She's a little too carbonated...

[user 99787]

This is the first time kegging and force carbonating. I tried 40psi for 24hrs, 20psi for the next 24hrs, and 10psi for another 24hrs.

Any better recommendations for force carbonating? How can I overcome the problem for this keg?

 

[adamsec]

So what works for me is 10psi for a week

If I'm impatient I will force carb a Cooper's pet bottle but usually find force carbed to be not the best example of the beer - best to wait until it is prime drinking age.

To fix the keg, disconnect the gas, burp and shake the gas out until it is back to a normal amount

 

[adamsec]

I would make sure your dip tube O rings aren't over compressed and causing the gas to fall out of solution, that has done this to me in the past

 

[BrewLizard]

It can also look like that when undercarbonated, because your beer hasn't equilibrated and you have an excess of pressure, leading to foaming as it comes out.

The safest method is "set and forget", but a close second is deliberately burst carbonating for a small amount of time (e.g. 30 psi for 12-24 hours), then using the "set and forget" method. Gets you in 3 days, what would normally take a week.

 

[Paleman]

I'm learning my kegging, have not had a problem with set and forget at 12 psi for a week. But that doesnt answer the question about force carbing. I say just dont.

 

[adamsec]

Also

Pressure fermenting is another option so the beer is carbonated by the time you are finished in the fermentation vessle

 

[TheAussieBrewer]

I'm a huge advocate for the set and forget method, 10 to 12 psi, whatever works for you, wait 2 weeks and your beer will be well conditioned and carbonated correctly. I see far to many of these "This is my first kegged beer and its over carbonated, I only set it to 40psi for bla time, what's gone wrong?". No offence to the guys just getting into kegging but stop listening to this advice from people, it is generally terrible advice and makes learning a new skill that much harder when you're trying to troubleshoot issues.

 

[user 99787]

Also

Pressure fermenting is another option so the beer is carbonated by the time you are finished in the fermentation vessle

What PSI would you pressure ferment at?

 

[chefeffect]

I have no patience to wait for a keg to slowly carbonate. I always force carbonate and shake the keg it takes some practice to get it right and you may need to add more gas but its relatively easy. I also pour at 12 PSI so your beer line length and diameter will make a differnce. Your pouring PSI will depend on a lot of factors and could also cause a foaming effect that looks like over carbonation.

I crash chill my beer to 0-2 deg rack to a keg. Then dial PSI regulator to 45 PSI I then rock/shake the top of the keg back and forth vigourously for 15-20 seconds. Turn the bottle off and shake while watching the dial and count for 15 seconds you want the preasure to drop to about 20 PSI on 15 seconds of shaking then shake for a furthur 10 seconds. Then let the keg sit for at least half an hour.

As I said its trial and error. If you need more gas crank it up to 45 PSI and shake again for 5 seconds then turn off the bottle and shake keeping an eye on the dial until it hits 20 PSI around the 15 second mark and then shake for another 10 seconds.

If you over carbonate turn the bottle off and burp until its around 10 PSI and pour and drink as you go until the beer hits the carbonation you want then turn the bottle back on to your prefered pouring preasure.

 

[ozdevil]

I have no patience to wait for a keg to slowly carbonate. I always force carbonate and shake the keg it takes some practice to get it right and you may need to add more gas but its relatively easy. I also pour at 12 PSI so your beer line length and diameter will make a differnce. Your pouring PSI will depend on a lot of factors and could also cause a foaming effect that looks like over carbonation.

I crash chill my beer to 0-2 deg rack to a keg. Then dial PSI regulator to 45 PSI I then rock/shake the top of the keg back and forth vigourously for 15-20 seconds. Turn the bottle off and shake while watching the dial and count for 15 seconds you want the preasure to drop to about 20 PSI on 15 seconds of shaking then shake for a furthur 10 seconds. Then let the keg sit for at least half an hour.

As I said its trial and error. If you need more gas crank it up to 45 PSI and shake again for 5 seconds then turn off the bottle and shake keeping an eye on the dial until it hits 20 PSI around the 15 second mark and then shake for another 10 seconds.

If you over carbonate turn the bottle off and burp until its around 10 PSI and pour and drink as you go until the beer hits the carbonation you want then turn the bottle back on to your prefered pouring preasure.

force carbonating is good , but my thoughts set and forget works better in my opinion as you know it wont be over carbonated..

whats a week or more waiting if you bottled you know its going to be a good week or 2 before ya start drinking

but its what floats ya boat, but a 2 weeks in the keg carbing up is not much to wait and the beer will be great to drink

 

[chefeffect]

but its what floats ya boat, but a 2 weeks in the keg carbing up is not much to wait and the beer will be great to drink

Makes a lot of sense especially the aging bit. I probably don't brew often enough.. or drink to much lol Or maybe both??

I used to age when I had cornies, more space, two gas bottles, and regulators. I just keg into 50lt now and can only fit one in my fridge.

 

[BrewLizard]

Whether you burst/agitate or set and forget with force carbonating, if you have a pipeline, your beer throughput is the same. (Albeit longer latency with "set and forget".)

 

[adamsec]

What PSI would you pressure ferment at?

It depends on the temperature you are fermenting at and the style of beer that you are making to how much CO2 you want in liquid

There's calculators to help online

 

[BrewLizard]

= 30-40 psi at typical fermentation temps. That tends to be ill-advised for yeast health though.

Figures get thrown around for keeping it below 12-15 psi to avoid stressing yeast [citations needed], which would lead to undercarbed beers in just about every style.

In any case, I'm keen for info from those that are well-read on it.

 

[kadmium]

I run it at about 5psi until I hit 3/4 of SG drop, then increase to 10 while it finishes out. Then when I go to cold crash, I pump it with 20PSI and crash it. I top the gas up on it at 20PSI a few times as it goes cold. Once its at cold crash temp, I leave it.

I then transfer to kegs after a 2 or 3 day crash unless I gelatine it, in which case its 4 or 5.

By the time I transfer its not fully carbed but its most of the way. Then it sits on gas for a week at serving pressure because I really think cold conditioning has a positive effect.