Kegging

[nooeyreese]

Hello all. I am about to keg for the first time. I know that i would like to force carbonate. I have everything and i'm ready to rock n roll.
My qeustion is....
When i force carbonate a corny keg, with 15# of Co2, do i have to leave everything attached?
I mean, is there a way to fill it with maybe 20# of Co2, turn off gas, and quickly remove connecting from keg, THEN let it carbonate.

I've read several differrent things, including threads within this forum about carbonating, but i've yet to figure this one out.

Any help would be a tremendous weight lifted off my shoulders as its been plagueing me for about a week. I have 1-1/2 weeks of lagering left to find out.

Thnx!

[cubby_swans]

Some people put a higher content of gas on the keg, like 30psi, agitate for a short amount of time, then remove the gas. Some people apply the target co2 pressure to the keg and just wait, agitating occasionally. Option 1 works faster, but you run the risk of overcarbonating your beer. Option 2 is probably safer, IMO, but requires a bit more patience.

[nooeyreese]

So 20-30psi and remove the gas in connect and let it set, should do the job.
Then i could transport it as i would have just purchased a new half barrel from the liqour stiore?

Just wantto avoid bottling at all, and be able to take a corny or two to the lake this summer, without having the gas lines connected till i get there and get them chilled, BUT i would like to have them carbonated and the such before i leave.


Thnx for all the help.

[Christa Ward]

You need to leave the gas connected until the beer is fully carbonated. The beer should also be chilled to serving temp before you start as cold beer absorbs CO2 much better than ambient beer. If you're setting it at 30 psi it will probably take about 3 days. One trick is putting the gas line on the beer "out" connection on the keg. That way your CO2 is being sent to the bottom of the keg through the dip tube and coming up through the beer rather than trying to force the CO2 down into the beer by agitating or rolling the keg. Once your beer is carbonated you should relieve the head pressure and then set the regulator to serving pressure (14 psi, 15 psi, whatever your beer calls for).

If you're planning on transporting it best thing to do is keep it as close to serving temp as possible until you get to your destination and it can be refrigerated again.

[Scott Zuhse]

Welcome to the forum Christa!

[psychodad]

Force carbing is just like everything else in home brewing. We all do it differently. While I used to avoid force carving, I've decided that the chill, 30 psi and then shake has worked well for me.

[edramshaw]

I do the 30lbs and shake too, if you keep shaking it till you stop hearing the co2 hiss then you can do it in about 15 mins if you're in a hurry. After the hissing stops, bleed the keg and then apply the normal serving pressure of 12-14psi.

[whutever]

As noted in previous posts everyone has their own way of doing it. What I've found that works best for me was to set the PSI to 30 for 24 hours, then bleed of the pressure and set to 12psi for 48 hours. But, I like what Ed responded with in his post and may try it his way the next time.

Also, there's a web site - Home Brew Talk - it's chalk full of info relating to home brewing. It even has it's own area on the subject of kegging.