# Corny keg carbonation



## Beak (14/4/15)

Gday all just wondering which way most people carb their kegs? We have found setting the pressure to 30 psi for 48hrs sufficent. And sending the gas down the liquid out tube. Now I heard a way, from a bloke at a brew/keg shop that u can just set the pour pressure and leave it to sit for a week. And it's carbed. Is this true? Love to hear your thoughts!


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## whitegoose (14/4/15)

Yep, 1-2 weeks at pouring pressure will do it


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## ben-burd (14/4/15)

I have just started kegging and I wanted the easiest foolproof way. I set mine to 10-12 psi and its good to go a week later


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## Dunkelbrau (14/4/15)

Pouring pressure in my opinion is better, never over carbed. I like beers on the lower end so I'd prefer to not get it too high.

If the beer is cold going in, 24 hours on gas is enough


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## Blind Dog (14/4/15)

Best for me is at serving pressure for 7 to 10 days 

Quickest is the Ross method, but I find this results in bigger bubbles and thus a shorter lasting and less creamy head and it makes my English beers too gassy. 

YMMV


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## Eagleburger (14/4/15)

Two weeks at serving pressure. I have found one is not enough.


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## Chris7 (15/4/15)

Eagleburger said:


> Two weeks at serving pressure. I have found one is not enough.


 +1


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## Grott (15/4/15)

Has anyone tried the "rock and roll" method at serving pressure? Understand this takes about 30 minutes.
Cheers


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## pcmfisher (15/4/15)

Beak said:


> Gday all just wondering which way most people carb their kegs? We have found setting the pressure to 30 psi for 48hrs sufficent. *And sending the gas down the liquid out tube*. Now I heard a way, from a bloke at a brew/keg shop that u can just set the pour pressure and leave it to sit for a week. And it's carbed. Is this true? Love to hear your thoughts!


And what's more you don't even have to do that. 30 for 48 works just as well through the gas post.


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## Beak (15/4/15)

Thanks everyone for there feedback! We will defently have to try the pouring pressure carb up! But as I'm always thirsty after work, may have to rush the brew done to two days! Arrr but I forgot we let settle for another two days at pouring pressure before tasting. 7-4 days it's hard a choice!


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## dannymars (15/4/15)

2mins rocking at 40psi down liquid post.... Then turn bottle off (leave regulator on)... Keep rocking until the gauge on the reg reaches serving pressure... 
UNPLUG GAS FROM LIQUID POST (very important)
Turn off reg,
Then purge keg, plug the gas back in gas post... Turn on gas bottle and reg... Then wait a few hours and it's pretty much ready...
Yeah the bubbles will be bigger, but you want a beer right?
The big bubbles will reduce day by day.


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## thebigwilk (15/4/15)

usually pulling the first beer after 10 mins after kegging that is of course after cold crashing the fermenter down to 3c for a couple of days. Once in

the keg set the reg to about 35 psi and rock the keg back and forth in a pretty quick motion for about 1 min give or take, then let it sit for 10 mins to

let the foam settle in the keg then release keg pressure down to 7 to 10 and pull a beer. if it needs a bit more repeat the process but rock for less

time. you will get the hang of it after you have done a few.

cheers!


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## The Village Idiot (15/4/15)

Cold beer - 24 hours @ 300 kpa is bloody close. I then bleed pressure and set at 90 ish and enjoy. Warm beer about 30 hours.


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## Ciderman (10/5/15)

I'm new to kegs and I just can't get it right. I have a home made keezer, 4 tap font, perlick 650ss, aprox 1-1.2m 5mm beer line. I force carbed by first beer and it was perfect, second beer over carbed. Luckily the flow control allowed me to pour but still wasn't quite right as you can imagine. 

3rd beer I tried the set and forget method and after 3 weeks it just doesn't feel carbonated enough. I started on about 10-12 PSI for two weeks and bumped it up to 14 for the last week. Temperatures stay between 3-5 degrees Celsius.

Just tastes like English bitter/ stout kind of carbonation levels. Im reasonably sure I don't have a leak. Am I doing something wrong?


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## Kingy (10/5/15)

That sounds like a regulator issue. At 14psi it should be noticibly carbed up.


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## Ciderman (10/5/15)

Yeah maybe your onto something. It was purchased second hand and I've never cleaned it.


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## Ciderman (11/5/15)

It wasn't too bad, tiny bit of dried beer or something in there. Gave it a good clean. Hard to believe a little bit of gunk was causing an issue but let's see if it's fixed!


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## Grott (12/5/15)

I use 9.5 litre kegs and until I get some more kegs I force carb as there is nothing worse than needing a keg but there is still days to go with the at pouring pressure method. I have found that a slight change to the Ross method is spot on for me:- keg cooled to 3.5/4 degrees, 30psi through the gas post, rolling the keg back and forth with the gas post at the bottom for 50 seconds (stop watch). Gas off at bottle, continue rocking until pressure goes just below 20 psi, turn gas on and straight off again. The pressure is at 30psi, rock down to 20 psi again. Disconnect gas, keg in fridge to settle. When wanted release gas from keg, connect gas at pouring pressure and away you go. Have found this works every time.
Cheers


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## jaywalkar (23/5/15)

Like all things in brewing, it's best to have patience. I only just got my kegerator set up and have no intention on trying to speed up the carbonation process. Just set it to 10 - 12 psi and let it carbonate the way it is supposed to.


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## Moad (23/5/15)

Most beers will improve (and clear) over the 2 weeks it takes to carb up if set to serving pressure, in an ideal world we would all have enough space and a pipeline of beers to let them all carb up and condition for 2 weeks.

I have space but never seem to have the beer so I set mine to 40psi for 48 hours (already cold when hooked up on the gas).

I bleed it then hook it up to a serving line (I have two regulators, one for carbing and one for serving) and it is 9/10 times good to go. I also gelatine when I keg which speeds up the yeast dropping out. 

If I have a big enough pipeline I turn my "carbing" reg back to serving and just have two sitting there ready to swap over but this rarely happens.


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## The Village Idiot (23/5/15)

Cold beer 30psi for 24hrs, occasionally a bit longer...... bleed off excess pressure and serve...simple


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## mckenry (23/5/15)

Man..... I am drinking one I kegged 2 hours ago. Its bloody easy.
Now, I do have a seconf gas bottle and reg.
This is how to do it;
1. Cold conditioned beer is filtered and kegged, under pressure from fermenter - you may not be able to do this, but really shouldnt matter as long as the beer is cold. Just get your beer kegged.
2. Purge the headspace with CO2
3. Change the gas disconnect to a beer disconnect.
4. Up the pressure to 150kpa and bang it in down the beer out tube, for about 5-10 seconds.
5. Turn the bottle off when gas wont go in anymore, which is 5-10 seconds. Rock the keg until the gas stops going into solution and the pressure will have dropped on the reg gauge.
6. Repeat until after you turn the gas bottle off the bubbles wont go into solution when rocking the keg. Should only be 3 or 4 repeats.
Beer is carbed. Put it in serving fridge at pouring pressure and start to consume.

It is damn good now and will improve the mouthfeel after sitting for a few days.
So easy to drink decent beer THE DAY you keg it.

All the above work, but I dont like waiting that long to drink my beer.


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## schoey (23/5/15)

I cold crash all my fermented beer for a least a couple of days (preferably a week plus), keg, then force carb using the Ross method. I then let the kegs sit for at least a week or two. The large bubbles the quick force carb methods are notorious for are probably due to large particles (yeast, proteins etc that haven't had time to completely settle) in the beer providing nucleation points for CO2 to form. I find that after a couple of weeks that the bubbles are as small as if I had slow carbed over 2 weeks.


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## AlwayzLoozeCount (23/6/15)

I have a kegerator that fits three kegs but I was thinking about getting a few more kegs that I would keep full and carbonate naturally and age some bigger bigger beers in.

My theory is when a keg runs out I simply grab a filled warm naturally carbonated keg put it in the kegerator and connect the lines, wait 24 hours for it to chill and then drink.

Will this method work?


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## tugger (23/6/15)

I use a keg king carbonator cap. 
It's a replacement keg cap with a gas post in the lid. 
It has a tube running from under the lid with a ss stone at the end. 
Set it to 2 bar for 30 mins and your done. 
If you need more bubbles just hook up the stone again and it carbs without stirring the yeast at the bottom.


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## tugger (23/6/15)




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## Tropico (23/6/15)

For me, there are 2 things that are certainties:

1. everybody does it differently
2. those last few glasses are always the best


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## GalBrew (23/6/15)

I usually carb mine at whatever pressure necessary to achieve a certain level of carb (using a carbonation calculator) and hold it there indefinitely. Generally in the vicinity of 12-14 PSI for 1 week will be carbed adequately, 2 weeks and it will be carbed perfectly and will have cleared up nicely too. Doing it this way allows you to dial in whatever level of carbonation you desire.


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## slcmorro (23/6/15)

AlwayzLoozeCount said:


> I have a kegerator that fits three kegs but I was thinking about getting a few more kegs that I would keep full and carbonate naturally and age some bigger bigger beers in.
> 
> My theory is when a keg runs out I simply grab a filled warm naturally carbonated keg put it in the kegerator and connect the lines, wait 24 hours for it to chill and then drink.
> 
> Will this method work?


Yes.


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## nosco (23/6/15)

schoey said:


> I cold crash all my fermented beer for a least a couple of days (preferably a week plus), keg, then force carb using the Ross method. I then let the kegs sit for at least a week or two. The large bubbles the quick force carb methods are notorious for are probably due to large particles (yeast, proteins etc that haven't had time to completely settle) in the beer providing nucleation points for CO2 to form. I find that after a couple of weeks that the bubbles are as small as if I had slow carbed over 2 weeks.


Forgive my ignorance but whats the point of force carbing your beer if you are then going to let it sit a week or 2? Why not just let it slow carb as you also mentioned.


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## Hpal (23/6/15)

Ciderman said:


> I'm new to kegs and I just can't get it right. I have a home made keezer, 4 tap font, perlick 650ss, aprox 1-1.2m 5mm beer line. I force carbed by first beer and it was perfect, second beer over carbed. Luckily the flow control allowed me to pour but still wasn't quite right as you can imagine.
> 
> 3rd beer I tried the set and forget method and after 3 weeks it just doesn't feel carbonated enough. I started on about 10-12 PSI for two weeks and bumped it up to 14 for the last week. Temperatures stay between 3-5 degrees Celsius.
> 
> Just tastes like English bitter/ stout kind of carbonation levels. Im reasonably sure I don't have a leak. Am I doing something wrong?


Hey mate.
This is what works for me. I have a similar chest freezer setup but no flow control taps. I think you could have a balancing issue, I use 3m of 5mm beer line, not the clear looking pvc tube but the opaque tube which is stiffer (and different flow resistance), I think I could get away with 2.5m of tubing though. I set reg to maybe 12, sometimes 14 and it pours well. There are articles around about keg line balancing because a lot comes into it, line length, line type, keg height from taps, beer temp, type of taps etc etc. I'm no expert but this seems to work for me, Cheers


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## schoey (23/6/15)

nosco said:


> Forgive my ignorance but whats the point of force carbing your beer if you are then going to let it sit a week or 2? Why not just let it slow carb as you also mentioned.


For a couple of reasons. 1 I can start consuming the beer straight away if I want to and 2 I don't connect my gas permanently to my kegs as I don't have a gas manifold and have 6 kegs in my keezer and 2 more in the fermentation fridge.


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## nosco (23/6/15)

Good points. I hadn't thought of that.


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