Force Carbonate Minikegs

[sgw86]

Hi,

Hopefully I have posted in the right section. I have recently just got back into home brewing from a 4 year break and started it off with a Coopers Pale Ale (currently fermenting away). One of my pre-requists for getting back into homebrewing was not using bottles. Sadly to say I didn't have room/finances to get a corny keg system up and running.

That's where I found minikeg.net.au and have just placed an order for the complete setup.

Considering it is getting close to Christmas I was hoping to have 1 or 2 kegs ready...Fermentation will hopefully finish 12/13th but I have heard you need to leave your brew in these kegs (room temp) and primed for about 4 weeks.

I have heard also that you can force carbonate, though I have also heard it's a bad idea.


I am hoping that someone could possibly help me out. 1) is it actually possible to force carbonate and 2) the steps required to force carbonate without blowing it up.

I did pose the question to the guy that sells these and said it was possible, though never describe to me how to actually do it.

As a side note I have never kegged so this is all new to me, as well as trying to re-learn everything as I have been away from it for the last 4 years.


Thanks for the help.


Cheers,

Sam.

 

[MarkBastard]

I can't help you with how to get gas into these kegs.

But let's say you do any you're worried about force carbing with high pressures, if you do hook it up cold at a lower pressure it will carb in about a week.

The pressure required will depend on the level of carbonation you want and the temperature of your beer (nothing to do with line length or serving pressures etc so ignore any advice that says that).

You can also carbonate in about 30 minutes at lower pressures if you have the keg on the side and roll it around to agitate the beer. Again the beer needs to be cold.

 

[seemax]

Very ball park from previous discussions you need approx 150-200g of CO2 to carb a 19L corny

For 5L you'll need worst case 5/19 * 200g = 52g = 3.25 CO2 bulbs, let's call it 3 bulbs plus 1 to serve.

No reason why you couldn't empty 3 CO2 cartridges into the beer over a few days at 2C with a bit of shaking...the pressure in the head space would be higher for a short time , how much so and is it rated for it... that's the keg exploding question!!

 

[sgw86]

Very ball park from previous discussions you need approx 150-200g of CO2 to carb a 19L corny

For 5L you'll need worst case 5/19 * 200g = 52g = 3.25 CO2 bulbs, let's call it 3 bulbs plus 1 to serve.

No reason why you couldn't empty 3 CO2 cartridges into the beer over a few days at 2C with a bit of shaking...the pressure in the head space would be higher for a short time , how much so and is it rated for it... that's the keg exploding question!!

Thanks for hints guys. It seems to me that no one has actually attempted to Force Carbonate these minikegs, rather prime them with dextrose and then let sit for a few weeks.

If anybody else has tried force carb these please let me know as I am interested.

I guess if I cannot force carb, how long should I leave the kegs before chilling for drinking. Most people suggest 2-4 weeks. My question is will it improve greatly by leaving it the extra 2 weeks in the keg before chilling 2 days prior to drinking?

 

[seemax]

Dissolve some dextrose into water and boil for a bit... pour it in the keg with the beer... leave it at 20C for 2 weeks and it should be pretty right to go. Hotter if you want it fizzy faster!

 

[stl]

Thanks for hints guys. It seems to me that no one has actually attempted to Force Carbonate these minikegs, rather prime them with dextrose and then let sit for a few weeks.

I put standard corny QD posts on some of these -- see this thread.

I'm not really sure about putting too much pressure into them to "force carb" (if you mean something like "the Ross method"), but you could let it carb up slowly over a few days (as I've done). Works fine but those fittings aren't exactly cheap -- though if it's a stepping stone to full-sized kegs, they would be interchangeable. You could also leave the original tap in them and just put a gas post on the top...

 

[kymba]

pretty sure you can hook it up at to the required pressure and just rock it for a while? i remember stories of some oldies lying a 19L keg on the floor, hooking the gas up and rocking it back and forth with their feet for like 15 minutes to achieve carbonation. edit with the gas inlet below the level of the beer, so it bubbles through

i would be loath to put 300kPa into one of these 5L jobbies; although it could be a good Dr.Karl experiment for you - just be sure to fill it with water first

and if you do the 'carb over a week' thing - seeing as though you are only carbonating 1/4 of what usually takes a week, shouldn't it take a 1/4 of the time?

 

[Steve@PMF82]

pretty sure you can hook it up at to the required pressure and just rock it for a while? i remember stories of some oldies lying a 19L keg on the floor, hooking the gas up and rocking it back and forth with their feet for like 15 minutes to achieve carbonation. edit with the gas inlet below the level of the beer, so it bubbles through

This is all i have done from the get go, works very well, consistent results, reg stays the same pressure so no chance of over carbing.
Can drink the beer a couple hours later, another day in the fridge hooked up to the gas and its perfect.

I would not want to put more than 100kpa on those mini kegs, even doing that i would feel weak in my bowels

 

[kymba]

and you would probably only need to do it for 4 minutes with a 5L keg

is the gas valve S/S? if not you might need to carb it up through the beer out port

 

[seemax]

I believe the OP was intending to force carb with CO2 bulbs... not from a bottle.... given the 16g, if the beer was chilled it would dissolve very quickly so you *probably wouldn't get too much pressure in the headspace of the keg ...

* 6.30am partly hung over guess

 

[mxd]

I'd go the sugar carbing, 10 days for 1 of the kegs should be close to being carbed, give the others another week and see if you can tell the diff.