Still Havin Trouble With My Keg

[mark.farrell1]

Hi all

the fridge that i keep my beer kegs in is not that crash hot, it is cold but, not cold enougph. When i put my beer in to be gassed, i put it on 300kpa and it normally takes about 4 days to carbonate. I than have alot of trouble with pouring pressures and alot of head coming out. My understanding of this is if i carbonate at a lower pressure it will take prob about twice as long to carbonate. I am on my 5th keg now and i am not having any luck. I have read over many forced carbonating articles but am not having any luck with carbonation or pouring pressures. Really dont know what i am doing wrong

Any help would be excellent....

 

[NRB]

What temperature is your keg sitting at. If you use the "Wortgames Ready Reckoner" written by Neil aka Wortgames, you can calculate the pressure required to achieve your desired carbonation level. 300kPa for 96 hours seems a little long. Are you sure it's not overcarbonated and that's why you're getting foam?

 

[Adamt]

What is your serving pressure and serving line length?

 

[DWC]

Mate, 300Kpa for 4 days will be WAY over carbonated. I set mine at 350 for 24hrs max.
The one I've got in the freezer now is at 300 for 24hrs 'cause the last one was a bit over
done.
I've recently upgraded to a chest freezer with a temp. controller.
Do a search on the forum for kegs, serving pressure balanced system etc. You'll get a lot of info that way.
There are tables on here for CO2 saturation of beer at certain temp/pressure but I'm too lazy to look for them now
Serving pressure should be "around 70Kpa". I haven't done it yet, but you might want to get say, 5m of 4 or 5mm ID beer line and experiment on what works best for you. Longer beer line will give you a slower pour at higher pressure.

Also take your kegs out and give a good shake, vent gas, shake and vent again. Then set it at serving pressure and try. An over carbonated beer will pour all head and still taste flat, a well carbed beer will "bite" your tongue in about a second with a mouthful or if you dip it in the glass.
Try it with a stubbie, or schooner at the local and you'll see what I mean.

Best of luck

Dave

 

[KHB]

I use the ross method. Works great for me look into that. I think its in the wiki section i use 300kpa for 45sec to a min.

 

[BobtheBrewer]

DWC,
I have just inherited a chest freezer and want to fit it with a temp controller. Could you steer me in the right direction please,
BirkdaleBob

 

[altstart]

DWC,
I have just inherited a chest freezer and want to fit it with a temp controller. Could you steer me in the right direction please,
BirkdaleBob

Fridgemate is the way to go. Do a search on this site on Fridgemate heaps of info to read.

Cheers Altstart

 

[paul]

Have a try of 3 metres of 5mm beer line.

When you overcarbonate a beer it can sometimes seem like its flat and can pour flat.

Im guessing that its overcarbonated.

 

[skb]

I am a newbie to the whole homebrew thing as I tried it many years ago and it was just a failure and did not like the bottle part... so I started a few months ago with my keg and had a bit of trouble.... the reason for the long intro is to highlight how little I know so take my comments with a grain of salt......

I found the only way to perfect the keg process was to keep the pressure at 300K overnight then put it on a lower pouring pressure than mentioned here (50Kpa), and after about another 48 hours it is perfect. I wish I could get it to pour at 70Kpa but just don;t have the knownledge.... still learning.

:huh:

 

[DWC]

Fridgemate is the way to go. Do a search on this site on Fridgemate heaps of info to read.

Cheers Altstart

Yeah fridgemate is the way to go. If you know a commercial aircon mechanic I also scored an old aircon thermostat (+30 to -30 deg) that I put on my fermentation fridge. It's just a dial guage and not as accurate as the fridgemate on the freezer, but free .
If you get a fridgemate you'll need a box to put it in(about $5 from dicksmith) and an extention lead for the power in/out.
Cheers

Dave

 

[BobtheBrewer]

[Thanks for the help fellas, also the PM.

Birkdale Bob