# How long to force carb a cold beer?



## dunney (27/5/14)

Greetings all
Been researching furiously the last few months on this forum and have increased my knowledge and brewing skills vastly. Thanks to all contributors

My latest brew was cold crashed for a couple of days at around 4-6degrees. How long and at what pressure should I force carb to avoid a foam overload? I have only kegged once before and it was a crappy ambient brew but 2 days at around 260 was perfect. 
Other info - 23 L batch
Bottled 6 tallies, kegged the remainder 
I've got lots of foam. Any advice appreciated


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## manson81 (27/5/14)

I normally go for 24 hours at 250kpa,test it, find it's still a touch flat and go from there. Maybe 28-30 hours in the end. 

If I still have other beers on tap, I'll just put it at serving pressure (around 40 or 50kpa on my rig) after the first 24 hour test, until I'm ready to drink it. Which is usually a couple of days.


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## lukiferj (27/5/14)

When I force carb it's ready to drink in a few minutes. Are you shaking/rollling the keg around?


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## Kiwifirst (27/5/14)

I usually only carb at 10psi over a week. Due to some poor planning (and extended drinking) I found myself with a empty Kegerator. So I tried my first force carb. 
An american pale ale. I cranked up to 30psi, lay it on its side, got a chair, sat down and rolled it back and forward about (only about 4 - 6 inches) for about 10 minutes or so. Stood it up, came back about an hour later. Disconnected the gas and poured a pretty well carbonated beer. I got a lot of head the first pint, so I let off a bit of the pressure in the keg. 

I will go back to my slow carb'ing, but will do this if in a rush.


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## Black Devil Dog (27/5/14)

I recently asked Qld Kev about keg carbonation and I hope he doesn't mind, but this is an exact copy and paste of what he said.

T_here are 3 pressures you can use if you are not shaking the keg for carbonation, all are based on cold kegs._
_300 kpa for 24 hours_
_200 kpa for 3 days_
_80-100 kpa for 7 days (use your serving pressure)_
_With the first 2 after the period, you drop the pressure and vent the excess pressure from the kegs._

_The majority of my kegs are done the last way, basically hook them up at serving pressure and leave them alone to mature for a week. It's easiest and I rarely touch my regs. You do need fridge space to have drinking and maturing kegs. If I'm in a hurry for a keg I use the 300kpa for 24hr method. I do find using the 24hr method the bubbles are not as good as the 7 day, but after a couple of days the bubbles do get smaller and nicer and they all end up the same. _

_You can also shake the keg to get the beer to absorb the co2 faster. There is a method called the Ross method on here. Same thing as the 24hr method with the co2 bubbles, you will gas the beer but after a couple more days at serving pressure the beer will get better._

Pretty well covers it, I reckon.


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## dunney (27/5/14)

My LHBS says don't shake or roll so I didn't try it. Just 48 hours at 260. But that's for 'hot' beer. Worked well. But now I've got cold beer out of the FV. 
24 hours at 260 the beer was flat
48 hours at 260 the first pour was great and the next few we're pure foam. 
I've read the length of beer line is a factor?? Mines approx 1 m length


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## manson81 (27/5/14)

As I understand it, any method of carbing from the CO2 bottle is force carbing. Whether you do it over a week, 24 hours or 5 minutes using the Ross method (rolling, shaking etc) it's all still force carbing. 

We're not using sugar and left over yeast, ie naturally carbing.


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## stux (27/5/14)

I tend to put the keg on 250-300kpa for 24 hrs. This gets it most of the way carbonated. Then I adjust to serving pressure (ie 80-100kpa) and that will bring the keg up to perfect carbonation in a day or two, rather than the 7 days it would normally take.

This also avoids over-carbing which I find far too easy with the 'Ross' method.

BTW, I crash chill, so the keg is cold.


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## dunney (27/5/14)

Cheers guys I'll fumble my way through this current keg then I reckon I'll try bumping the next one up to 300 for 24hrs and back to serve pressure and see how it goes. 
Thanks for the advice
Happy brewing


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## manticle (27/5/14)

I do 30 secs at 300-400kpa, shake/roll till pressure guage reads about 100, then leave at 80-100 (depends on beer style). I don't like super fizzy beer and this seems to work. Cold when kegged, then left at ambient during winter or in the fridge at 7-10 deg C, depending on style (I don't like freezing cold beer unless it's a 40 degree day, in which case I buy cheap euro lagers and scull them till I feel better).


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## stux (27/5/14)

dunney said:


> Cheers guys I'll fumble my way through this current keg then I reckon I'll try bumping the next one up to 300 for 24hrs and back to serve pressure and see how it goes.
> Thanks for the advice
> Happy brewing


Burp the keg after reverting to serve pressure so it doesn't keep on carbing at 300kpa


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## slcmorro (27/5/14)

Kiwifirst said:


> I got a lot of head the first pint


Usually I've gotta buy her at least more than 1 pint. Lightweights where you live ya lucky bastard!


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## jaypes (27/5/14)

Keg King has a good guide on their website


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## H0U5ECAT (27/5/14)

I find that when I force carb, I get a the keg really cold and spring the pressure up to 40psi.
Rolling it for 90seconds.
Let it sit for about an hour (disconnected) and slowly release the pressure in the keg.
Serving pressure is usually around d 5psi.

This is by no where near an exact science, but trial and error never hurts to teach you.

If the keg isn't carbed enough, give it another go.
If its too much, release the pressure and let it go a little flatter


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## Cecil Brai (28/5/14)

Over 3 days carb 5 times at 100kpa whilst carbing slowly rock your keg. You should be able to feel the bubbles. When you can't feel it anymore stop. x5


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## Cecil Brai (28/5/14)

Oh and release pressure before carbing again


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## hathro (28/5/14)

jaypes said:


> Keg King has a good guide on their website


http://www.kegking.com.au/Force%20Carbonating%20Your%20Beer.html


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## mrsupraboy (28/5/14)

lukiferj said:


> When I force carb it's ready to drink in a few minutes. Are you shaking/rollling the keg around?


From what I know shaking the hell out of a keg makes u loose proteins from the beer. Last thing I would want is to loose taste cause I was shaking the keg.


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## Liam_snorkel (28/5/14)

garbage


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## wereprawn (28/5/14)

I put mine on the gas at ambient and then straight in the fridge , set gas at 3 atmospheres and leave for 26 hrs. Comes out pretty close to how i like it.Another day or 2 at 8 psi is even better. Apparently it uses a bit more gas this way but a 6 kg bottle lasted me 7 months even with a few gas leak issues when setting up my one tap system. Put it on gas after work one day, come home from work the next day to cold, carbed beer. Although different styles of beer have different suggested carb levels and serving temps.And i have also found that if i overfill the kegs they take longer to carb.


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## manticle (28/5/14)

> From what I know shaking the hell out of a keg makes u loose proteins from the beer. Last thing I would want is to loose taste cause I was shaking the keg.


No need to shake the hell out of it - just upend a few times or roll back and forth with the foot and watch the pressure drop as the CO2 is absorbed. Where did you hear that about the proteins incidentally? You do not lose flavour from carbing a beer this way.


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## lukiferj (28/5/14)

mrsupraboy said:


> From what I know shaking the hell out of a keg makes u loose proteins from the beer. Last thing I would want is to loose taste cause I was shaking the keg.


Never heard or tasted that before.


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## Liam_snorkel (28/5/14)

..and every keg that is ever transported from a brewery to somewhere else will receive much more vigorous & prolonged "shaking" than 30secs of rocking back & forth.


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## mrsupraboy (28/5/14)

They say it on the brew strong show. I'll post up the episode in a sec. I think it's under packaging


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## Liam_snorkel (28/5/14)

mrsupraboy said:


> They say it on the brew strong show. I'll post up the episode in a sec. I think it's under packaging


it's about 64mins in - he says he doubts that it's a problem. http://podbay.fm/show/288838352/e/1271642400?autostart=1


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## lukiferj (28/5/14)

Case closed. Nothing to see here.


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## mrsupraboy (28/5/14)

Yeah that's it. Not saying it would as I'm still very new to this but they still don't recommend shaking it. More rocking it back and forwards


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## gsouth82 (28/5/14)

I've got a 4-way manifold with the last outlet having a beverage disconnect attached to it. I force carb down the beverage dip tube and gently rock back and forth for a couple of minutes at 300kpa. Then turn the gas off and continue rocking for 30 seconds. Leave to settle for an hour, release the pressure, reconnect at serving, drink.


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## manticle (28/5/14)

mrsupraboy said:


> Yeah that's it. Not saying it would as I'm still very new to this but they still don't recommend shaking it. More rocking it back and forwards


There's shaking and there's shaking. I just tip end to end.


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## lukiferj (28/5/14)

There's only so hard you can actually "shake" a full keg. It's definitely more of a rocking back and forth.


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## shaunous (29/5/14)

gsouth said:


> I've got a 4-way manifold with the last outlet having a beverage disconnect attached to it. I force carb down the beverage dip tube and gently rock back and forth for a couple of minutes at 300kpa. Then turn the gas off and continue rocking for 30 seconds. Leave to settle for an hour, release the pressure, reconnect at serving, drink.


How long is the line for you to be able to rock a keg back and forth? Im guessing your manifold isnt mounted in a keezer or fridge like normal, OR u have a really long gas line curled up inside.


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## gsouth82 (29/5/14)

shaunous said:


> How long is the line for you to be able to rock a keg back and forth? Im guessing your manifold isnt mounted in a keezer or fridge like normal, OR u have a really long gas line curled up inside.


Yeah I've got the manifold mounted inside the fridge. The length of line is just long enough to reach a keg outside on the ground. Maybe 1.5-2m. Allows me to connect it easily and rock it back and forth. I just curl it up and slide it in beside the kegs.
Also, I use MFL fittings so can easily unscrew the beverage disconnect and replace it with a gas disconnect if I need it.


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## ballantynebrew (29/5/14)

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/10667-guide-to-keg-forced-carbonation

Can't go wrong with this


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## jaypes (12/6/14)

manticle said:


> There's shaking and there's shaking. I just tip end to end.


More than 3 shakes is a wank


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