Guide To Keg Forced Carbonation.

[NeilArge]

Hi i just bought a new regultor an ebay and teh pressure realese vale kicks in at 300pka. :angry: I am going to try carbing at 250kpa for 55 seconds instead of the usual 45 i do. Hopefully it works ok.


KHB

I've been trying to force carb my first keg with a sodastream bottle using the Ross method but I have been struggling to get a beer out of the thing. It barely trickles out and is flat. I've upped the pressure to 100kpa and left it like that for days but still not much change - flat beer. The dorothy dixer is: what am I doing wrong?

Ta in advance,

ToG (aka Neil)

 

[cliffo]

Have you checked for leaks?

 

[Morrie0069]

Is the sodastream bottle fully screwed into the reg adaptor? I had a new type bottle a month or so ago, and it needed an extra couple of mm's of turn to get the pin depressed on the bottle.

Can you get gas out of bottle without it being connected to the keg?

If you have a non return valve, is it the right way round?

Could there be a blockage on the keg out tube?

OT - As I don't have a large gas bottle, I bulk prime my keg and let it carb up like you do in the bottles, which saves on gas. 1 day I'll grab a MKOL cylinder!

 

[NeilArge]

Have you checked for leaks?

No :huh: . I guess some soapy water solution brushed on to all joins would be the go?

Cheers

ToG

 

[NeilArge]

Is the sodastream bottle fully screwed into the reg adaptor? I had a new type bottle a month or so ago, and it needed an extra couple of mm's of turn to get the pin depressed on the bottle.

Can you get gas out of bottle without it being connected to the keg?

If you have a non return valve, is it the right way round?

Could there be a blockage on the keg out tube?

OT - As I don't have a large gas bottle, I bulk prime my keg and let it carb up like you do in the bottles, which saves on gas. 1 day I'll grab a MKOL cylinder!

Thanks for the response. Gas is definitely getting into the beer as it is being into the line and does pour. I haven't tried disconnecting the gas line and turning the reg. on to get gas out - might try that tonight. I'll check the direction of the non-return valve also. There doesn't appear to be a blockage in the beer out line/post but the main thing is that the beer is flat anyway. But thanks for the action-prompting questions - I'll check this out tonight.

Best

ToG

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Is the sodastream bottle fully screwed into the reg adaptor? I had a new type bottle a month or so ago, and it needed an extra couple of mm's of turn to get the pin depressed on the bottle.

On a hot day a while ago, I could not screw the cylinder into the adapter enough. I put the bottle into the fridge for a while and voila! everything was okay.

A reminder for young players in warm environments that physics is (usually) your friend...

 

[moonshadow]

Why can't you connect the gas disconnect up to the liquid side of the keg? From a quick look at my disconnects they look identical to each other except for the colour. I though the colours were just to keep them from getting mixed up?

Good question...they have different connections internally. Ive had a gas disconnect stuck on a Liquid out post before and swore quite a bit when I found it would not come off!!!

I just tip my keg upside down with the gas connections on its gas post and gently rock back and forth without bumping the disconnect on the ground. Works a treat as the gas is still travelling up through the beer via the little gas tube- thus more efficient- but no rolling and sweating like a nanny-goat.

I do tend to wait 24hrs after force-carbonating with a head of 300kpa in the keg before attempting to pour though. All that motion can make for too much froth and a flat body if 'burped' and poured too early. As shown in vid.

If anyones in Brissy on the 7th March come to my kegging & filtering demo. It'll clear up alot of Q's for you (I hope) Ive got some all grain on for tasting, yum yum. See the retail section under kegs kegs kegs.

 

[brettprevans]

i was playing with force carbing my kegs last night...

now with kegs at 300psi (or a bit more) i didnt go near the releif valve, but i had made the mistake of connecting the gas line before I had turned the ghas on..so beer in the gas line. no worries i think, just take of the gas disconnect and and a qquick depression on the disconnect to let the beer dribble out of the gas line.....after copping a face full of beer at 300psi I realise I forgot to turn the gas off and that having my finger in the disconnect just made the spray even worse. after a bit more cursing and playing I get all my gas/pressures right. thank christ i have cellis and dont have to balance this *******!

hmmm kegged beer. willl be read for the weekend. the bonus is that its my 2nd daughters 1st birthday. a special day indeed. birthday and fist kegged beer.


edit: i also had some cursing with the multiple bumping of the tap and beer pissing out the taps. yes it took me 3 times before i thought, maybe i should disconnect the beer line. not a good night.

 

[brettprevans]

more dumb arse dramas for me.

trying to work out why beer is coming up the gas line. I speak with Ross (ill omit the part about me needing to get a non return valve)

paraphrased...
Ross: One of the problems with force carbing kegs is that you can over carb them. that sounds like your problem.
Me: its only been 2 days @ ~120psi! how the hell did I manage that?
R: hmmm, nah it cant be that. hmmmm. How far did you fill the keg up? cause if the beer is above gas inlet tube.....
Me: ohh crap! thats where my extra few litres of brew went that I couldnt account for. what a dumb arse i am!

ok so tip for young players. dont over fill your kegs and force carb.

The only up side on this is that i now have to go home and get the beer level down. means i'll just have to force myself to drink a few pints!

 

[raven19]

ok so tip for young players. dont over fill your kegs and force carb.

The only up side on this is that i now have to go home and get the beer level down. means i'll just have to force myself to drink a few pints!

That is a tough gig! :icon_cheers:

I tend to fill to about the weld line (about 30mm from the top).

 

[brettprevans]

I tend to fill to about the weld line (about 30mm from the top).

smart arse! thats exactly what ross said.

 

[Fourstar]

R: hmmm, nah it cant be that. hmmmm. How far did you fill the keg up? cause if the beer is above gas inlet tube.....
Me: ohh crap! thats where my extra few litres of brew went that I couldnt account for. what a dumb arse i am!

My question for you CM2 is how the hell did you manage to get the Corny lid back inside the keg and sealed again without scooping beer onto the top of the lid and around the seal?!?!

Thats the 1 thing im alwyas so cautious of when kegging, any seal points on the keg must remain clean and beer free at all times whilst filling a keg. I dont want any nasties shawshanking their way in thru a pressure relief valve, poppet or keg lid seal. :icon_cheers:

I never knew Brett and Lacto looked like Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins!! :lol:

 

[brettprevans]

well it wasnt that full, bu it was pretty full. the fact that when i lifted the keg over the chesty and put it down, beer got around the seal and came out from under the lid, should have been a tip off for me. but no. i was too interested in making the keg do what i decided it should do rather than listening to it tell me what it was capable of doing.

all good. just more experiance and lovely stories to share with others. at least it wasnt a face full of beer again (see my above post #128).

Edit: I recon brett would look like freeman.

 

[Fourstar]

all good. just more experiance and lovely stories to share with others. at least it wasnt a face full of beer again (see my above post #128).
Edit: I recon brett would look like freeman.

Dont worry mate, i still havn't learnt my lesson using bronco taps. After every keg empties give them a sodium percarbonate wash out and quick flush with iodophor when prepping my keg. I usually leave the faucet open to dry out. When im ready to tap the keg i have twice forgotten to close the tap on the bronco. 1st one shot all over my chest, a nice hoppy APA and the scond was a porter..... yep all over the wall.


The aftermath of the porter was horrendous.. I was still cleaning some marks up from it yesterday and it happened in December!

 

[mr_tyreman]

I have written and re-written this post so many times....

I'd really like to know what steps seem to be the best for carbing my particular beer...

its an AG DrSmurtos Golden ale (My first AG ever)

Its been NC'd overnight, and fermented in a single fermentor for 2 weeks

Now i want to Keg... I was planning on filling up the keg from the bottom up with a pipe to prevent foaming...

Then force carbing it up, letting it finish fermenting for a week...

then chill for 2 days and consume


i have so many questions but i hope this is a good start

 

[als_world]

I have written and re-written this post so many times....

I'd really like to know what steps seem to be the best for carbing my particular beer...

its an AG DrSmurtos Golden ale (My first AG ever)

Its been NC'd overnight, and fermented in a single fermentor for 2 weeks

Now i want to Keg... I was planning on filling up the keg from the bottom up with a pipe to prevent foaming...

Then force carbing it up, letting it finish fermenting for a week...

then chill for 2 days and consume


i have so many questions but i hope this is a good start

That's a good idea about filling the keg from the bottom up. They are very hard to fill from the top down

You have the rough idea, but slightly out of order - The fermentation should be finished by 2 weeks. Fill up the keg, chill, then carb, then consume. That's it.

 

[NeilArge]

G'day all

Sorry for the stupid question, but do you have to make any adjustments to your beer tap before using it. I'm using a stainless gun. I've had a CSA in a corny keg on gas for the last 5-6 days carbing up and I thought I'd try it tonight. I get a nice creamy head but no beading in the glass. What appears to be the problem here?

Any advice gratefully accepted!

Cheers

ToG

 

[krusty_oz]

Rehashing an old thread here, keen to hear thoughts on the following "semi forced" carbonation method my mate uses:

1. Beer into keg from fermentor
2. Increases pressure on regulator to 150 - 200 kPa and leaves for 48 hours (use gas in post still)
3. After 48 hours, drop back to serving pressure (50kPa on his system)
4. Burp keg to reduce headspace pressure
5. Drink!

I am giving this a go with my 3rd keg of beer to see how it goes. Will report back after Saturday...

I did it that way on my first keg last week, left the gas on at 150kpa for a couple days. Dropped to 10psi and connected up Andale pluto gun with 3m of 4mm hose (cursed putting it on the disconnect - had to drill out some hose) and poured a near perfect beer (about 1cm too much head due to the air in the hose, second beer was perfect).

 

[Cocko]

Rather than starting a new thread.... I will post here.


I was lucky enough to score myself one of the 'rare' 45L kegs with the cornie style post and lids today on evil bay!

Anyway, I have my 'Ross' method down pat on a 19L but I was just thinking about force carbing this big boy up!

Would I just rock for twice as long? I figure it has to absorb twice the amount of C02 so that sorta makes sense or is there something I am not realising here? :unsure:

Any thought appreciated.
:icon_cheers:

These:

View attachment 29399

 

[Fourstar]

Would I just rock for twice as long? I figure it has to absorb twice the amount of C02 so that sorta makes sense or is there something I am not realising here?

Gold! sure you didnt steal that from daves shop?

I dont follow ross method. i crank my reg up, balls to the wall and shake the arse out of it, just cos it doesnt take as long and then back it off. You could always just push a crapload more pressure into it to speed it up. either way, the ross method will work. I still do the whole "turn off the tap and watch the reg drop pressure until equilisation." Just keep doing that i suppose.