Force Carbonating Question

[Trusty1]

Geez you guys wait along time to drink your efforts...[biggrin]

 

I'm usually drinking mine 15mins after being kegged.

 

My procedure is:

 

1.Chill in fermenter (also allows yeast / hops to drop out)

2.Rack into keg

3.Attach gas line and purge keg

4.Crank reg up to 350kPa

5.Shake / rock keg for approx 60 secs

6.Turn off reg

7.Shake the keg and watch the reg needle drop fast. It will slow down at about 150kPa. If it drops quickly to lower than 150 then repeat from step 4 for another 10 seconds. For wheats etc make it drop to approx 160 - 170.

8. Leave sit for 10 - 15 mins (you are only doing this to avoid making a mess)

9. Release pressure from keg.

10. Adjust to pouring pressure.

11. Pour yourself a beer.....[biggrin]

 

As mentioned in the other current kegging topic, I just tried this method for my first ever keg, works a treat. Thanks Mat.

[MatR1]

No problems. However It's not "my" method. I read it on another forum & it works for me so I shared here. It think it could be Ross from Craftbrewer that came up with it.

 

All the best anyway. I'm glad it helped you out.

[Redbeard]

I have got 2 brews into kegs with 1/3rd cup of white sugar but i am about to run out od beer.

If i rack a lager into a keg. set the reg to 110kpa and hook up the CO2 to the gas in post will it carbonate over a week.

Does the beer level have to be below the end of the gas in tube inside the keg.

I have tried the fast method but wasted heaps of beer and got alot of head.

[Trusty1]

I have got 2 brews into kegs with 1/3rd cup of white sugar but i am about to run out od beer.

If i rack a lager into a keg. set the reg to 110kpa and hook up the CO2 to the gas in post will it carbonate over a week.

Does the beer level have to be below the end of the gas in tube inside the keg.

I have tried the fast method but wasted heaps of beer and got alot of head.

 

beer should be about 1 inch from the gas in tube. as a guide, set the reg to 230kpa for 2 dyas at 4degC (in the fridge). dispense at about 70kpa, or whatever suits you, your beer, your beer drinkers! Enjoy.

[ChrisK]

Hey guys

 

I've been force carbonating my first brew since Wednesday night at around 130KPA.

 

It's just about properly carbonated, but it still has that smell that I can only describe as the "young beer smell" that you get when you crack your homebrew bottles too early, and it's really cloudy still.

 

I was hoping to be able to serve it tonight. Any ideas on how I can improve my carbonation and clearness in 2-3 hours?

 

 

[PB2]

Turn up the gas to 300kPa and rock the keg to increase the carbonation. You won't be able to clear it in 2 to 3 hrs. [pinched]

 

"young beer smell"

this goes some way to explain why I'm an advocate of natural conditioning - mind you, many of my brews are so good straight out of FV that I have trouble stopping at one tasting glass [love]

[Trusty1]

Turn up the gas to 300kPa and rock the keg to increase the carbonation. You won't be able to clear it in 2 to 3 hrs. [pinched]

 

"young beer smell"

many of my brews are so good straight out of FV that I have trouble stopping at one tasting glass [love]

Bigeer tasting glasses[rightful]

[ChrisK]

Well it's another week later and I'm still really, really disappointed in both of my attempts to keg.

 

 

One was a recipe with B Saaz, Cascade and Cara which I was really excited about.

 

The other was a Thomas Coopers Pilsener with 40g of Saaz.

 

Both were kegged after primary and put under pressure in the fridge. Both are the worst beers I've ever made. Cloudy, strong fruity odours, immature.

 

It's just cold beer before secondary. How do people force carb? When I went to the brew-your-own place Barleycorn Brewers they kegged from primary and I was drinking perfectly carbonated clear beer in about 20 minutes.

 

Do they filter it somehow? Have I carbonated incorrectly?

 

 

Massively disappointed in my first kegging experiences and the fact I've wasted 40 litres of beer and five weeks of fermenting time. :(

 

 

[PB2]

If the kegs remain chilled you may find they mellow with some time - a few weeks.

[ChrisK]

Which really begs the question,

 

If you force carbonate to get your beer ready quicker but then it takes two or three weeks for the taste to mellow out and the beer to clear, why not just naturally condition in the first place?

 

*grumble grumble*. Stupid kegs.

[Muddy Waters]

I'm using a borrowed keg setup and have force carbonated my last 2 brews and they were fantastic a week after kegging and I've got no idea what I am doing. The beers have been clear, cold and topped with a creamy head of goodness.

 

Are you sure your doing it right? I just did it the way my borther in law told me and it worked a treat. I'm not at home and I don't remember the settings I used. I think I had it sitting at 100 something or others for 5-6 days and then raised it to 200 whatsies for 48 hrs then reduced to a suitable pouring pressure and it was all good.

 

Maybe I should step aside and make room for someone who knows what they are talking about [biggrin]

 

I hope it all works out for you Chris. You'll get there in the end [cool]

[Dougy]

Hi Guys.

 

I new to this forum and somewhat to home-brew in general. Every step of the way I seem to run into more trouble and have to spend more money [crying]

 

My first brew was bottled a week ago.

 

My second brew was keged yesterday and is force carbonating at 300kpa.

 

The fridge setup only holds 2 kegs and has 1 tap. I only have 1 regulator....

 

I'm going to have to order some more disconnects and a tee piece this week.

 

Now with only 1 regulator I can only run 1 kpa setting at a time.... I don't want to be switching back and forth all the time between 300kpa and serving pressure! So I'm wondering if I have the keg I'm drinking and the Keg I'm carbonating both connected at 80-100kpa (not sure what pours best yet) if the carbonating keg will carbonate OK over a week?

 

The next question is, being outside of a major city, I had no choice but to rent a 10kg CO2 cylinder from one of the big boys. How dangerous is it to leave this turned on in my lounge-room?

 

At present I have been pumping up to 300kpa and turning off. It needs pressurizing every few hours as the keg cools and absorbs more gas. This might be OK now while I am excited.... but in the long term I will need to go to work and sleep and stuff and would like the keg to carbonate unattended!

 

 

[ChrisK]

Are you sure your doing it right?

 

Nup.

 

In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm doing it wrong.

 

Since I last posted, I cranked the KPI up to 200 and left it for two days (Sunday, Monday).

 

Today burped and poored.

 

Another glass of cloudly, under developed, 60% head, flat beer.

 

 

Cranked it back up to 200 and I'll have another go in another couple of days.

 

 

*sigh*

 

 

[ChrisK]

I FOUND A LEAK! I think(HOPE!) this is my problem. at pressure putting a slight pressure on the hose made an audible noise. The higher the pressure the looser the seals over the spikey bits got. I got some crimpy dudads and crimped all my connections. Now I'm gunna try again :)

 

I tried with the method at the top of this page (350 for a minute, lots of shaking, purge, pour) but now it's only pouring foam. No beer.

 

I notice a lot of air bubbles seem to be headed back towards the keg from the gun - is this right?

 

[Muddy Waters]

[lol] Haha...love the Kiss glass Chris.

 

Good luck with sorting it all out, I feel for ya...wasting beer is like losing a limb or a loved one [biggrin]

[ChrisK]

Good and bad news. I think the Pilsener which when I first kegged it was pretty much non drinkable is getting substantially better and is almost carbonated correctly.

 

The 'Aussie IPA' is still pouring about 60% head. I think I'm going to run out of beer before I get this keg right.

 

 

[ChrisK]

So the lager is carbonated a lot better than the AuIPA yet I'm doing them the same way.

 

Last night I cracked a bottle of the AUIPA and had them side by side.

 

The bottled and naturally conditioned one is clearer, has less funky smells and tastes more... refined. less OOMFY. I prefer it.

 

Now I thought the only way to get crystal clear beer was to keg? I'm past week three and I'm still pretty damn miserable about both my force carbed kegging efforts to date.

 

You lot seem to be sick of my whinging about them, too :P[innocent]

[Luke]

Hey Chris,

 

Don't worry mate, you'll find a way. You're not rocking your keg to check how much is left are you? Cause that will stir the sediment up.

 

I've had bottled & kegged (force carbed)versions of my brew and can't tell the difference.

 

[Matty H]

Hey Chris

 

Have you tried naturally conditioning your kegs? I made a mexican style beer naturally conditioned in the keg for 2 months the sediment sits on the bottom and is sucked out on your first couple pours as the keg draws from the bottom. Its come up crystal clear and tastes better than corona.

 

If your using ale yeasts it only takes a week in the keg and there fully carbed and drinkable. If ya leave them for 3 weeks and its like 2 months in the bottle.

 

Only other thing you can try is a filter. I think from memory you fill your keg from the FV then put pressure in the keg and run a line through a filter and into another keg.

[ChrisK]

Hi Guys

 

Me again. I still can't carbonate a keg correctly. I can either make flat beer that pours perfectly, or flat beer I can't pour for all the froth. Either way the beer tastes flat though. Pretty frustrating. Makes me want to cry as I sit there with a bucket trying to fine tune the reg to a pouring pressure that will give me drinkable beer :(

 

No, I've not tried naturally carbing a keg yet - I'm afraid the beer will be even cloudier. I also don't really want to filter as I think it's kind of cheating and taking away that Garage-engineered feel. I continue to make awesome beers in bottles.

 

BOOO IT'S FRUSTRATING AND I'M UPSET AND I WANT TO THROW ALL MY TOYS OUT OF MY PRAM.

[PB2]

How long is your beer line, what is the ID and what temp is the beer at?

[Muddy Waters]

I haven't got a keg set up ([crying] ) so I can't offer any advice but my thoughts are with you in this difficult time...chin up mate [cool]

[Matty A]

How long are you leaving the beer at serving pressure before you are pouring it. From what I have read you need to let it sit for some time to get the beer to absorb the carbonation.

[Guest]

As Paul asked.... what temp is your beer at and what are your ID and length of lines?

 

What I usually do is turn the gas on about 400kpa for about 24-30 hours then turn it down to pouring pressure and it is usually right within a few days.

 

or

 

leave at pouring pressure for about a week and it should be right.

 

If the above is what you generally do and you still have problems then i would say that your system is incorrectly balanced.

 

If you want to truly force carb the beer so it is right to drink asap then:

Chill the keg and set your reg to pouring pressure and rock and roll!... can't over carb then

[JarrodN]

Hi Guys

 

Me again. I still can't carbonate a keg correctly. I can either make flat beer that pours perfectly, or flat beer I can't pour for all the froth. Either way the beer tastes flat though. Pretty frustrating. Makes me want to cry as I sit there with a bucket trying to fine tune the reg to a pouring pressure that will give me drinkable beer :(

 

No, I've not tried naturally carbing a keg yet - I'm afraid the beer will be even cloudier. I also don't really want to filter as I think it's kind of cheating and taking away that Garage-engineered feel. I continue to make awesome beers in bottles.

 

BOOO IT'S FRUSTRATING AND I'M UPSET AND I WANT TO THROW ALL MY TOYS OUT OF MY PRAM.

 

 

Hi Cris Been reading your posts and I know how you feel my first two kegs I force carbonated and they were terrible. I still drank them of course but was getting more than a half glass of head and no fizz so I started to naturally carb and tasted one the other day and it was A LOT better. I just attempted force carbing again the other day as I heard of a new method and it was heaps better goes like this:

 

1. Refrigerate keg

2. Remove from fridge connect to gas and bump up to 300kpa.

3. Rock keg (Not vigorous, from standing up to laying flat on the ground) 20 - 30 times. Start off at 20 let it sit relieve pressure and pour a beer if it's not quite there yet reconnect and rock another few times you get it right.

4. Let it sit relieve pressure and drink the rest of the keg [roll]

 

In regards to the cloudy situation have you tried finnings? I just got some the other day but haven't tried it yet as I have been brewing ales and prefer them cloudy but once fermentation is finished you pour the finnings into the fv and let it settle for 3-4 days. It works buy attaching to the yeast and pulls them to the bottom of the fv, I am going to try it for the first time with the lager I have in the cupboard [biggrin]