Overcarbed at 10psi? Does temp make that big of a difference?

[GreenDragon]

My keggarator is in the garage and I live in Kansas. Our winters can be pretty brutal (-20F wind chills are not uncommon at all). My Co2 tank sits outside my keggarator. My last 2-3 kegs have been a little too carbed. I use the set it and forget it method. I've dialed it back to just 10psi now but even that seems to be a bit too high.

I've read up that the lower the temp the less psi that's required to carb a beer. Should I dial it back to around 7psi until spring or is that a little extreme?

Info: Converted fridge, 10ft of 3/16 beer line per spout, not sure what other info you might need?

 

[JesseRC]

what are your reasons for thinking it is overcarbed. Mouthfeel? If you are basing it off of it foaming up on you real bad, maybe its something else like warm liquid lines or taps. Dirty glasses and lines can cause foaming too.

oops, I forgot to read that you dialed it back. What was it at before you dialed it back. Just because you dialed it back, does not mean the co2 immediately leaves the beer. You would have to keep it at 10 or off the gass. Then burp the release valve over a few days for the co2 to equalize at a lower pressure. Then hook it back up at 10psi and wait a few days.

 

[GreenDragon]

The new kegs have only seen 10psi, they were never at 13psi (I've drank those already

It just has a lot of head on it, and it's the growing type head that eventually comes over the edges. I'd say about a third of the glass is head right now. I've tried warm glasses, cold glasses, rinsing the glasses with water prior to pulling a pint, etc. They are standard glass 16oz pint glasses.

 

[Brewnoob1]

How long are your beer lines?

 

[badbrew]

Have your kegs froze? At 30 degrees F you probably want 8 or so.

 

[JesseRC]

The reason I ask, is last week I was workin on my keezer. The next day I pour a pint and i get that type of foam you described;overflowing and this was a rinsed glass and I had poured the first few ounces out. I open the keezer and realize that my 12v fan was no longer aimed at my taps. I put it back aiming cold air at the taps. Next day my pour is back to normal. I use 10ft lines. Believe it or not there is a big temp difference between taps and beer.

 

[SixFoFalcon]

Warm shanks & faucets will cause foam-up even on a properly carbed beer, but overcarbonation is a seperate issue.

For most styles, temperatures below 40 will require like 8 psi or less for optimal carbonation.

The temperature of the CO2 tank is only relevant to the bottle pressure gauge. The line pressure gauges correlate to keg pressure.

 

[GreenDragon]

10 foot of 3/16th beer line.

The kegs have never froze.. the garage doesn't get cold enough to freeze beer.

Next keg I'll try backing it down to 8psi and see how that works.

 

[SixFoFalcon]

What temperature is the BEER? That's the only important part. The CO2 tank temperature is irrelevant.

 

[GreenDragon]

Update: I figured out the issue. I don't use a manifold. I use a series of copper T connectors to get gas to the three kegs. The trouble is the keg at the first intersection is getting most of the gas and the one at the very end is getting very little gas.

As I was cycling kegs in and out eventually every keg got the high pressure line for a while. It was random luck I figured this out. I wasn't letting anyone drink the beer (saving it for a big St Pats party) and had the same 3 kegs on the same gas lines (luckily my Oatmeal Stout was on the middle one). My Bock was over carbed, my Oatmeal Stout was just about perfect, maybe slightly under carbed, and my wheat was flat as hell.

I hooked the wheat up to the first intersection and semi-force carbed it to help it out. I disconnected the bock from the gas for a while which is putting more pressure into the number 2 keg.

Moral of story: Buy a damn manifold and don't try to go cheap like I did

 

[pkananen]

That doesn't make sense to me. Gas will equalize pressure - I don't see how one could be getting more gas.

 

[SixFoFalcon]

I agree. Unless one line is blocked completely and the others aren't, they will have the same line pressure, and therefore keg pressure, assuming they are all originating from the same regulator.

Having a partial restriction on the gas side is only going to mean that it will take a little longer for the affected keg to get back up to pressure after you relieve pressure (i.e. open the purge valve, dispense a pint, etc.) But we're talking about a matter of a few seconds here. Not enough to make a bit of difference over the many days it takes a keg of beer to carbonate.

 

[GreenDragon]

Hmmm.. well maybe my disconnect on that last one is screwy then. I popped them all off and pressed the grommet thing in. The last one was very week (I could barely tell air was escaping), the first one hissed like crazy when I pushed in on it.

 

[SixFoFalcon]

You should probably do a thorough leak-check while you're at it. Star San solution works pretty well as an indicator--just saturate the tops of your kegs, fittings, lines, etc. and look for bubbles.

I use Keen-Find (specifically made for finding gas leaks) whenever I change anything on the gas side of my kegerator because it bubbles up more obviously than Star San, but you have to wipe it clean when you're done or it leaves a greasy film on everything it touches.

 

[badbrew]

I think I know your problem. Once you have too much CO2 in the beer, it will be the same for a long time even if you dial the pressure down afterward. So if the problem started with very cold temps -say 25 degrees for 6 hours per day with 10 psi for a month then the CO2 would have increased a lot during those cold periods. So turning down the psi will help the next batches, but the only way to help the cureent problem is to purge CO2 out repeatedly. I would turn off the gas to the problem kegs for a few pours. The CO2 coming out of solution will provide enough to fill a glass each time until you get what your after.