Keg carbonation - newbie question.

[Martin Modén]

Hi all,

I've been lurking the forums and searched the web - when keg carbing, can i set the pressure and then remove the gas in line and wait one week? Or does the gas in line have to be connected during the time i gets carbonated?

Thanks all and happy new year!

//Martin

 

[JohnSand]

You should leave it connected, as the beer absorbs the CO2. If you need the line, you might charge the keg to 30 or 40 psi, which will take time to absorb.
Welcome aboard!

 

[Martin Modén]

You should leave it connected, as the beer absorbs the CO2. If you need the line, you might charge the keg to 30 or 40 psi, which will take time to absorb.
Welcome aboard!

Thank you very much!

 

[Bassman2003]

Yes, you want to leave it connected to keep a steady steam of the same pressure going to the keg. When you first hook it up, the pressure is put on the beer. It takes a while for the gas to be absorbed into the liquid. If you disconnect it, you would only get the initial blast which would only occupy the headspace, not the beer. This CO2 in the headspace would absorb in the beer but would not be enough to fully carbonate the keg. Unless you put a much higher pressure than you are aiming for.

The 'set and forget' method is very popular which is set your desired carbonation level, hook the gas up and leave it for a week or two.

As you do it more you learn that slow and steady is best for pressurized vessels. Once you get that down, I would suggest looking into natural carbonation methods like adding sugar (priming) and capturing CO2 (spunding).