Keg and Carb levels, carbonation seems low

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Diesel48

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I have had 3 kegs in my newly built keezer carbing for 3 weeks at 39 Degrees. My C02 is at 11-12 psi. I have 10 ft serving lines. My beer is definitely carbonated but it is a very light carbonation. If I compare the carbonation of a coors light to my ale's the coors has a lot more carbonation. Should my ales have that much carbonation or are ale's typically lighter in that department.
 
Here's a carb chart, for reference
http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

Most of us use something in the green range for most beers, which is 2.2 to 2.6 volumes of CO2 in the beer.

I found this text on http://www.angelfire.com/ks2/beer/homekeg.html
Coors Light has 2.8 volumes of dissolved CO2 (from Golden, CO brewery). Coors light is not very malty or "hoppy", therefore it has more CO2 to help bring out the "qualities" it does have.

2.8 volumes puts Coors in the yellow "highly carbonated" range.

Yes, I grabbed that off the highly reliable internet, but I would have wagered that Coors (and most light american lagers) are probably more highly carbonated than the average beer.

We call them "fizzy" for a reason. :D
 
That is the chart I have been using. As long as my regulator is correct I am somewhere in between 2.48 - 2.57. Seems just a bit to light though. I wish I could have one of the experts taste and let me know if I am at the right carb level.
 
That is the chart I have been using. As long as my regulator is correct I am somewhere in between 2.48 - 2.57. Seems just a bit to light though. I wish I could have one of the experts taste and let me know if I am at the right carb level.

Let's call yours 2.5, just for a reference.

Coors was listed as 2.8 on that website, which means that the difference between your kegs and some bottled coors is almost 0.3 volumes.

Note that the range for "normal" on that carb chart is only 0.4 volumes in size (from 2.2 to 2.6). That means that the 0.3 difference you have vs coors is a significant amount of carbonation difference.

Dropping 0.3 is enough to make a normal beer seem lightly carbonated and raising 0.3 is enough to make a normal beer seem highly carbonated.

I don't know of anyone who can taste a beer and tell you how many volumes of CO2 there are in it, but if you want to test things out, raise your pressure to 15psi for a while and get your beer up to 2.8 volumes and see if that's the level of carbonation you want.
 
Does having 10ft lines effect the first glass of beer? maybe it is because I am only drinking a glass a day so the beer coming out is the beer that has been in my beer lines. Does C02 come out of solution in the lines? If so is there a way to fix it? Maybe I will pull off two pints tonight to see if the second pint is better.
 
I did the quick 2oz pour and then pour the rest of the pint. It really helped. My carbonation in all my kegs is perfect! Amazing how much foam a 10ft beer line and warmer faucet can cause.
 
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