Bonjour
@jseyfert3
The beer was at 34-40 depending on my fridge regulator. I target 38. I let the co2 line diconnected from the keg after it get 30psi. for the shaked keg, probably like shaking during 3 minutes at 30psi
Thank for help
So you connected the CO2 line to the keg, filled to 30 psi, then disconnected the CO2 line? This will almost definitely result in flat beer. The CO2 line must remain connected throughout the entire carbonation process.
Before we get into that, you need to understand the basics. Anything carbonated is done to something called "volumes of CO2". Most beers are generally served around 2.5 volumes, which just means for each unit of liquid there are 2.5 units of CO2 dissolved in the liquid. The biggest thing to understand is this is temperature dependent.
Look at this chart. You will see that at 38 °F, to achieve 2.5 volumes of CO2 you need a pressure of just over 11 psi.
Alright. Now, assuming we want to take an uncarbonated beer up to 2.5 volumes, at a temp of 38 °F, we have a few options.
BY FAR AND AWAY, the easiest way to get the keg to the desired carbonation with
no risk of overcarbing is the set-and-forget method. Connect the cold keg to a CO2 line at 11 psi, leave it connected, and walk away for 2-3 weeks. The beer will reach the 2.5 volumes mark, and by definition, it is impossible to overcarbonate.
If you want something fast, but without risk of overcarbing, you can take the chilled keg, at 11 psi, and shake the keg until your regulator stops hissing. This should get you almost all the way to desired carbonation level, and drinkable beer immediately. But it's a lot of work...I did this with a keg recently and had to shake the keg for at least 10 minutes. Not really fun to shake a 5 gallon keg this long.
The other more common method, but this with a risk of over-carbing, is "burst carbing". It's essentially what you were trying, but you were disconnecting the CO2 line, and it has to remain connected. Take your cold keg, turn the pressure up to 30 psi and let it sit for 24 hours. Keep the keg cold and the line connected but do not shake the keg. After 24 hours, adjust the regulator back down, vent pressure in the keg and set regulator to 11 psi. Test beer to see if it's at proper carbonation level.
In all three cases outlined here, you must leave the CO2 line connected to the keg for the entire time. or it will not carbonate and you'll have flat beer.
Also notice there is a tradeoff with all of these. Fast, easy, no risk of over-carb. Pick any
two. Set and forget is easy and no risk. Shaking a cold keg is fast and no risk. Setting a cold keg to 30 psi for 24 hrs is fast and easy, but risks over-carbing.
This is not an exhausted list of options for carbonating, but it covers the main concepts. Since you are new, and are probably frustrated already, I would recommend NOT doing the burst carbing. Either connect your kegs at 11 psi at 38 °F and let sit for a couple weeks, or if you want it fast then take your cold keg at 11 psi and shake it till the regulator stops hissing. This will probably be 10 minutes or more of shaking, and will not be fun, but you can't overcarb doing that.
Once you get these kegs figured out, then you can branch out and experiment with the third main option I listed, setting a cold keg to 30 psi for 24 hrs (burst carbing). But I would recommend you avoid that till you get your first keg pouring well. I have not tried this method myself.
Hopefully this helps. I tend to ramble, let me know if something isn't clear or you have any questions. I'm not an expert, but I'm on my third keg and have decent pours, so I think I understand how it works at least.
