More Kegging Problems

[Wrenny]

G'day Guys,

Add me to the list of people having kegging problems at the moment.

Could somebody please explain overcarbonated beer to me. It's a word that get's bandied around quite freely, but I can't get my hear around it (no pun intended).

So I have heard that when beer in a keg is overcarbonated, it will come out of the tap as foam. At what level (volumes of CO2) does beer become overcarbonated? Lagers seem to be carbonated at 2.2 and 2.7. Is that just the style, or do beers brewed out of pilnser malt suddenly overcarbonate at 2.8. Likewise ales at 2.5. I have heard that wheat beers can go up to 4. Can the wheat brewed beer hold bubbles better?

I also heard someone say that you can't overcarbonate water. Is that true?

So when I look at the tables, for beer at 3 deg, for my desired 2.6 volumes, I should store at about 83 kPa. I have been storing at about 100 kPa, which at 3 deg (fridgemate) on the table gives me 2.9 volumes. If the temp got down to 2, then that would give me 3 volumes of CO2, which is high for a lager (which it is), but low if it was a wheat beer (which it isn't). Is that overcarbonated

Is there a point at which the beer suddenly craps itself and just comes out as foam?

Cheers,
Wrenny

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Depends how you go about slowing down (through resistance) the beer coming out of the keg

ie the longer the line, the more resistance, the slower the beer, the easier it is to manage more highly carbonated beers

I imagine there is a point where beer becomes so over-carbonated that it is unwieldy

Though as personal preference I don't highly carbonate beers - I'm not a fan of the carbonic bite - and the gassy feeling in the belly

Play around with the spreadsheet here http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&p=292018

I reckon you'll need 3+ meters of line to be able to control the beer at that level

Should you have actually over-carbonated the beer there are a range of ways to de-gas it

Cheers

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Also what size line do you have?

I assumed ID 5mm

Cheers

 

[Wrenny]

5 meters of the John Guest line (6 mm ID)

 

[Cortez The Killer]

I reckon per that spreadsheet and with 5m x 6mm line you'll need to drop the pressure to 80kpa

If the beer is over gassed unplug it and release some pressure

Then repeat after a little while - keep repeating until you can pour at 80 or even a little lower

You can take it out of the fridge to expedite the release of gas too

Cheers