There has been a lot of discussion about various ways of carbonating the keg, with the plus and minuses of each way. I agree that rushing the pressurization of a keg has little advantage unless there is a specific deadline of some sort. I'm of the view that extra time at the lagering stage, whether for ales or lagers, greatly improves the taste and clarity of the beer. I also tend to make more lagers/pilsners than ales, so have become used to waiting during the lagering stage which takes at least three weeks. Thus it would normally be no big deal for me to wait the two or three weeks that it takes to set the keg at the serving pressure and wait until pressurization is complete, as mentioned by Bobby in the first post.
However - and I have read every single post in this entire discussion - I have almost seen no discussion at all about how to pressurize a keg WITHOUT leaving the CO2 tank attached for the entire time. Several have complained about losing a whole tank of CO2 because of leaks while keeping it attached. One or two have also mentioned that they do not wish to drill a hole through their kegerator/frige/deep freezer for various reasons. I also have no desire to drill through my temperature controlled deep freezer, as some day I may wish to graduate to a different method and want to sell my freezer. Some people have mentioned that they do not have any extra room in their kegerator for the CO2 tank. I personally do have room (I currently have five kegs and one carboy in the chest as well as many special bottles of beer), but whenever I leave a CO2 tank in the freezer, there is often a lot of condensation on it, and I do not want to risk any rusting on the tank. Therefore, there seems to be situations where it would be very beneficial NOT to have the CO2 tank connected to the keg during the entire pressurization time.
Thus, I have developed my own unique way of pressurizing kegs WITHOUT leaving them attached to a CO2 tank the entire time. However, I have not yet perfected this approach. Generally, the process involves flushing the air out of the keg, giving it a little pressure to seal the lid, and leaving the keg in the temperature controlled freezer as it lagers down to just about freezing temperature (about 32 F). Then, before it reaches this temperature (at about 40-45 F) I take the keg out, attach the CO2 tank, and give it a pressure of about 30 psi. I place the CO2 tank on a ledge several feet above the keg (to prevent beer from going into the CO2 line) and rock the keg up and down continuously until no more gas can be heard entering the tank (takes maybe 5-10 minutes or about 150-200 rocks of the keg). Then I detach the CO2, place the keg in the freezer, and leave it for 12 hours or so. I then give the keg another shot of CO2 at about 20 psi (without shaking or rocking it) and do this every 12 hours for 2 or 3 days. Then I lower the pressure to serving pressure (say 8 psi since the temperature is at 32 F), and give the keg a shot of CO2 every 12 hours at the serving pressure. I continue this for another two weeks or so, or until no more CO2 can be heard entering the keg, and believe it or not, the carbonation seems about right. Then, immediately after pouring a beer at any time, I give the keg another shot of CO2 at 8 psi, disconnect it and it is ready for the next pour.
Thus, the same thing can be accomplished WITHOUT leaving the CO2 tank connected at all times (although it may take a few days longer). As long as the keg doesn't leak, it will hold the pressure, so I can't see any need whatsoever for keeping the CO2 line connected at all times.
Has anybody else tried this method? I'm still trying to perfect it in terms of timing, and would like to hear of others' experience with this method, which so far has only been briefly mentioned perhaps once in 874 posts. I have also never seen this method mentioned anywhere on Internet sites.
