Keg Carbonation Pressure

[noblesquirrel]

whatever....in 1 week to 1 1/2 weeks at 12 psi set and forget mine is carb'd as hell and leaves a head all the way down to the bottom of the glass....peace out >-

Yeah, head to the bottom does not equal full carbonation is the point that is being made. That is as much a product of the proteins and hops as it is carbonation

 

[bmbigda]

A couple weeks ago I posted on the thread about my set-it-and-forget-it issues I was having. I recently solved this problem and I figured I'd share for future reference. What I did wrong may be common knowledge.

My issue was that after 3 weeks I was still significantly undercarbonated. I have no leaks, and I was setting to 10.5 psi at 34 degrees, like the charts say. My conclusion is that the beer has a tough time carbonating that close to freezing. I like very cold beer so I had it at 34. Once I adjusted temp and pressure accordingly it was perfectly carbonated after a day. I've since slow-carbed a new keg @38 and it only took about 10 days til I was happy with the carbonation.

So my theory is that C02 has a tough time dissolving into beer at close to freezing temps. This makes sense intuitively so I'm going with it. Could even go as far as to say that higher temps allow for faster carbing, which may explain why some people on here are reporting happily carbed beer in only 1 week.

 

[rdavidw]

Getting my keg carbonation levels right has been the least successful part of my brewing process.

I brew a lot of high gravity beers that start in the 1.095 range. They spend about 2 weeks in the primary and then if its getting dry hopped about a another 2 weeks in a secondary. If its not getting dry hopped I leave it in the primary until I get consistent gravity readings - typically about 3-4 weeks total. I then rack it to a keg and it sits in storage for between two to nine months before getting tapped. I boil between 1 oz and 3 oz of priming sugar with a little water in the microwave and add it to the keg. I have 4 primary fermenters and 5 secondary fermenters with a total of 9 kegs; 6 in storage and 3 on tap.

I used to not add any priming sugar and force carb but that shakes up any trub at the bottom of the keg and it takes a long time to settle. Most of my kegs may be well over 50 years old. I replaced all of the seals but I have tapped a few that did not seal during storage and were dead flat. Even worse, I tapped a few where the pressure was so high that it blew beer up into my gas lines. I have had a few bottle bombs back in the late 90s but I don't want to think about what a keg bomb would look like. I would guess the pressure relief valve is supposed to act as a safety but with the age of these things who knows.

I just picked up 6 pressure gauges and gas disconnects from The Keg Connection and connection fittings from ebay. Its been a huge help. I can now see exactly how much head pressure is in each of my storage kegs at all times. If its too low I can fix a seal and or add some CO2. If its climbing up too high I just crack the relief valve and blow off some of the pressure.







It worked out to a little over twenty bucks each. Here are the parts:
Regulator Gauge 0-60
Disconnect in Gas Ball Lock 1/4 mfl
Flare Swivel Union
Flare x Female NPT

The The Keg Connection has been great - I wonder if they would want to offer these assembled. I have seen some that have a adjustable blow off valve but they only go up to a few psi and are used for filling kegs not carbonating. It would be cool to have one that could be used to prevent over carbonating.

 

[bja]

I used to not add any priming sugar and force carb but that shakes up any trub at the bottom of the keg

I force carb all of my kegs and don't have this problem.

 

[KegconnectionLLC]

We can make these a product. I spoke to a supplier this morning that produces about every brass part imaginable and we were not able to find an single part to connect these, so it would have to remain two parts. I am ordering a supply of both and then we will add this part next week. I have actually made this exact setup before for a completely different application (sprayer),but I never thought of using it to monitor force carbonation.
Thanks for the suggestion!

Getting my keg carbonation levels right has been the least successful part of my brewing process.

I brew a lot of high gravity beers that start in the 1.095 range. They spend about 2 weeks in the primary and then if its getting dry hopped about a another 2 weeks in a secondary. If its not getting dry hopped I leave it in the primary until I get consistent gravity readings - typically about 3-4 weeks total. I then rack it to a keg and it sits in storage for between two to nine months before getting tapped. I boil between 1 oz and 3 oz of priming sugar with a little water in the microwave and add it to the keg. I have 4 primary fermenters and 5 secondary fermenters with a total of 9 kegs; 6 in storage and 3 on tap.

I used to not add any priming sugar and force carb but that shakes up any trub at the bottom of the keg and it takes a long time to settle. Most of my kegs may be well over 50 years old. I replaced all of the seals but I have tapped a few that did not seal during storage and were dead flat. Even worse, I tapped a few where the pressure was so high that it blew beer up into my gas lines. I have had a few bottle bombs back in the late 90s but I don't want to think about what a keg bomb would look like. I would guess the pressure relief valve is supposed to act as a safety but with the age of these things who knows.

I just picked up 6 pressure gauges and gas disconnects from The Keg Connection and connection fittings from ebay. Its been a huge help. I can now see exactly how much head pressure is in each of my storage kegs at all times. If its too low I can fix a seal and or add some CO2. If its climbing up too high I just crack the relief valve and blow off some of the pressure.







It worked out to a little over twenty bucks each. Here are the parts:
Regulator Gauge 0-60
Disconnect in Gas Ball Lock 1/4 mfl
Flare Swivel Union
Flare x Female NPT

The The Keg Connection has been great - I wonder if they would want to offer these assembled. I have seen some that have a adjustable blow off valve but they only go up to a few psi and are used for filling kegs not carbonating. It would be cool to have one that could be used to prevent over carbonating.

 

[rdavidw]

I force carb all of my kegs and don't have this problem.

I seem to only have trub shaken up in my big (over 9% abv) beers, which is currently my thing. I could just let it sit for a week chilled on pressure but I don't wish to have one of my three taps down that long. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[rdavidw]

We can make these a product. I spoke to a supplier this morning that produces about every brass part imaginable and we were not able to find an single part to connect these, so it would have to remain two parts. I am ordering a supply of both and then we will add this part next week. I have actually made this exact setup before for a completely different application (sprayer),but I never thought of using it to monitor force carbonation.
Thanks for the suggestion!

Awesome! They have been I big help for me.

 

[bja]

I seem to only have trub shaken up in my big (over 9% abv) beers, which is currently my thing. I could just let it sit for a week chilled on pressure but I don't wish to have one of my three taps down that long. Thanks for the feedback.

Maybe you need more taps.