To force carb a keg does it have to be cold?

[Rosco]

I seem to hear different opinions on this so I wanted to see what you guys had to say. If I am going to force carb a keg with C02 does the keg have to be cold while doing this or can it be sitting hooked to the CO2 tank at room temp?

The reason I ask is I don't currently have a fridge for kegs so I was hoping to hook my C02 to the keg and carb it up at room temp and then when I wanted to drink the beer I could cool it some how and drink it out of the tap. Or my other thought was to warm carb it and then bottle the beer if I can't get the keg cooled.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

It does not have to be cold.

You do need to reference the appropriate pressure for the temperature of the beer as it is carbonated.

 

[beerkrump]

No, but it sure helps if you want it done quickly. Gases are more soluble in cold liquids.

If it is going to be a couple of weeks before you need it, you could naturally carb it like a giant bottle. Takes about four weeks. And, you have to cold crash it and pull off about a pint of yeast sludge as your first pour. But, that's an option.

 

[weirdboy]

You will also still have some time of adjustment where the carbonation is unbalanced after you stick it in a kegerator, even if you force carb it first.

 

[Rosco]

If my basement is at around 65 degrees what PSI would I need to run roughly? I am thinking about hooking the keg to my C02 tank and letting it sit in the basement to carb up for a week/weeks or how ever long it may take. Can I let that keg sit hooked to C02 for weeks on end if I want or would it be best to get it carb'd up and then remove the C02 until I want to drink the keg or bottle it at a later date?

I am trying to get around having to leave the keg at my buddies house to carb up hooked to his equipment. This way I could bring the keg home and carb it here then either chill to drink out of the keg or fill bottles with it. Or am I just being stupid and should wait until I get get a fridge all set up? I will scrap the whole idea if leaving it warm and hooked up to C02 is a bad idea.

 

[obie_fl]

At 65 degrees you are going to want to be at least 20psi depending how carbonated you want it.

Force Carb Chart

 

[wildwest450]

Here's a chart. http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php


-

 

[Rosco]

Thanks for the link. So will it hurt if I leave it hooked to the C02 for an extended period of time or do I need to carb it and then remove it from the C02 until I am ready to use it then either bottle it or chill and tap the keg?

 

[obie_fl]

I'd just leave the CO2 on, it should reach equilibrium in a week or two.

 

[kapbrew13]

Following worked great for me. Transferred fresh batch to corny and set to 30 psi and released some gas to remove oxygen. Unhooked gas and rolled the keg for about 5 minutes. Hooked it back to the co2 and tossed the keg and co2 into the fridge for about 7 hours. Unhooked the co2 and rolled the keg another 5 minutes and set co2 to 20 psi and went to work. After work rolled the keg again and hooked it back to co2 at 7 psi. Beer poured fine with carbonation for my nite cap.

 

[Crinkle]

I've been kegging without a fridge for almost a year, it's no problem, you may use a little more CO2 than those with a fridge, but not enough to be a huge deal. The biggest problem I have is foaming while pouring. There are lots of solutions to this that will make thing managable. Longer dispensing lines is one that always pops up on here. I use the epoxy mixers in the dip tubes (works great - do a search and you'll find the info,) also holding the tap as high as you can while you pour, and pouring into a cold mug/growler works well. I had the kegs sitting around 40 degrees all winter, and I had no problems, now comes the summer though, so there will be more foaming. No worries, it's still better than bottling!!