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Cold Force Carbonating
I've been fighting with my corny keg for the last week or so, and this has been an extremely helpful thread, guys. At the risk of sounding like I've hopelessly overcarbonated in a fit of impatient CO2 abuse (which I'm pretty sure I have), I have to ask whether there is any known fix for overcarbonation. Can I just bleed the pressure down and hope it flattens out a bit?
To be completely truthful, I'm not even sure I've overcarbonated, as what eventually settles out of the foam is not very sparkly. Could there just be a problem with my serving presure? I was aiming for 10 psi, but at every pressure between 3 and 15 I get nothing but foam from the cobra-style faucet I'm using. It's tasty foam, to be sure, but more frustrating than satisfying, I'm afraid...
Thanks in advance, guys...
Bleeding the pressure out will fix the overcarbonation. I have been serving at around 2 psi, 10 might be a litttle high.
Just enough pressure to get it out of the keg, huh? I'm not sure where I got 10psi as the magic number, I'll have to check my notes. Thanks for the speedy repost, and the info therein, Bobby...
I've got the regulator down to 2psi and bled the extra pressure that was already in there. I'll bleed it off a couple of more times through the day, and hopefully that excess CO2 will find it's way out of solution in time for a Saturday afternoon pint or three!
Thanks again!
I had the same annoying over-carb issue. I turned my CO2 completely off and "burped", or bled the excess CO2 several times during the day, and next day if necessary. Then I turned the CO2 back on, opened the tap and increased pressure just enough to push beer out (1-2 psi). FINALLY, this got me pure, wonderful beer, although it took a while to get a full pint, I didn't care! I have since never over-carbed, always erring on the side of caution with under-carbing (a lot easier to fix!).
You are not wrong with 10psi, I've found this is about the average setting to get the proper amount of carbonation, as well as serving (as long as you are not over-carbed!). I usually always have to tweak and adjust if it gets a bit too foamy, but thats usually about right.
That sounds even better, Edge. No additional CO2 in the keg 'til I get the extra out of the beer. Regulator's going off, and I'll burp it religiously in hopes of having clear liquid joy by dusk tomorrow...
Thanks Again,
You can dispense beer at 2 PSI, but then you'll have to ramp up the pressure again when you are done with a drnking session because the beer will go flat.
I think what your problem might be is that your system isn't balanced. You really need to use enough beer line going from the tap to the keg to create the same amount of resistance that you apply at the regulator. SO you can dispense beer at 10PSI as long as you have several feet of line.
I don't have the equation in front of me, but if you google "balancing home draft system" you should find some info on what I am talking about.
For reference, I have a 6 feet of line from my kegs to my taps and I dispense at about 8PSI, and I carbonate at about 8PSI. ( like low carbonation)
Here is a site I referenced for balancing: http://hbd.org/clubs/franklin/public_ht … lance.html
I have to admit I have not taken this step yet as I didn't feel like putting that much thought into it.....yet. I seem to have come up with a happy medium through trial and error. I have about 5 feet of line and 10psi seems fine.