Yet another force-carb question, though I should have learned this by now...

[Broken Crow]

So... I'm impatient and when I began kegging, I used a corny-keg carbonation lid with the stone hanging in it and eventually moved on to using the Blichmann QuickCarb. I love it...30-45 minutes of that and then by the middle of the next day it's stable and fine. On Wednesday I put a couple kegs in the kegerator and went to get my QuickCarb, but found black dots in the hose, which for me means throwing out the hoses and tearing down the pumphead to clean and sanitize it properly. (This is my first big cleaning and sanitizing fail ever.) Thing is, I'm also disabled and labour is a real problem if it involves anything attached to my spine, so doing it now in my current state (it frequently changes from 'not-unbearable' to 'please run me over') will take me at least a couple days to do. (There's also CNS and neurolgical issues that make dealing with small parts, math and logistics a problem) So here's the question:
My usual serving pressure for these ales is about 12 PSI. I've cranked it up to about 25 PSI, but I am unable to do the shake/agitate thing... I've just left it on the gas. How long should I wait before trying a sample? Does the higher pressure accomplish much/anything without agitation?

 

[lumpher]

To just leave it on high-pressure gas to carb quick, I set it to 40 psi at serving temp for 24 hours, then lower it to 20 for another 24, then try it. It's usually good at that point. The higher the pressure it is, the faster it carbs, but if you raise it above 40 psi, be ready for a foamy firehose spray coming out of the beer nozzle when you do try it.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, the popular opinion here is 24 hours at 30 psi, then "chart pressure"...

Cheers!

 

[lumpher]

I guess I should have specified I like wheat beers, especially a good Hefe, which are high-carb beers. For lower levels of carb, yes, I'd go more with 24 at 30 at serving temp.

 

[Broken Crow]

Belated Thanks! I've been in rough shape so things are taking longer, but hey; It's a learning experience. I ended up leaving it at 25PSI for a couple days and it over-carbed a bit and now I'm thinking about a new thread: "Nukatap foamier than Perlick on an over-carbed keg"... I haven't been able to brew my own in a while so I've been using my LHBS's 'we make it for you' service ( Home | Mysite ..for any folk around Windsor, Ontario) because while most of their brews are almost as 'good' as my own, they're still better and cheaper than anything else I can buy locally. The batch size is 23L which gets put into a 5g and a 1.6g corny.. I always buy a brew for myself and one for my girlfriend (our tastes differ).. I realized on this last round that I've always put mine on my Perlick 630SS and my GF's on a Nukatap so for this occasion I put my own on the Nukatap and this is now the first over-carbed keg I've ran though it... What I noticed for the first time is that on opening the tap, the way the flow-rate ramps up is entirely different: The Nukatap spays mostly foam on a slow opening and coninues at a high rate of foam, but the Perlick can start out slowly with a much lower rate of foaming and result in a better, even if still somewhat too-foamy pour. ...Or is that just me?

 

[aceluby]

I do 40psi overnight and it's usually good enough for the next day, at least for those initial tastings