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force carbination
Hello Everyone,
I racked my American Brown Ale into the corny today and began the force carbonation process by doing the following (before I begin I will mention that I sanitized as directed)
1. Put 30 psi in and then purged the O2 out of it (I realize 30 was probably more than adequate)
2. Put 30 psi and then disconnected
2. rocked the keg back and forth for 10 minutes
3. Stuck in the fridge.
4. tomorrow, I will relieve all of the psi and fill it back up to between 5-10 psi
Now, I'm a little concerned that I heard little to no gurgling when I was rocking it.
I also see that a lot of folks leave their CO2 tank connected while they rock it...I didn't. Is this a problem? I double checked the psi right before I stuck in fridge.
Finally, I have a Vanilla Oatmeal stout racked in the keg, but don't necessarily intend to tap it within the next week or so. This is largely because I have two kegs in the fridge and don't have room for it. What's the best way to carbonate this w/o having to put it in the fridge...or, should I just make room in the fridge and get it carbonated over night, then stick in the corner for a while?
It'll only gurgle when you're putting in CO2.
It should absorb CO2 as it gets colder, might take in out every once & awhile & see if you can add CO2.
Don't see any issue with being disconnected whilst rolling. Just bring it back up to 30# afterwards.
I actually only do 25#. Humm, maybe it would carb up faster @ 30#.
Comments??
I take one of two tracks when force carbonating my beer depending on how quickly I intend to tap it:
If I'm not in any hurry I put the keg in the beer fridge and leave the CO2 tank connected at serving pressure (9-12 psi for my system) until it's ready, usually about 7 to 10 days. Of course, to tell it's ready I have to sample it on a regular basis 
If I'm under a deadline, like needing the keg for a weekend gathering, I'll put set my fridge a little colder (~40 F) and connect the keg at about 35 psi until it's close to the right level of carbonation. This usually take 2-3 days.
I don't usually shake the keg, but when I have I've tried to do it as early as possible to allow the beer the maximum amount of time to settle out.
Brewski wrote:
I actually only do 25#. Humm, maybe it would carb up faster @ 30#.
Comments??
Hey Brewski are you reversing the fittings on your keg so the CO2 comes in from the bottom (the beer out tube)? Then all you have to do is rock the top of the keg back and forth, it doesn't even need to be taken out of the fridge. This way the CO2 is coming up through the beer.
I usually do 15 psi and rock until it stops, then wait a while and repeat. Then you can switch the fittings back and set it at serving pressure. It still may take a day or two to fine tune to where you want it.
Yep, I've got the Co2 going into the out side. Got a 2nd Co2 tank for carbing & such other chores.
Usually I've got the fridge full, & put 2oz of sugar into the keg & charge with 25#, & put it in the "fruit celler".
Good to go in 2-3 days w/o the rolling.
In fact, need to pull an empty out & stick a full in for tomorrow evening.
If you are not connected to CO2 while rocking you're not doing much. The CO2 gets dissolved into the beer as you shake it (by simple diffusion, facilitated by the increasing surface area with rocking). If you start with a small amt of CO2 in the head space of the keg, that'll get sucked up quick when you shake it. You need to keep the pressure up while force carbonating. As you rock it, the beer absorbs the CO2 but the regulator will keep the CO2 going into the keg to maintain whatever pressure you've set. That's what give you the bubbling sound, the CO2 coming into the keg and bubbling through the beer. My procedure is to hook up the pre-cooled keg to the CO2, crank it up to about 40 psi, and rock it back and forth for about 4-5 minutes. Then I drop the pressure back to where I want it to live (usually around 10-15 psi) and enjoy right away. The only delay is the overnight cool down. Never had any trouble with this procedure.
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