Simple Keg Carb Question

[Schlenkerla]

How long does it generally take to carb a keg? Assume the following;

• Its already cold ~ 40F
• Its got about 10psi co2 going
• You leave it alone (no shaking)

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Carbonation is one week, stabilized and optimal in three weeks. In my opinion it takes three weeks no matter what technique you use. I find the set and forget to be the best and most easily accurate method.

 

[Schlenkerla]

Thanks - BK

 

[Bobby_M]

I agree with BK in that full equilibrium will take somewhere around 2-3 weeks. Most people will see some carbonation at 1 week but it's far less than the volumes you see on the chart for that given temp/pressure.

 

[Schlenkerla]

Thanks as well.

It sounds more or less like bottling with regard to time

 

[foppa78]

For the first 24 hours I will leave the keg at 25 psi. After that I turn it down to 10-12 psi depending on the beer. This has greatly decreased the time it takes to nicely carb up my beers.

 

[Schlenkerla]

When I bottle, I carb for 3 weeks and let them sit the fridge almost as long.... if possible.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

You can have a beer carbed in 2 hours if you want to. Get it really cold, crank the psi and shake it. It will be carbed in hours.

However, it will still take about 3 weeks for the carbonic acid levels to equalize and the beer to stabilize to a normal condition. You can serve your beer after a fast carb (I have) but it will not be as good as it can be and will be in 3 weeks.

Now, realistically, how many people will sense that something is weird about your beer because of funny carb or higher than normal carbinic acid levels??? not many.

As with everything homebrew, there are tons of ways to do it, tons of opinions, and tons of corners that can be easily cut if you don't really care that much.

 

[Bobby_M]

I don't know about most people but to me, recently carbed beer just tastes horrible. It's even worse when the beer is young. Lately I've been putting 40psi on beer that I recently racked to keg, slosh it back and forth for 5 minutes, disconnect and leave it outside of the kegger for a couple weeks so that I'm not tempted to drink it. Even though I know why it tastes bad, I can't help the feeling of disappointment.

 

[Schlenkerla]

I don't know about most people but to me, recently carbed beer just tastes horrible.

I'm on my 2nd keg (Ever) and I noticed what you said above is true. Its not the same after one week as it was at about three. Taste-wise

I need to get the ability to put more than one gas line on at a time and I only have one party tap. No gas manifold yet.

This last keg I put 30psi on vented about 6x and stored about 2 weeks in the fridge under pressure w/o a line hooked up. Used my gas/beer line to serve my other keg. Once it was empty I hooked up the currently-chilling keg. Sunday it was flat, same with yesterday only slightly better.

Need a job so I can expand my keg set-up...

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

I use 30 psi for two days, then drop it to about 10-15 psi for the rest of the week. It is drinkable at the end of the week, but as mentioned above, it gets a lot better after two or three weeks.

Now that I FINALLY have the pipeline full, I can let the beer have the time it needs. I can really tell the difference.

 

[ruffdeezy]

This last keg I put 30psi on vented about 6x and stored about 2 weeks in the fridge under pressure w/o a line hooked up. Used my gas/beer line to serve my other keg. Once it was empty I hooked up the currently-chilling keg. Sunday it was flat, same with yesterday only slightly better.

This is what I plan to do as well, I'm curious to find out how long it takes it to carb.

 

[WortMonger]

I have had luck with my spunding valve. I ferment a little differently, but my beer is basically carbonated right after primary fermentation. I try a 2 weeks in primary the last week at psi wanted/temperature. Then I untap my keg fermenter and drop the temperature to crash for a week. After transferring to my serving keg, I re-tap and set the spunding valve again for end volumes wanted while relieving higher than wanted pressure if needed. The end of 4 weeks my beer is ready to chill to drinking temperatures and is wonderfully carbonated. Since priming doesn't add a lot of sediment, and it still takes a while to CO2 condition, I think naturally carbonating a keg is the way to go, with a spunding valve.

 

[nunya]

I have a related question and the more I read on the forums the more I realize I don't know what to do. I have a Hefeweizen I’d like to force carbonate and have ready for next weekend (I know I’m late, but that’s what I get for working too much). Anyhow, my fridge stopped working so I can’t chill the beer to carbonate it. Given a current temperature of about 72 degrees, what recommendation does anybody have on how to proceed with force carbonating? Of course I’ll submerse the keg in ice when I serve it, but I haven’t been able to use any of the charts I’ve found to determine how to carbonate at one temperature for a colder serving temperature. Thanks in advance.