature a bit. I don't manage all the things that go into the brewing and fermenting as best as I can just to rush it to a glass in a day or two. But that's me.

 

[doug293cz]

I'm not a huge fan of over carbonated green beer. To me if you have to accelerate carbonation then you're not making enough beer. I personally find a benefit in letting a keg carb at 10-14psi over the course of 7-10 days, I know I am exactly hitting the target and the beer has time to drop clear and also mature a bit. I don't manage all the things that go into the brewing and fermenting as best as I can just to rush it to a glass in a day or two. But that's me.

I agree that "set and forget" gives the beer more time to mature and clear, but the OP asked for tips on accelerated carbonation. If done correctly, accelerated carbonation will not result in over carbonation. Let the OP experiment and learn what works for him/her.

Brew on

 

[Gameface]

As long as you haven't overcarbbed you haven't really messed up. Much easier to add more CO2 than to get rid of extra CO2.

I've done the shake it method. I do it much like you described (didn't watch the video). But I've started going a bit longer than 1min.

As mentioned above, temp matters. It matters quite a bit. Look into that.

If it isn't where you want it you can hook it back up at 30psi and roll the keg around some more, or you can hook it up and leave it at high psi until it starts pouring the way you want, or you can set it to your serving pressure and let it get there in a few days.

Just remember, fixing an overcarbbed keg is harder than carbing a keg, so try not to get too impatient and end up overdoing it.

 

[Hoppity]

If I were a lacing, proud head of a well brewed beer I might not wake as well at serving time if I was rudely shaken when I was gently reaching the end of my productive slumbers.
I don't know the chemistry, but I fear pushing beer. I've pushed them before, and haven't. I've had great lacey, long retention heads and have had quickly disappearing bubbles. Aside from the 20-odd other variables in the brewing process this is one I think is easiest and hardest to control: patience. Happy 4th everyone.

 

[wsender]

I agree that "set and forget" gives the beer more time to mature and clear, but the OP asked for tips on accelerated carbonation. If done correctly, accelerated carbonation will not result in over carbonation. Let the OP experiment and learn what works for him/her.

Brew on

OP here, I think the lesson to be learned here it to just give it the time it needs. I set the pressure to about 25psi and have been monitoring every few hours. No shaking and I am getting more dissolved CO2. However it tastes green and is pretty cloudy (although it's an American Wheat so I do expect it to be pretty cloudy). I think after a few more hours I'll just turn it down to serving pressure.

In regards to clarity. After it sits for a few days and it settles out a bit, are the first few pours cloudy since all the sediment settles out and the dip tube picks it up?

 

[doug293cz]

OP here, I think the lesson to be learned here it to just give it the time it needs. I set the pressure to about 25psi and have been monitoring every few hours. No shaking and I am getting more dissolved CO2. However it tastes green and is pretty cloudy (although it's an American Wheat so I do expect it to be pretty cloudy). I think after a few more hours I'll just turn it down to serving pressure.

In regards to clarity. After it sits for a few days and it settles out a bit, are the first few pours cloudy since all the sediment settles out and the dip tube picks it up?

Yes, the dip tube will pick up the settled sediment, so the first pours can be cloudier than the rest. If it bothers you, turn the lights off while you drink it.

Yeah, if the fermentation schedule wasn't long enough to let the beer mature a little, then it will need more time after packaging to do so. It can be very difficult to get beer that is really "done" on a short schedule. You need to pitch a proper cell count of healthy yeast, and then have a well controlled fermentation temperature profile. And even then, it only works for for lower gravity and less complex beers. So, yes patience is necessary in home brewing. Best solution is to get a good pipeline going so you always have beer ready to drink, and aren't pushing a batch along too fast 'cause you're thirsty.

Brew on

 

[Frodo]

For a lot more if you haven't seen it, check out the Kegging Illustrated thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=73328