Keg at room temp

[mawa]

Hi brewers!

I need some help with kegging. I've kegged 4 beers so far and none have come out carbed right.

Due to equipment limitations, once i keg a beer, i can only keep the keg at room temp (the only fridge i have, i use for fermentation temp control).

With the keg at room temp (75 F aprox) how many PSI should I use to force carb the beer? for how long?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Blender]

You should read this page. I think it will help. Kegs need more pressure at room temp. The chart only goes to 70 degrees but I would think it will be close enough. Good Luck

Force Carbonation & Carb Table

 

[Dpostman]

You can use the calculator on THIS WEB PAGE if your range is outside the chart. I had that problem for a white beer that I was carbing and it was for 3.3 Vol of CO2 at 70 Degs, I needed 42 PSI.

Usually for a standard Bland American Style Beer at 2.5 Vol of CO2, if carbing at 70 Degs you'll need about 30PSI for 2 weeks (75 or 80%) of carbing will happen during the 1st week, with the rest finishing off in the second week.

dp

EDIT: Did I say "Bland American Style Beer" oops, I meant BLOND... I think

 

[mawa]

Thanks guys! This is exactly the information that i needed!

I'll do as you suggest and set it at 30 psi for a couple of weeks.

Now a final question, after theses 2 weeks, do I just disconnect the CO2 from the keg? and only connect it again when ready to serve?

 

[Dpostman]

I disconnect mine cause I need to carb other beers, but every week or so, I reconnect the keg with the proper CO2 Pressure setting on regulator, just to make sure the kegs are holding pressure properly. But Usually, after the beer has been absorbing CO2 for 2 weeks, it has absorbed as much as it can. If you re-connect a week or so later and dont hear any (Or very little) CO2 going in, it's holding fine.

dp

 

[malkore]

well the problem is you'll need like 24 feet of beer line to balance 30psi.

otherwise you have to vent the pressure down to whatever balances your lines...dispense a few beers, then put it back on 30psi again or it'll lose carbonation.

I'd leave it on gas all the time...provided you know you have no leaks.

And get another fridge...nobody likes 72F beer.

 

[Dpostman]

Yes. I should have specified, All the carbing I do is in my cold room on a 20lb CO2 Tank. This is a completely independent setup from my keggorator CO2 setup. Once my kegs are carbed and conditioned in the cold room, they only have to sit in the keggorator for a day for them to cool off and are ready to be connected to my beer taps and 5lb CO2 Tank in the keggorator

dp

 

[jonbrout]

Sooo. Question!

The carbing calc says i should use 28psi for 70* but it does not say how long....
1 week...
2 weeks..
or just 28 psi until i decide to chill and serve it (purging to serving pressure of course)?

I can't help but to think that if I let it sit in my room at 70* with 28psi on it for a month or 2 i wouldn't overcab it... Hmmm.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Poindexter]

If you are keeping the kegs at 75°F while they are carbning anyway, do consider using 3ozs of corn sugar instead of wasting your CO2.

Just saying. It will be hella cheaper.

Just rack your batch into the serving keg with 3ozs of corn sugar waiting, seal up the keg, smack it up to 10 psi once with a shot of CO2 just to seal the Orings, wait three weeks, chill, tap, serve, done.

M2c

 

[jonbrout]

It'll be around 70*
I was actually trying to avoid using priming sugars to cut down on the sediment since I will be moving the keg around after it's carbed.

Also, i noticed you said I would be wasting CO2 carbing it.. but wouldn't it take the same amount of CO2 to carb it at 34* and at 70* but just at different pressures to absorb into the liquid?

Thanks.

 

[Poindexter]

If you carb with 3 ozs corn sugar I can assure you the amount of sediment is, ahem, quite minor. By the time you get it cold I promise the sediment will settle and be gone in two pints or so.

Also, you will be out exactly zero CO2 out of your tank. At my house/ LHBS/ welding supply store sugar is about free and CO2 is about liquid gold. YMMV some I guess, but I can't serve out of a keg with no sugar powder.