What pressure for my keg?

[Murray]

I have brewed an ale (English Pale) and want to keg it. I am used to bottling, and have been working with volumes of C02 being equated to a specified weight of corn sugar for priming to a carb level representative of that style.

How do I think about this in the context of kegging? Is there a table somewhere which equates PSI to carb level or is there something that tells you what pressure to put on the various styles?

Is 12PSI a good level for my pale ale?

 

[Double_D]

This should help. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f84/beer-line-length-pressure-calculator-35369/

 

[azscoob]

I have brewed an ale (English Pale) and want to keg it. I am used to bottling, and have been working with volumes of C02 being equated to a specified weight of corn sugar for priming to a carb level representative of that style.

How do I think about this in the context of kegging? Is there a table somewhere which equates PSI to carb level or is there something that tells you what pressure to put on the various styles?

Is 12PSI a good level for my pale ale?

I personally serve my English ales at a lower pressure than an American ale. I target my American ales and most other beers at 2.4 volumes, I set my English ales at 1.8-1.9 volumes.

Here is a good carb chart that should have all the info you need.

 

[Hammy71]

Another calculator...

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html

 

[Murray]

Thanks for this. So, by looking at the charts it seems that in order to get good carbonation in the beer without putting a pressure of over 25psi onto it, you basically have to have a kegerator? Any pressurisation at 12psi must surely be happening at lower than room temperature?

 

[azscoob]

Are you kegging and serving with an engine? how are you serving this that it wouldnt be chilled to some degree?

 

[azscoob]

Or are you not force carbing? I think if you are going to add sugar to the keg to carb it, it should be the same amount of sugar that you would add to the bottling bucket.

I could be wrong on that though.

 

[audger]

it would be around the same amount of sugar, provided that your keg was full and didnt have a whole lot of extra head space to pressurize.

So, by looking at the charts it seems that in order to get good carbonation in the beer without putting a pressure of over 25psi onto it, you basically have to have a kegerator? Any pressurisation at 12psi must surely be happening at lower than room temperature?

if you wanted to carbonate and serve at room temperature, yes you would need 25+ PSI and very long lines so that it doesnt explode out of the tap. you can carbonate at room temperature, and then just reduce the pressure when you chill the keg for serving to avoid needing very long beer lines.

your three variables are temperature, pressure and carbonation level...

when carbonation level is the same, pressure required increases with temperature.
when temperature is constant, carbonation level increases with pressure.
when pressure is constant, carbonation level increases as temperature decreases.

 

[Murray]

Thanks Audger, this is very helpful. It clears it all up for me. So, assuming I want to serve the beer at RT (which I probably won't in the end), I pressurize at 25+ PSI so that I get the correct volume CO2 for my temperature, then I put a long line on my keg so that the friction causes a pressure drop and results in delivery at a balanced pressure?

So I reckon my ideal scenario is to get a kegerator and a CO2 cylinder + regulator, set my temp to my serving temp (12C), set my regulator to the pressure recommended for my beer style from the chart, and then experiment with the length of my line in order for that temp/pressure combo to give me a nice delivery pressure. This makes a lot of sense.

 

[Lost]

Thanks Audger, this is very helpful. It clears it all up for me. So, assuming I want to serve the beer at RT (which I probably won't in the end), I pressurize at 25+ PSI so that I get the correct volume CO2 for my temperature, then I put a long line on my keg so that the friction causes a pressure drop and results in delivery at a balanced pressure?

So I reckon my ideal scenario is to get a kegerator and a CO2 cylinder + regulator, set my temp to my serving temp (12C), set my regulator to the pressure recommended for my beer style from the chart, and then experiment with the length of my line in order for that temp/pressure combo to give me a nice delivery pressure. This makes a lot of sense.

Exactly