# Carbonating kegs?



## Kronic (20/5/13)

Hi all,
When force carbonating what kpa should I set my gauge at and for how long? The last one I did came out way over carbonated. I left it on for two days as I went away at 240 kpa. It sucked because I was looking foward to it when I got hm. I'm new to this and am looking for a little help. Do I pressurize and leave the gauge on for the time of carbonation or pressurise than turn co2 off??


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## Ducatiboy stu (20/5/13)

Now here is something different. Think about priming your keg at the same rate as a bottle.Then.you only need pouring pressure. 

Did you know that Coopers do this with there brewery kegs.


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## Kronic (20/5/13)

At this stage I know very little about this all. Are u talking about carbonating at low pressure for longer?? Or adding sugar for carbonation?


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## Ducatiboy stu (20/5/13)

adding sugar for priming. A keg.is just a big longneck


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## Kronic (20/5/13)

This is true. What type of sugar should I use and how much for a 19 ltr keg? I may look at trying this. Is it the same principle if I put it in a blue cube?


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## punkin (21/5/13)

When i used to force carb i used to leave kegs in the fridge for two days at 50psi. Worked pretty well. Not as well as 7-8 days at serving pressure but fairly well.


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## 431neb (21/5/13)

I'm interested in hearing the methods of others too. I've read the "Ross Method" and would like something simpler. I can't roll my kegs it's too cramped near the fridge. Kronic I ended up with my guages set to about 250 kPa and giving them a shake every now and then but I was able to watch them fairly closely and if I went away for long I turned 'em down to 80 kPa.

punkin 50 PSI is about 340 kPa I think. (The conversion thingy is crapping on about "absolute pressure" which is a different (higher) number - I have NFI). That's higher than kronics overcarbed method. 

I'm just trying to get a feel for this without overcarbing my beer and without making trips to the shed every hour to check...

Can anyone describe their method? I have a feeling there will be a few different ideas out there. What is "serving pressure" ? I'm working on 80 kPa . What do others use?

Calculator PSI to kPa http://www.convertunits.com/from/PSI/to/kPa


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## punkin (21/5/13)

for a rough idea times by 7. May be over but it worked for me, keg in at ferment temp and gassing as it cooled. Took two days to cool and two days to gas.


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## mxd (21/5/13)

for me, the 2 ways I have done,

coneect gas, burp, turn up reg (remember if other kegs in fridge to disconnect gas or turn off valve), put in fridge

before I did a cold crash I would leave it at 250 kpa for 36 hours.

now I cod crash so 330 kpa for 24 hours.


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## Kronic (21/5/13)

That's maybe were I went wrong I cold crashed it and still left it on for two days. Thanks guys. Does anyone else use sugar to carb in there kegs?


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## slash22000 (21/5/13)

I used to use the "Ross method" to carbonate my kegs, but lately I've started taking the hit and slowly carbonating at serving pressure. I've been reading that venting the gas and shaking the keg wrecks hop aroma.

I don't know if that is true or not, but there are a lot of compelling explanations around the net for why it could be true, and it might explain why my beer smells like hop heaven right up until it's ready to actually drink :angry:. So I'm doing the whole "carbonate at 12 PSI" thing for an IPA I made recently, see if it helps with the aroma or not.

As for naturally priming kegs ... It works but I don't really understand why people do it. CO2 isn't _that_ expensive.


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## DarkFaerytale (21/5/13)

If you want simple just leave it on for a week at serving pressure, then muck around with other beers down the track


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## Ducatiboy stu (21/5/13)

slash22000 said:


> As for naturally priming kegs ... It works but I don't really understand why people do it. CO2 isn't _that_ expensive.


Because you can. And it helps maturation


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## GalBrew (21/5/13)

The easiest way that I am familiar with (and the method I use) is to use Beersmith (or other tool) to calculate what pressure you need for your desired vols of CO2 in the finished beer. I then hook it up at this pressure and leave for a week. Simple as that.


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## kahlerisms (21/5/13)

Do a search for keg balancing. That's how I learnt about it from this very forum. Every system will be a little different depending on the length and width of your lines.

For my system I set my reg to about 90KPA which is my serving pressure - kegs are carbed in about eight days. Despite trying numerous times over the years, I have never been very happy with the Ross method.


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## Bribie G (21/5/13)

I have carbonated a few kegs by using priming sugar, not so much to save on gas but where the keg needs to be kept out of the fridge for a couple of weeks or more. Generating some extra CO2 guarantees a good seal, sometimes the lids on Cornies don't seal too well with no pressure. I always give the headspace a flush and pressurise it to 200 Kpa initially to keep it sealed until the priming sugar fires up.

However, you do get a lot of new yeast breeding in there, and it's a pity to lose a pint or two of undrinkable slurry out of a mere 19L keg. So unless I have a good reason not to, I always keg as clear as possible.


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## 431neb (21/5/13)

I guess 2 days at 200 something is the go. 

Cheers punkin, that makes sense if you were gassing beer that was still "warm". 

I think I'm almost always gonna cold crash before kegging. 

Thanks for the replies.


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## DU99 (21/5/13)

about 50grams of sugar in some boiled water.only downside with natural is you get a little bit of slury and if your dip tubes are set properly,you shouldn't get it in your beer.


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## iralosavic (21/5/13)

Google priming calculator and download it. The correlation between bottles and kegs in relation to sugar vs volume vs volumes of co2 is not 1:1. You need less sugar per ml in a kegif I recall correctly.

I've tried the forced methods that use timing at certain pressures and never ended up with what was expected, so now I sit it at around 250kpa for 24 hours then reduce to serving pressure and just forget about it. Usually equalises with other connected kegs in a couple more days.


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## Nick JD (21/5/13)

Priming a keg is like marrying a supermodel and doing it with the lights off.


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## jc64 (21/5/13)

Nick JD said:


> Priming a keg is like marrying a supermodel and doing it with the lights off.


Or its like not having any room in your keg fridge.


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## iralosavic (21/5/13)

I reckon some styles would benefit from natural carbonation in the keg, like Dubbels or Belgian Strong Ales, even stouts where yeast is a big part of the ageing and flavour developing process. I have even naturally carbed a lager in a keg before and it turned out really similar to my normal lagering + force carb process, but I only did it when I had no gas!


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## pcmfisher (22/5/13)

Chill keg.
200kpa for 48 hrs, which is slightly undercarbed.
Reduce to about 80kpa for serving. 
Leave at 80kpa and it will be nicely balanced by tomorrow.

or serving pressure for a week


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