I put 5 gallon corny keg in fridge this morning and set the CO2 regulator to 16psi. It’s only contains about 3.5 gallons. I’m using 5/16” diameter hosing and will be using a direct disconnect metal faucet tap on the liquid out post once more carbonated. I took a quick sample yesterday with it at 60 degrees and it has some carbonation from the fermentation. It’s a 7% NEIPA so I don’t want to overcarbonate but I’ve got a friend coming in town Sunday so settled on 16psi erroring one the side of under carbonation (only 2.5 days of carbing before small tasting Sunday). What pressure would you set CO2 at? Is the 5/16 in hose going to have trouble pushing CO2 into the liquid as the keg loses volume? I’ve heard it’s better to use 3/16 in and with a higher pressure. Not sure if it’s worth buying new tubing and getting new adapters to fit on the regulator which fits 5/16 ?
Recommended PSI for regulator
- Thread starter mijclarke
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Diameter of CO2 tubing doesn't make any difference. I'd put it on 30 psi for 24 hrs, then vent, and reset pressure based on temp and desired carb level per the chart below, or on-line calculators. Do not agitate the keg at 30 psi, or you will most likely over carbonate.
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The bigger problem is going to be pouring beer through a direct mount faucet. So little back pressure is going to make for foamy pours. One trick that helped when I tried the same setup was jamming a length of 1/8" ID x 1/4" OD Polyethylene tubing down inside the diptube.
A partially opened tap makes foaming worse, usually. The internal tap mechanism forces the beer into turbulent flow, which knocks CO2 out of solution.
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Most keg diptubes are 5/16" OD with .020 wall thickness so a 1/4" OD tube can fit in that no problem.
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