Kegging and Elevation Change

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jescholler

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I'm going to be kegging a beer at 5300 ft. and dispensing it at about 11500 ft (pretty soon after I get to 11500 ft). Does anyone have any tips on how I can figure out what to set the pressure to for carbonating? Should I also use a longer line length for dispensing? Sorry if these are basic questions. I'm new to kegging.
 
You need to add 0.5 psi per 1000 feet of elevation for carbing & serving over what the carbonation charts and calculators tell you for sea level. So, at 5300 feet you need to add 2.5 psi to the chart values. At 11500 ft, you need to add 5.5 psi. You'll also need to increase you line length to prevent foamy pours. You need about 1ft for every psi of gauge pressure.

Brew on :mug:
 
The change in regulator pressure makes sense to me, but doesn't that assume you're carbing and serving at the same altitude? For example, if I carb the keg at 5300 ft and it has 2.5 volumes CO2, wouldn't it still have 2.5 volumes when I take it to a higher altitude (assuming I disconnect the CO2 for transport)? It seems more like a serving issue to me, which would be addressed by the added line length.
 
The change in regulator pressure makes sense to me, but doesn't that assume you're carbing and serving at the same altitude? For example, if I carb the keg at 5300 ft and it has 2.5 volumes CO2, wouldn't it still have 2.5 volumes when I take it to a higher altitude (assuming I disconnect the CO2 for transport)? It seems more like a serving issue to me, which would be addressed by the added line length.

Yes, if you carb at 5000 ft to 2.5 volumes and take the keg up to 11,000 ft, it will still contain 2.5 volumes of CO2, and the absolute pressure in the headspace will be the same. However, the gauge pressure in the headspace will increase by 3 psi due to the drop in atmospheric pressure caused by the 6000 ft increase in altitude.
Gauge_Pressure = Absolute_Pressure - Atmospheric_Pressure​
You want to store and serve at the absolute pressure which corresponds to the equilibrium pressure for the carb level and temperature of the beer. If you don't do that then the carb level will change over time. Regulator pressures need to be adjusted as you change altitude because the regulator works on gauge pressure, and gauge pressure changes with altitude, while absolute pressure in the headspace does not.

Brew on :mug:
 
I understand. So I'll carb at 5300 ft based on the atmospheric pressure at 5300 ft. Then when I get to the higher altitude I'll increase the pressure based on the atmospheric pressure at that altitude. The line length will be calculated based on the gauge pressure at the higher altitude. I'll report back on how it goes.
 
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