Ross Method Of Forced Carbonation Of Kegs

[Yob]

You shook it too much, go back yo 60 seconds and work up

 

[shacked]

You shook it too much, go back yo 60 seconds and work up

Thanks yob

Is there anything I can do now?

 

[shacked]

You shook it too much, go back yo 60 seconds and work up

After 50 seconds the keg pressure settled at 16 psi. I then did 4x 10 second bursts, checking the pressure between bursts to get it to 22 psi. Should I have just stopped at 16psi?

 

[Yob]

what I did (and Ive never over charged a keg) is gas to 30 PSI turn gas off.. shake till 10 PSI repeat twice.. or 3 times depending on my mood.

I now just shake it like a red headed step child for 60 seconds @ 30 PSI

 

[shacked]

what I did (and Ive never over charged a keg) is gas to 30 PSI turn gas off.. shake till 10 PSI repeat twice.. or 3 times depending on my mood.

I now just shake it like a red headed step child for 60 seconds @ 30 PSI

Thanks mate. I'll give the red headed step child method a go next time.

Just pitched a starter of WLP051 into an all Citra / Veloria wort. Should be good to keg in 10 days or so time.

 

[Yob]

Veloria?

 

[shacked]

http://www.barleyman.com.au/products/malts-grains/aussie-base-malts/voyager-buloke-veloria-malt.html

 

[micblair]

I would recommend using a Zahm Nagel type chart (see: http://www.draughtquality.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Carbonation_Volumes_Pressure_Temperature_Chart.pdf) and base your final gauge pressure off that, for a given number of CO2 volumes.

For example:
2.6 volumes at 4C (40 F) would require a final gauge pressure of approx. 95 KPa (13.8 PSI).

 

[danestead]

After force carbing 50 kegs using this pressure method I now only ever shake it until the resting pressure is no higher than the serving pressure I will be using ie 10-14psi ish. You will never ever over carb your beer this way. The beer will be drinkable in half an hour once its settled although slightly under carb but in about 2 days it will be at your perfect carbonation.

 

[shacked]

Thanks micblair and danestead I'll give it a go next week when my next brew is ready to keg

 

[CoxR]

Depends how long you have let it sit for.
I do this half arsed nearly every keg but leave it for a around 1/2 a day to 1 day at around 200kpa before I pour my first pint. I have done it in about 3 hours and still got a bit more than normal

 

[CoxR]

Depends how long you have let it sit for.
I do this half arsed nearly every keg but leave it for a around 1/2 a day to 1 day at around 200kpa before I pour my first pint. I have done it in about 3 hours and still got a bit more than normal

 

[micblair]

The first glass will blow off a bit of foam (bleeding off any excess pressure), but you should be able to pull a glass of beer pretty much right away if carbonated correctly.

 

[Smokomark]

How long do you guys force carb a 9lt keg for?

 

[danestead]

How long do you guys force carb a 9lt keg for?

Depends how much head space there is when you are shaking it. It makes a huge difference.

 

[razz]

How long do you guys force carb a 9lt keg for?

Same as the large kegs. 30 psi and shake for sixty seconds.

 

[micblair]

How long do you guys force carb a 9lt keg for?

It's not a question of how long, its one of equilibrium pressure at the gauge once you've shut the gas supply off and shook the keg long enough so the needle stabilises.

 

[dannymars]

I kegged for the first time today following this method. It took me bout 90 seconds to get to a resting pressure of 21 PSI / 145 KPA.

I vented all pressure, hooked the beer lines up and set the reg to 10 PSI for serving. All I'm getting is foam. I vented and dialed the serving pressure back to 2 PSI and now I am able to pull a reasonable beer with a little extra foam but nothing too much.

Any ideas where I've gone wrong here? The beer was cold crashed to about 3 degrees before I transferred to the keg.

how long are your lines? and what diameter? how high is the tap? Sounds like your system is unbalanced if 2psi was fixing the foam issue... problem is, if you leave it @ 2psi, your beer will go flat.

This is the best calculator I've found for balancing your system... http://www.calczilla.com/brewing/keg-line-balancing/

I never use time as an indicator... only pressure. I usually force CO2 down the liquid tube at ~30psi then turn the gas off and keep shaking until it hits 10psi... usually do this 3 times, the 3rd time it will take longer... but once it reaches ~10-13psi it's almost ready to serve immediately. Always do this cold.

PS: if you are using the liquid tube to force carb, you do not need to lie the keg down..

 

[shacked]

how long are your lines? and what diameter? how high is the tap? Sounds like your system is unbalanced if 2psi was fixing the foam issue... problem is, if you leave it @ 2psi, your beer will go flat.

This is the best calculator I've found for balancing your system... http://www.calczilla.com/brewing/keg-line-balancing/

I never use time as an indicator... only pressure. I usually force CO2 down the liquid tube at ~30psi then turn the gas off and keep shaking until it hits 10psi... usually do this 3 times, the 3rd time it will take longer... but once it reaches ~10-13psi it's almost ready to serve immediately. Always do this cold.

PS: if you are using the liquid tube to force carb, you do not need to lie the keg down..

I've been doing a bit of research and I think my 6mm lines are way too short at about 1m. I've got a three tap keg mate and I just used the lines provided by the hbs.

I kept going until the pressure hit 21ish psi. Is there anything I can do about that now?

 

[dannymars]

Hard to know if you've over carbed.... As I said, I just shake the keg until the pressure goes down... if it simply won't go down any lower than 21psi, then my assumption is that you have over carbed.... only thing you can do is release the pressure until the beer off gasses the CO2.. unfortunately this will take a lot of the aroma with it (including hops).

1 meter is way too short for a decent carb level. I run 2.5meter lines, 5mil ID, reg set @ 12PSI... this keeps all my beers at an average carb level... and flowing perfectly... My taps are not very high... higher taps would require less line.... there's a fair margin for error with this stuff too... My taps flow pretty strongly, but it would still work if they flowed a little slower (longer or narrower lines), if I take a keg to a party and switch to my 1M picnic tap line I just dial the regulator back to about 4psi... no chance of the beer going flat if you drink it all that night!

A balanced system is one that keeps the right carb level over a long period of time and pours evenly... Unfortunately there's a trade off and that is that all the beers must be carbed to the same level. In a perfect world I would have my saisons carbed to ~3.2 vols and my stouts carbed to ~1.8 - but you gotta choose a medium carb level and stick with that... unless you have separate regulators on each keg gas line and some kind of flow control on your taps/beer lines.