Help, quick carbonation...

[TimCA]

So I was planning on keging Sunday and ran into two problems. One was my freezer broke so I could not crash cool the beer. Second I had no clean kegs.... The issue is I will return home Friday and need this beer to be 2.0 volumes on Sunday. I will clean the kegs today at work so that’s taken care of. As for the freezer I had an unused chest freezer that I put some insulation on in place of the top door as it wont close due to the height of the carboys. The beer will be 32F for the next 3 days. This (crash cooling) is how I clear my beer for now. I am looking for a tired and true way to quickly (2 days) carbonate this beer. Normally I do the 30PSI shake. Although this works 3 times out of 5 it seems to over carbonate the beer. I am looking for about 2.3 volumes, its an Irish Red. I seem to remember a show with a home brew shop dude in Oakland (Homer???) stating he had the perfect quick carbonation trick but I can’t remember / find it. Any one remember?

Thanks
Tim

[Mylo]

The 30 PSI trick is quick as you are going to get. The problem is that people shake it on 30 pounds for too long. Only do a 2-3 minutes at 30 - then bring it down to "normal" pressure and shake. If you still hear gas going in - then you can bring it up to 20 for a few more minutes - then test again. You want it to barely bubble at normal pressure. Once you get there - leave it on the serving pressure and it will be ready in a few hours. BTW - a check valve should be considered required for this procedure.


Mylo

[Brew Engineer]

BTW - a check valve should be considered required for this procedure.

Be very careful, or else you'll get beer drawn back up to your regulator. If you don't have a check valve, get one, or be ready on a moments notice to flip the shut off valve between the regulator and your keg.

[WitsEnd]

I did this same method a few weeks ago. Had to get a pale ale from kettle to glass in less than 2 weeks.

I crash cooled it and transferred to the kegs (10 gallon batch). I would give it a shot of gas, disconnect, and shake the hell out of it. Repeat until the flow of gas slows down. I didn't increase the pressure above my serving pressure as I didn't want to risk overcarbonating. I did this with both kegs, but had about 1 gallon of head space in each keg since I tried to get 6.5 gallons in the first keg I was filling. I think I spent about 20 mins doing that and tossed them in the fridge. I can't say for sure that I was up to proper carbonation level, but it seemed fine for the party.

[TimCA]

Thanks for the replys, I will try the 30 psi for 3 min, and then back down to8 psi, test and shake and the test...

Thanks
Tim

[Bugeater]

If you haven't left yet you might try my carbonation trick. When I keg up a beer but don't have room to get it under refrigeration, I carbonate it at room temperature. Check the carbonation charts for proper pressure at your room temperature. Hook up some CO2 to it at that pressure and leave it until you get back. When you get back, chill it down but leave the CO2 disconnected until it gets down to serving temperature. The high pressure of the warm beer will cause a backup into your CO2 line and even worse if you don't have a check valve in place.

Wayne