One to carb, one to dispense

[Norselord]

Hey HBT,

I used to carb at my serving pressure (5-8PSI).
This meant that for some styles (@40F) the carbonation was a little low (~2 units)

Can I carb a keg with one CO2 tank to get to say 15PSI (2.8 units) and then put that keg on 5-8 PSI serving pressure and still maintain 2.8 units of carbonation? I know it may take 1-2 weeks at 15PSI to fully dissove 14.0 gallons of CO2 in 5 gallons in beer. Please don't assume i am talking about force carbing, or flash carbing, or anything like that.

My logic tells me that as the volume in the keg goes down, the headspace pressure will eventually reach closer to 5-8PSI and the beer will gradually go from 2.8 to 2.0 units.

TLR - i want to serve all 6 of my kegs with a dispensing pressure of 5-8PSI but i want to carb them all at different pressures.

Edit: math

 

[bracconiere]

think for that you're going to need something like this....

https://www.beveragefactory.com/dra...HzaM4Ohb28Q88CvG8mqj4NCoil78_zD2XYxoCCyjw_wcB

edit: plus i'd think you'd need different draft line lengths.....or variable resistance faucets that i heard mentioned?

 

[Norselord]

think for that you're going to need something like this....

https://www.beveragefactory.com/dra...HzaM4Ohb28Q88CvG8mqj4NCoil78_zD2XYxoCCyjw_wcB

edit: plus i'd think you'd need different draft line lengths.....or variable resistance faucets that i heard mentioned?

I think your proposed solution was dispense beer at various pressures too.
I am wondering if there is a way to dispense at a certain pressure, but have the carbonation be at a different pressure.

 

[Todd820]

I would recommend the same thing. I have a dual regulator and send one out to all my serving kegs (this would be your 5-8 psi) and leave the other one off unless I am carbing. I force carb, but you could have that be your variable carbing pressure. Not sure the volume you go through, but if you find you need to carb more than one keg at a time go with a triple regulator and you could have 2 kegs carbing at different pressures while you have all your others at serving pressure.

 

[SanPancho]

No. If the headspace in the kegs is 15psi your beer will pour at 15psi until the volume gets low enough to drop head pressures to 8psi. Those first beers will be at 15, then when it drops to equal the serving pressure 8 you will push with that pressure.

At the beginning the higher 15psi head pressure will be what pushes, not the gas in the line as it’s too low to overcome the 15psi in the head space.

In theory you could carb at 15, blow off head pressure to 8 and then push the beer out with 8. After you finish you’d need to re-pressure the keg back to 15 to keep carb level at 2.8. Not a great idea for anything hoppy. Darker beers may not be a big deal. Just waste a lot of gas.

 

[DVCNick]

You're right that eventually your dissolved Co2 level inside the beer in the keg will "equalize" with your keg pressure level for your set of conditions (temp and abv). I can tell you this because I know academically this is how it works, not because I'm an expert in practice

In my brief kegging experience so far, I still haven't reliably got enough carb for my taste into the beer in the glass. I had 10ft of line, and at my desired serving pressure (12psi indicated) I get foam bombs for the most part. What I started doing is turning down the regulator when I went to drink on it, and serving at lower pressure, around 5-6 PSI. This would reduce the foam once pressure was reduced and there was cold beer in line in the tower. Then I would just turn it up to 12psi again when I was done to keep it from getting flat.

Oddly this still doesn't put enough fizz in the beer for my taste. My only guess from here is that my regulator reads a little high. I read that the gauges are a little inconsistent.

I've just doubled my line length to 20ft, and I'm going to try carbing and serving the next keg at higher pressure, and hopefully the longer line will let it get into the glass without coming out as a foam bomb.

 

[Norselord]

OK, so for $100 i can carb and dispense at 3 different pressures/carbonation levels using this:
https://www.beveragefactory.com/dra...HzaM4Ohb28Q88CvG8mqj4NCoil78_zD2XYxoCCyjw_wcB

Bitters and brits in the 2-2.2 volume range (9PSI @ 40F)
Stouts/Porters and other darks in the 2.4-2.6 range (12PSI @ 40F)
Wheats/Belgians/Pilseners around 3.0 (17PSI @ 40F)

I have 6 taps, so i just need a manifold for each pressure regulator.

I like this - most people get lazy about dispensing and miss out on the mouthfeel and carbonic acidity that is involved with this aspect of beer.

 

[SanPancho]

two issues- warm beer in tower and draft pressure.

Warm tower requires chilling. That’s the only solution unless you wanna always pour off first pint.

As for pressure I’d study the draft beer bible from brewers association. You can find it online. Read it, do the math, calculate your system.

My guess is you could have errors in gauges as well as no balancing pressure in the lines. Most beer is fine with 5 feet of 3/16 choker line. But it has to be smaller tubing to work.

Lastly sometimes if your tank and regulator is in room temp but your kegs are cold you can see readings for pressure that don’t seem right.

 

[Norselord]

two issues- warm beer in tower and draft pressure.

Warm tower requires chilling. That’s the only solution unless you wanna always pour off first pint.

As for pressure I’d study the draft beer bible from brewers association. You can find it online. Read it, do the math, calculate your system.

My guess is you could have errors in gauges as well as no balancing pressure in the lines. Most beer is fine with 5 feet of 3/16 choker line. But it has to be smaller tubing to work.

Lastly sometimes if your tank and regulator is in room temp but your kegs are cold you can see readings for pressure that don’t seem right.

Are you responding to me? All my CO2 tanks are in my keezer. I dont have a tap tower.

 

[SanPancho]

My bad. Was looking at different post on phone. Hate the mobile version.....

 

[bracconiere]

OK, so for $100 i can carb and dispense at 3 different pressures/carbonation levels using this:
https://www.beveragefactory.com/dra...HzaM4Ohb28Q88CvG8mqj4NCoil78_zD2XYxoCCyjw_wcB

Bitters and brits in the 2-2.2 volume range (9PSI @ 40F)
Stouts/Porters and other darks in the 2.4-2.6 range (12PSI @ 40F)
Wheats/Belgians/Pilseners around 3.0 (17PSI @ 40F)

I have 6 taps, so i just need a manifold for each pressure regulator.

I like this - most people get lazy about dispensing and miss out on the mouthfeel and carbonic acidity that is involved with this aspect of beer.

lol, it was only $80 when i first looked at it....might want to shop around a bit, swear as it was banner added to me on HBT, the price steadily went up....but they want $160 at morebeer, so don't know....

 

[Jag75]

I just got a secondary regulator a few months ago. Love the ability to force carb a keg , have one at serving psi and have one for botteling . It's just so dang big it barely fits in my kegerator

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I have a dual regulator that *could* be used to carb at a higher pressure and serve at a lower pressure. However, both regulators are set at the same pressure. I have 2 taps and space to store and gas 3 kegs. 2 serving one on deck carbing. If I wanted top serve a particular beer at a higher pressure I'd also need to recalculate the line lengths.