Beer Forum

how long does it take to force carbonate a beer and what methods do yinz(that's pittsburghese for ya'll) recommend? i am just curious if i have enough time between now and sunday to get a batch carbonated enough to serve. thanks!

Normally, I just stick a warm keg in the kegerator hook up the CO2 at serving pressure and let it sit. In 5 to 7 days it is fully carbonated. I do take samples from time to time to check the level.

When I am in a hurry, I hook up CO2 to the warm keg at 30 psi until the regulator stops hissing. I roll the keg around a while and hit it again with more gas. When the keg pressure hits about 25 psi according to my keg pressure guage after rolling the keg around, I then stick it in the kegerator and hook up CO2 at serving pressure. By the time the keg cools to serving temperature, the pressure has also pretty much settled out at the right pressure. It is reasonable close after 24 hours and dead on at 48 hours. If you are starting with a cold keg, then do the 30 psi and roll routine until the pressure guage hits about 18 psi.

If you don't have a way to measure the pressure, then do the warm keg routine until the keg doesn't seem to take much additional CO2 after rolling. With a cold keg, all bets are off. This is also much simpler if you have more than one CO2 tank and regulator.

Hope this is somewhat helpful. If not, you didn't hear it from me.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

thank you wayne, sounds like a game plan. i don't have the keg pressure gauge but i'll give it a go. thanx again!

I just jam mine up to 30 psi and leave it for a couple days. Give a shake once or twice in tha period and it alwasy comes out ok.
I do like carbinating with DME better but this is soooo convenient.

When I need to carbonate in a hurry I just apply serving pressure and shake the crap out of the keg as much as possible until CO2 stops running. It takes a while and a LOT of shaking, but it works well.

I wonder if it really does work so well...

I think it was the Pope that told us something like "foam only works once."

While shaking and rolling that keg around, you are making lots of foam inside the keg. Once things settle down and you go to serve, can head formation and retention be harmed by the quick-carb method?

I keep thinking about my amazing headless weizen from a few months ago. I wonder if the problem was really the protein rest as I suspected, or that I quick-carbed that keg?

DannyW wrote:I wonder if it really does work so well...

I think it was the Pope that told us something like "foam only works once."

While shaking and rolling that keg around, you are making lots of foam inside the keg. Once things settle down and you go to serve, can head formation and retention be harmed by the quick-carb method?

I keep thinking about my amazing headless weizen from a few months ago. I wonder if the problem was really the protein rest as I suspected, or that I quick-carbed that keg?

Actually, beacuse it is under pressure and in a closed environment you are shaking the gas INTO solution, and not out of it. Since I am not IN the keg I can't say for sure (tree in the forest and all), but I'd be willing to bet there is no foam forming due to the pressure.
Here's the proof. Apply 10PSI or more to the keg and wait until the gas stops and the keg is at pressure. Now, shake the crap out of the keg. The gas starts up again. Stop shaking and few moments later the gas will stop. Start shaking and the gas will start again. It'll keep working like this until you have 10PSI in the keg AND the beer is saturated.
Now, where is the gas going? It can't get out of the keg (assuming it is a good keg) and it's not going back into the CO2 bottle (higher pressure than the keg). It's going into solution because you are creating a larger surface area to absorb it while shaking. Stop shaking and the surface area decreases and the pressure equalizes in the headspace.

Or some shit like that... I read it in Noonan

Actually, beacuse it is under pressure and in a closed environment you are shaking the gas INTO solution, and not out of it. Since I am not IN the keg I can't say for sure (tree in the forest and all), but I'd be willing to bet there is no foam forming due to the pressure.

Dunno about that... I frequently force carb in PET bottles with a carbonation cap (occasionally with explosive results, see kegging, bottling, dispensing thread ) and even though its under a hell of a lot of pressure, the beer in the PET bottle foams up like buggery. It all settles back down into solution later, but it still foams up. However, the foam does't seem to have the same "character" as foam in the head of a beer. So maybe something else is happening.

The APA I am currently drinking though, had the bejeezus shaken out of it when I was carbing and its got a head like shaving cream that lasts till the botom of the glass.

I'm pretty sure it has something to do with voodoo