New to Kegging and in a pinch

[Dan5]

Hello all.
Well, short story; I received my kegging setup last Friday and proceeded to keg my Hefeweizen on Monday. I do not have a chest freezer, kegerator, or fridge yet, and had planned to leave the keg at 12psi for a week and pick up some type of fridge after Christmas. I've been asked to bring a few bottles of the Hefe home for Christmas, so I'm in a bit of a pinch and want to see if I'll have any chance of this.
Yesterday morning, I upped the psi to 30. So, it's been sitting there at 12psi for a day, then 30psi for a day.

Any suggestions on what I could/should do now, so that I have a couple bottles or growlers of beer ready to drink on 12/24? Should I drop the psi back to 12, bottle and put the bottles in the fridge over night tomorrow?

I know the situation is less that ideal, but I'm just looking to see if it's possible at this point, or if all hope is lost. Worst case, I put it back to 12 psi tonight and leave it until I get back home.

 

[Firebat138]

You can force by setting it at 30 and rolling the keg around on ur lap for about 15 minutes. That fill start to fill in all the little molecule holes with co2 for ya... I do this... wait.... purge... then set to 12 and wait a day or two.... But an expert will chime in soon...

 

[ShakerD]

Warm beer doesn't take carbonation very well and even if its cold it takes around 2 weeks for it to balance properly. You can force carb by bringing the psi up high but it's going to be hard to hit the right level of carbonation.

Your beer will be fine to drink but the carbonation level wont be right.

If you are going to bottle warm I would drop the psi down to ~3 and freeze the bottles to chill them.

 

[rjsnau]

You could have a problem in that you do not have the beer chilled. What is the temp of the beer? Then reference with this chart.. Force Carbonation Chart - Kegerators.com

If you are not in the right range it will never carb. If you are it will take a week or two.

If you have a way to chill it to say 35-40 degrees you can leave it at 30 psi and shake the keg for a min or two, test it and repeat. Be careful though because it is easy to over carb and then you just have to bleed off the CO2 every few hours to get rid of excess.

Good luck!

-edit-

I just thought of another idea. If you don't mind serving your beer from a two liter, you can get one of these..
http://morebeer.com/view_product/18250/

I have it and it works great. You fill it up, purge the airspace and hook it up to your gas. Then you shake it. PSI would need to be around 30. Your LHBS should carry it. This way you can chill a 2 liter of your beer and carb it.

Remember though that this is not going to help "green" beer.

 

[rjsnau]

-delete dup post-

 

[Dan5]

The beer is currently sitting at room temp, which is right around 69degrees. So, it doesn't sound like I'm going to have a good carbed beer if I try to carb and then chill in the bottle. I was afraid that might be the case.

I will see if I can find a decent mini fridge off of Craigslist today and chill the keg while it carbs.

So, at this point, do you guys think I'll be ok if I bleed off all the CO2, then put the keg/CO2 tank in a fridge at 40degrees and leave it hooked up at 30psi for 24 hrs? At that point (night of 12/22) bleed the CO2 off, and sit it at 10psi over night, and then bottle right before I leave at lunch on 12/23? Does that sound possible at all?

Also, I've seen the chart several times, but I don't really understand the volumes of CO2 point. Looks like for a Hefe, I need to be in the yellow range? So does that mean that at 40degrees, I need to set it to 15-17psi?

Thanks for all the feedback so far!

 

[runningweird]

I have never been happy with the quick carbing method, it always tastes weird and is not a good representation of what your beer should taste like.
Are you bottling from the tap? if so your beer will foam a lot and won't make it very long in the bottle - as in it will be kind of flat since you didn't bottle at serving pressure.

my beer usually takes about 7 or 8 days to get really good under normal serving pressure - which for me is just under 15 psi since my beer lines are about 15 feet long with 8 feet of vertical travel.

My advice: give your beer as much time in the keg under normal pressure - then fill a growler or some bottles. A beer gun or bowiebottler - which I am currently on a waiting list for - is your best bet in the future.

 

[ShakerD]

This is an excellent chart and much prettier than the one I usually post.

So at 65 degrees 30 psi will put you at 2.58 volumes which is what is normal for most ales.

A hefe by BJCP is 2.5 - 2.9 volumes so you would be close.



http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

 

[Dan5]

Well, I've been able to procure a fridge for the next week, so the keg and CO2 tank are currently in the fridge. I'm putting it in there at 40 degrees, and at 30 psi until tomorrow night. I'll then back it off to 12psi, test it, let it sit until Friday before bottling.

My next question: I've seen people mention shaking the keg. Do I need to do this before placing the keg in the fridge, or after its at 30psi for a day and just before I drop it to 12 psi? Thanks again for the help everyone!