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First time force carbonating...

Methods? Suggestions?

What I'm doing, based on some reading I've done is...

Found out this fridge resides around 42ish degrees F (put a thermometer in it), and decided to try for 2.2 "volumes" of CO2, which according to charts takes 12ish psi at 42ish degrees. I set the regulator to 12, set the keg in the fridge, agitated it a bit, and now... I let it cool down to the serving temp, occasionaly agitating it until theres no more CO2 going into the beer? Then purge some of the head space and lower the regulator pressure to serving presure (3ish psi)? And thats that?

My stepdad's method is to push a ton of CO2 into it, disconnect it, rock it a ton, purge, repeat a few times, hook it up and serve...

Anyone got thought/opinions/advice?

Reply to
White Trash
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Easiest is to purge headspace, then set it at 12psi and leave it alone for a week at serving temperature. Don't dick around with serving pressure adjustments. Dispense at 12 psi. Ken

Reply to
Ken Anderson

This...

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is the best info I've found on kegging and force carbing.

---------->Denny

Reply to
Denny Conn

Close, but you don't quite have it.

  1. Place uncarbonated beer, in keg, in refrigerator and let it cool down to 42 degrees. Overnight should take care of it. I like to purge the headspace as soon as I seal the keg by hitting it with some CO2 while the purge valve is open (around 30 seconds or so) then shut off the CO2.

  1. Hook up the CO2 (if not still hooked up from step 1), and dial up your 12 psi on the regulator (open the valve in necessary). You'll hear some gas going into the keg, then it seems to stop. Don't worry or be impatient.

  2. Wait anywhere from 3 to 7 days. I've never had to wait more than five.

  1. DON'T TOUCH THE PRESSURE. Leave it at 12psi for dispensing. If you dial the pressure down to 3psi, CO2 will slowly leave the solution, and the beer will slowly begin to go flat. That is simple physics. Leave the dispensing pressure the same as your carbonation pressure.

This method gives you consistent carbonation, glass after glass, keg after keg.

This method almost always results in either an overcarbonated glass of foam, or an undercarbonated or flat beer. It is very inconsistent and hard to control.

Reply to
NobodyMan

On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 23:32:41 GMT, "White Trash" said in alt.beer.home-brewing:

If you carbonate at 12psi, you want to dispense at 12psi if you dispense at the same temperature. The adjustment is to the length of line, not the pressure. 3/8 inch beer line drops about 2psi/foot, so you'll want a slightly less than 6 foot dispensing hose (6 feet to start, then cut an inch at a time if the beer flows too slowly).

As long as the last few pressurizations are done at final pressure (12psi, in your case) there's nothing wrong with that. I usually do a bit of both - pressurize at about 20psi and rock the keg on my knees for abbot 15 minutes, then reduce to 12psi and refrigerate for a day or two.

Reply to
Al Klein

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