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keg carbonation
I need help, am on my third batch on my kegging system. I have a severe lack of carbonation to my beer. Any ideas?
tchuklobrau wrote:
I need help, am on my third batch on my kegging system. I have a severe lack of carbonation to my beer. Any ideas?
When you syphon your beer into the keg what do you do after wards?
Do you shake the keg with CO2 attached? If so how much pressure?
Try it at 30 pounds, shake for 5 minutes. then let sit overnight. pull ring on top of keg to release pressure, then hook up co2 again but only about 5 pds pressure and try pouring some. If after that you still have low carbonation you possibly have a leak in your seals.
DC
Is your keg sealing properly?
I have been kegging for 3 years. Here is what I do.
After I rack the beer into the keg, I make sure it is sealed. Some of my kegs don't seal well, and if have to get your ear very close to the fill/cleaning opening to hear it.
I crank up the co2 tank to 30 PSI, turn the keg on its side, and roll it around for 10-15 minutes. I don't roll it around fast, just nice and slow. You will hear the co2 pumping in. Why turn on its side? Well, if you add the co2 with the keg uptight, there is very little airspace, vice, if you have it on its side, that airspace now goes length wise down the entire keg.
So start pumping in co2 for about 20 seconds, shut it off, and listen very closely to the lid. Do you hear even small leaks? If so, reposition the lid and keep trying. This has happened to me. If not, go ahead and crank up the co2 to 25-30 PSI, and follow what I write above.
No you don't need to let it sit overnight, or let it go for a week hooked up to co2. I have read this before. Completely unnecessary. You might as well bottle.
Main reason I let it go overnight is to let it settle so it's not all foam forever when tapping.
I shake the crap out of it for the 15 minutes or so to get the co2 into the beer. Overnight is a lot less of a wait then a week to 10 days for bottling.
So if you don't let it go overnight, how soon do you start drinking it after the 20 minute co2 roll? The sooner the better I say!
DC
explains alot. was told u could carbonat just by letting sit on system balance pressure for 7 days. Have not done the shake yet. will try that on the next batch. thank you all for the input.
I believe that the shake method can sometimes effect head retention in certain styles of beer.
I generally ramp up my pressure over a couple days to my target carbonation pressure. This seems to get me adequately carbonated faster than then a 7 day sit a final pressure method.
cubx wrote:
No you don't need to let it sit overnight, or let it go for a week hooked up to co2. I have read this before. Completely unnecessary. You might as well bottle.
The bottle comment is a bot extreme isn't it?
brewchez wrote:
cubx wrote:
No you don't need to let it sit overnight, or let it go for a week hooked up to co2. I have read this before. Completely unnecessary. You might as well bottle.
The bottle comment is a bot extreme isn't it?
Well... I didn't mean it in a negative way. There is nothing wrong with bottling. I just meant for those who keg, but decide to leave it sit for 1-2 weeks, one point of kegging is to drink beer faster, but with bottling, you are waiting a few weeks to drink it. If you do that with kegging, you might as well go back to bottling.
Bottling does have its advantages.
cubx wrote:
I
No you don't need to let it sit overnight, or let it go for a week hooked up to co2. I have read this before. Completely unnecessary. You might as well bottle.
Now this I have to agree with both of you on. I will raise my hand and admit I have drank beer that was kegged just earlier that day (OK 30 minutes earlier) and I giggle about how quick I can drink good, carbed beer, and think it is hands down better over bottling. HOWEVER! the best beer by far for proper carbonation, clarity, head, and head retention is always the last 1/4 of the keg. Why? Because it is balanced and equalized, and not just force carbed, but force conditioned.
Now that I have 5 taps going instead of 2, my keg rotation seems to last me longer, and when one finally kicks now, I feel like I lost a good friend. Hopefully I have another good friend on deck waiting, but there have been those batches that I thought were going to just be trial and error- but turned out great, so I milk it as long as I can, and those beers are the best just before the foam flies.
It seems to me that the talk here is about force carbonating beer. While, in a pinch, I will force a beer to carbonate, I always cask condition. 3 oz dextrose in a 5 gallon keg for 2 weeks does perfectly. The first pint or two may be dusty depending on the yeast strain I use, but the payoff is huge with consistent bubble size and head retention.
The special British cask yeasts this quarter from wyeast have been the best I've ever played with. I bought a yeast farming kit recently to learn a new skill an attempt to keep the British cask ale yeast on hand all the time. Check them out. Northern Brewer in St. Paul, MN has a great Double Brown Ale kit that pair with it.
Dwesener wrote:
It seems to me that the talk here is about force carbonating beer. While, in a pinch, I will force a beer to carbonate, I always cask condition. 3 oz dextrose in a 5 gallon keg for 2 weeks does perfectly. The first pint or two may be dusty depending on the yeast strain I use, but the payoff is huge with consistent bubble size and head retention.
The special British cask yeasts this quarter from wyeast have been the best I've ever played with. I bought a yeast farming kit recently to learn a new skill an attempt to keep the British cask ale yeast on hand all the time. Check them out. Northern Brewer in St. Paul, MN has a great Double Brown Ale kit that pair with it.
I am intersted in that strain too.
Can you comment on the flavor profile of the yeast with relationship to one of the other strains of English yeat out there?
The British Cask Ale yeast leaves a malty profile, especially in the double brown, and a hint of mineral, earth, and some tart fruit notes. It's definitely more complex than others I have used. Less tart than London, and better balanced than Thames Valley, both of which I us often. It flocculates really well, and settles really fast if you were to bring a keg over to a buddy's house. Like I said, I really think that this yeast is one of my new favorites, and I plan on brewing with it for a while now.
Washing yeast is pretty easy. It's fun to tell friends that you farm yeast in your spare time, and saves money too.
Seriously, check out the Cumbrian Double Brown from NB.
Hope this helps.
thirsty wrote:
... and when one finally kicks now, I feel like I lost a good friend.
This I absolutely have to agree with!
Personally, I did the shake and roll method in the beginning. But after kegging for some time now, I have found that an aged beer is by far much better. I never had much luck with bottling anyway - and it's a pain!
You can find forced carbonation information here:
http://sdcollins.home.mindspring.com/Fo … ation.html
If you can wait the few days for carbonation to occur, a good alternative is to tilt the keg during carbonation to allow more surface area to come into contact with the CO2. In my keg fridge I have enough room to tilt the corny on it's side, but not laying down ...which wouldn't be bad either -if you have the room.
The actual carbonation takes about 48 to 72 hours before drinking. To start, your beer needs to be settled at a constant temperature and remain that way throughout the carbonation process. Mine is at 38 degrees F because I cold condition my beer for about a week prior to kegging. The cold conditioning is not necessary, but having the beer at a constant temp is. It takes about 24 hours for the beer to reach a constant temperature; this depends on the volume of beer, more beer longer rest. After you rack into the keg pressurize it to about 30 psi and "burp" if a few times to purge any oxygen from the keg. Also, I should mention that the Co2 bottle needs to be attached to the “liquid out” side of the keg. Then keep the pressure at 30 psi and roll the keg back and forth on your knee a few times, no longer than a minute. Then consult the carbonation chart, Google "forced carbonation chart" and it is everywhere. All you have to do at this point is set the reg for the desired pressure and purge the keg down to it. Put the keg back in the fridge to remain at the constant temperature and in about 2 or 3 days. It's ready to serve.
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