I am about to switch from bottling to kegging. After talking to other home brewers and reading articles it seems to be the better route to me. What is the best method of carbonating the keg? And can I carbonate 2 kegs at the same time with the same co2 tank?
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VagueSkunk
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1. Like most things in home brewing there is more than one way to skin this cat. There is no 'best' way to carbonate. There are different methods, each with pros and cons. Read through this forum (sticky thread at the top should be where you start) and you'll find descriptions of all of them.
2. Yes. https://www.kegworks.com/2-to-9-way-aluminum-co2-distribution-manifolds-for-draft-beer-systems
1. Natural carb using sugar & water -- just like bottling only in a keg. Great if you don't have room in your kegerator/keezer. You can then adjust carbonation once you hook it up to the CO2 tank and put it in your kegerator/keezer.
2. Set and Forget -- set desired psi, connect to keg, put in kegerator/keezer and let it sit for 1.5 to 2 weeks.
3. Force carb. -- connect to gas and shake/roll keg until you reach desired carbonation. Faster, but your risk over-carbonating
4. Hybrid method -- connect to gas at 30 - 40 psi in kegerator/keezer for 24 hours then reduce the psi to serving pressure. wait a few days and your good.
I use 1. or 4. depending on whether I have room in my kegerator. If you search for the 4 terms above, you should find more information on how to do each. Good luck and you'll never go back to bottles after kegging.
2. Set and Forget -- set desired psi, connect to keg, put in kegerator/keezer and let it sit for 1.5 to 2 weeks.
3. Force carb. -- connect to gas and shake/roll keg until you reach desired carbonation. Faster, but your risk over-carbonating
4. Hybrid method -- connect to gas at 30 - 40 psi in kegerator/keezer for 24 hours then reduce the psi to serving pressure. wait a few days and your good.
I use 1. or 4. depending on whether I have room in my kegerator. If you search for the 4 terms above, you should find more information on how to do each. Good luck and you'll never go back to bottles after kegging.
if your kegs do not leak, and you don't drink the beer you can disconnect and the pressure/carbonation will hold.
But if you start serving beer, you may need to reconnect and re-pressurize after several pints or so, otherwise CO2 will start escaping into increased headspace.
Also, of course if you try to serve at a warmer than intended temperature, you may need to adjust the pressure accordingly (use carbonation tables).
You have to leave the CO2 on until the beer is fully carbed. Otherwise, as the CO2 is absorbed into the beer from the headspace, the headspace pressure will drop, which will lower the final carb level. Once the beer is fully carbed, then you can remove the CO2 supply from the keg without issues (as long as the keg doesn't leak.)
Brew on
Brew on
Thanks for the feedback. So I read a lot about carbonating at low temperatures. In my case I'd be storing mine at room temperature and serving at cold temperatures. Is it ok to carb at room temp? And when it's time to serve should I be doing something else?
skraeling
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it will take a lot longer to carb at room temp and also a higher pressure. The two are related.
google carbonation chart itll give you a rough idea.
time to serve depends on how you will be serving it.
its easier to carbonate at low temperatures (lower pressures required) - once carbed you can store at room temperature, and then cool prior to serving.
But you could also carbonate at room temp, just requires much higher pressures.
in my reply above I meant once you carb, you can disconnect from CO2 and keep it off. But it is ideal to keep CO2 on while carbing (or reapply pressure every hour or so)
They are indeed - but if the proper CO2 pressure is used for the given beer temperature it actually takes no longer to reach the desired volumes of CO2.
Our favorite carbonation table.
Time to carb vs technique...
Cheers!
skraeling
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Roughly what I said... I think?
Anyway... keep it cold, keep it connected, carb away.
Roughly what I said... I think?
Roughly.
The "a lot longer" needed clarification lest the OP come to an errant conclusion...
Cheers!
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