dpalme
Well-Known Member
Hat is the normal time frame and gas setting to do a set it and forget it?
Set it and forget it
- Thread starter dpalme
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Time frame is 3+ weeks depending on the temperature (CO2 dissolves into solution faster at cold temps)
As far as gas setting, it depends on temperature and what you want the carb level to be.
Each style has a range of appropriate volumes of CO2. Just find what volume you want, what temp you want to serve, and then find the corresponding PSI.
As far as gas setting, it depends on temperature and what you want the carb level to be.
Each style has a range of appropriate volumes of CO2. Just find what volume you want, what temp you want to serve, and then find the corresponding PSI.
carlisle_bob
Well-Known Member
Hi
There are also some minor impacts from surface area versus volume. If you fill a keg right up to the very very top, the gas is only in contact with a few square inches of beer. That slows things down a bit.
Bob
There are also some minor impacts from surface area versus volume. If you fill a keg right up to the very very top, the gas is only in contact with a few square inches of beer. That slows things down a bit.
Bob
Nice.
Personally I used the "burst carb" method (if I remember correctly what it's commonly called on here.) ~30PSI for 48 hours on an already cold keg, and then back down to proper carb temp. From there it usually only takes 3-5 days to get perfect, depending on style.
Personally I used the "burst carb" method (if I remember correctly what it's commonly called on here.) ~30PSI for 48 hours on an already cold keg, and then back down to proper carb temp. From there it usually only takes 3-5 days to get perfect, depending on style.
3 weeks.
Generally, I go for the set and forget method, too. My regulator is almost always set to 12 PSI...my last batch, though, I used the method G. Strong writes about in his book: Rack to keg, blast it with 30 PSI to clear head space and seat rings, disconnect lines and pick up corny keg by the ends and rock it back and forth horizontally for about 50 rocks (you can hear the C02 dissolving in the beer), repeat procedure once more, and then dial regulator down to whatever you normally serve it. The beer gets slightly carbonated from this procedure and is drinkable almost right away, especially if you have the means to cold crash before racking. Sure, it's better in three weeks but it's a good technique if you're impatient or don't have a good pipeline of beer...
carlisle_bob
Well-Known Member
Hi
Some of us like a bit more carb in our beer (I actually re-carb commercial kegs ...). One of the great things about this sort of setup is that you can have it how ever you like it.
Bob
Some of us like a bit more carb in our beer (I actually re-carb commercial kegs ...). One of the great things about this sort of setup is that you can have it how ever you like it.
Bob
I chill my kegs to around 37F then hook the gas up at 12 psi. If I leave it alone it'll take 2 weeks, but if I pour a glass of it every night it's done in 4 or 5 days. I have to drink a couple of glasses of flat beer and a couple of very slightly carbonated beer but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.
carlisle_bob
Well-Known Member
Hi
The stuff I'm drinking now (pilsners and the like) gets run up around 18 to 20 psi here. I had not though about the beer drawing stirring up the keg, but I'm sure you're right. I never leave them just sit ....
Bob
The stuff I'm drinking now (pilsners and the like) gets run up around 18 to 20 psi here. I had not though about the beer drawing stirring up the keg, but I'm sure you're right. I never leave them just sit ....
Bob
What does CO2 dissolving into beer sound like?
It's how I always do it. Give it a shot, what do you have to lose? The last beer I kegged was the day before I went on vacation. My daughter and I each had a glass that evening, she called me 3 days later and she was having a small party with the neighbors and all were loving the new beer.
Any advice I give on this site is from firsthand experience. I will never parrot something I read or heard on a brewing forum unless I have tried it and it works.
carlisle_bob
Well-Known Member
Hi
CO2 and beer will reach equilibrium given enough time. It's a basic chemical fact. At temperature X and surface area Y, this volume will get that far in Z hours.
Oddly enough it never ever quite gets done, It's the old frog jumping half the distance to the wall thing. Since you can't taste the difference between 99% target carb and 99.999% it very much does not matter. However to give an exact answer down to the second, you would need to decide that say 90% of the goal is "good enough"
Bob
Lol, thats what I do...! If its cold and clean its drinkable! I guess I wouldnt drink a full keg flat, but do all of you other "set and forget" guys really resist the temptation to try it for flavor after a day or two?
Yeah, unless i have a pretty decent pipeline (which hasn't happened very often), i do this same thing. Though I usually can wait about a week before pulling the first one and it will have a light carbonation by then.
I avoid the entire temptation thing by keeping six brews on tap in my keezer, and do the carbonation in a separate beer fridge
Cheers!
day tripper, how long does the beer take to condition in a fridge? Or, until it's the way YOU like it?
I chill any kegs needing carb' to 36°F with the CO2 at 12 PSI for most brews (the wheaties I'll run up to 20 psi) and they sit like that until one of the keezer kegs kicks.
It does take a good couple of weeks to reach an ideal carb level. That's exactly why I dropped the $100 on a two year old 17cf Craig's List fridge that is used pretty much for just crash cooling, carbing, and holding brews 'til they're needed. Totally worth it as it extends the pipeline back at least two weeks plus the 3-4 days for crash-cooling, and as a result I've only had an idle faucet once in the last year...
Cheers!
carlisle_bob
Well-Known Member
I bought my wife a nice new fridge and use the old one exactly as you do. It holds 6 cornies so I never run out of homebrew.
dpalme
Well-Known Member
Well I found out today that I can't fit a keg in the big fridge unless I have the bottom plate in and then it's too tight on the top to hook up the lines, not to mention the gas tank want fit at all
