Too Warm to Carbonate?

[BeerBalls]

I have my keggerator in my garage, and like anyone else in South Jersey this summer, my garage is averaging about 90 degrees during the day, cooling to a nice balmy 80 degrees by night. The fridge runs constantly trying to keep up, but it's old and doesn't quite do the job, so my kegged beer never gets cold enough. So, my beer is practically flat, and I'm wondering if it's because of the relatively high temp. I have my regulator cranked up to 15 psi, and it still doesn't seem to carbonate the beer after a week or so at that pressure. I only started kegging in the late spring, so I have no experience with the cold season. Does anyone else have this problem? Is temperature that much of a factor in the dissolution of gas into solution that 10 or 15 degrees (I'm guessing here) will make the difference between carbonated and flat beer?

 

[pmeice86]

Here's a chart that might help.

http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

 

[shortyjacobs]

You're going to want to be in the 30-40 PSI range to carbonate at that temp....look for a calculator to get you that high and get an exact PSI. Then carb at that temp and pressure for 2 weeks, (set and forget). Then, disconnect the gas, put it in your fridge, chill it down, and when you hook up gas to it the pressure in the keg should be around 10-15 PSI, (due to the cooling), at which point you hook up 10-15 PSI CO2 again and dispense!

 

[TipsyDragon]

warmer beer requires more pressure to carbonate it than cold beer. 15psi at 80F is practically nothing. go here to get the proper pressure for the temp you are carbonating at.

 

[SweetSounds]

I gather OP's beer is somewhere north of 38, but well below 85 degrees - "Can't keep up" doesn't mean ambient air temps in the cooler...

+1 on the chart. Measure the temp in your cooler, adjust pressure according to the chart, and wait 2-3 weeks.

Another thing - Look at your evaporator coils in the cooler - Are they frosty?
If they are, your compressor will run constantly and never get much under 50.

My kegerator (Haier 1/2bbl converted to 3 cornys) wouldn't get under 55 and had 1/2" of ice on the evap coils.

I de-frosted it, installed a computer fan inside to keep the air moving over the coils (Preventing frost buildup), and now it'll freeze my beer if I ask it to! And that's in a 100 degree average temp garage! :rockin:

Beware: Frost is a condenser killer!

 

[BeerBalls]

Thanks for the chart - I have my thermometer in the kegerator as I type. I will adjust my pressure according to the chart and give that a try.

 

[Bigbrewcountry]

I have the same situation. I put cheep thermometer from Walmart in my Kegerator and my temp is running steady about 50 degrees so I had to adjust my pressure up to 20-23 psi or so from around 12-15 in the winter months when the temps inside the kegerator was about 38. It also seems to be taking a little longer as well, but it is getting there.

 

[BeerBalls]

Holy crap - 60 degrees! Maybe it's time to invest in a better kegerator.... I turned the pressure up to 20 psi. I hope it works. I'm tired of drinking flat beer!

 

[ChshreCat]

You need a bigger fridge to put that fridge inside of. Then that fridge will have less work to fight ambient temps.

No need to thank me, I come up with these ideas all the time.

 

[SweetSounds]

=^_^= My grin matched your avatar's

Seriously - Make sure the evaporator isn't frosted over... It'll ruin the compressor's ability to keep up.

 

[BeerBalls]

That's funny stuff! Seriously, 60 degrees is ridiculous. I live in New Jersey, not Death Valley...

How did you power the computer fan? Battery or hardwired? I checked, and sure enough the coil is frozen solid.

 

[SweetSounds]

That's funny stuff! Seriously, 60 degrees is ridiculous. I live in New Jersey, not Death Valley...

How did you power the computer fan? Battery or hardwired? I checked, and sure enough the coil is frozen solid.

The one I used is 120v, so it's hard wired to the wall, out the drain hole.
You can use a computer fan, too. Just power it with a wall wart from the junk drawer.

Open up the kegerator, and defrost it. Then install the computer fan and cool it back down.

I had my fan set up to run with the compressor, but it still froze over. Now it runs all the time, and not a spot of frost - They run all the time in a computer anyway, so what's the difference right?
Mine sits on the floor of the kegerator, between the kegs, blowing at the back wall. I figure this gets a good circulation throughout the whole thing, and does a great job of keeping the coils dry.

 

[BeerBalls]

Sorry - I am not familiar with the term "wall wart." Sounds gross though...

 

[ChshreCat]

This is a wall wart

He just means to use an old AC adapter from a defunct piece of electronics. Don't know about you but I have a ton of these lying around with no idea what they used to go to.

 

[WilliamstonBrew]

I have a different take on this issue. I too have a Haier kegerator. It's in a pretty tight space (a 5' x 3.5' closet with sliding, slatted doors) and the air circulation isn't good so the compressor got really hot. I got a cheap, small tower fan from Meijer and set it to blow behind the fridge. This had a drastic effect on the internal temperature of the fridge dropping it from about 50 degrees down to 39 on the same thermostat setting.

The Haier I have has an automatic defrost feature that seems to work pretty well. I'll +1 SweetSounds' suggestion about keeping that coil clear of frost, but if it is... check the compressor temperature. It won't run effeciently if it's cooking itself to death.

 

[SweetSounds]

I have a different take on this issue. I too have a Haier kegerator. It's in a pretty tight space (a 5' x 3.5' closet with sliding, slatted doors) and the air circulation isn't good so the compressor got really hot. I got a cheap, small tower fan from Meijer and set it to blow behind the fridge. This had a drastic effect on the internal temperature of the fridge dropping it from about 50 degrees down to 39 on the same thermostat setting.

The Haier I have has an automatic defrost feature that seems to work pretty well. I'll +1 SweetSounds' suggestion about keeping that coil clear of frost, but if it is... check the compressor temperature. It won't run effeciently if it's cooking itself to death.

I thought about the same thing... But I decided that blowing 100 degree air across the condenser coils would be counterproductive at best.