First Time Carbonating keg in Chest freezer - Please help

[Kazi the Younger]

HI, I've read a lot of previous posts and talked to a lot of people about it, but I just wanted to make sure I'm doing things right here.

Chest freezer chilling Procedure:
I have a chest freezer with temp controller. I'm going to Submerge the temp control probe in a glass of water that sits in the freezer. After this, I'm going to plug the temp controller into the wall, and the freezer into the temp controller. I want to chill down to 38 degrees--will double check temp with a thermometer. After Temp is consistent, I will move on to pressurizing the beer.

Filling the Keg:
I cleaned and sanitized a corny Keg, gently racked the beer, sealed, and cleared head space with 20 psi pressure--did this a few times, then dropped the pressure to zero. Now there should be just beer and minimal co2 in the keg. No oxygen.

Carbonating the beer:
This is where I need the most help. I've force carbonated before, but wasn't happy with the results. I want to do it slow this time. I want to carbonate an American Pale ale to about 2 volumes. When I check carbonation charts, I see that in order to carb to 2.0 volumes @ 38 degrees, I need to hit the keg with about 9 psi. My understanding is all I need to do is make sure the beer is 38 degrees in the freezer, then hit with 9 psi, then wait a few days and it should be carbonated to 2 vols. Is this true?

One more question: My co2 tank is inside the chest freezer, @ 38 degrees. I know a lot of people have their co2 sitting outside the freezer @ room temp or more. How will this effect the carbonation of the beer if the co2 is at the same temp as the beer?

Any feedback is appreciated

[Mylo]

It doesn't matter if the bottle is inside or outside - however, the high pressure gauge will go down - making you think that you are prematurely running out of gas. If you were to take it back out - the needle will go back up.

Slow method of carbing - yes, just get the beer at the temp and pressure specified. Eventually it will stabilize at that selected # of vols of CO2. Without agitation - it will take a least a week. If you want to speed it up, you can get the beer cold, then put 25-30 lbs on it and shake it for 5 min or so. Then you can set your reg back at the "normal" 12 psi or so. Then your beer will be ready in a day or two.


Mylo

[Bugeater]

You pretty much have it there. I like mine just a touch warmer, about 41 degrees, so I keep the pressure a bit higher. An element you didn't touch on is your dispensing lines. Make sure your beer line is 5-6 feet long and is 3/16 inch inside diameter. Quite often folks use a line that is too short and/or too large in diameter. When that happens all they get is foam. That's when you see posts about people turning down their pressure to serve and back up in between fills. All of that is extra work that is not needed if you balance the system in the first place.

Wayne

[bcmaui]

I was told not to put the temp controller probe in water. Rather attach it to the side of a corny or put it in a bottle of goo so you get a reading that is closer to the liquid temp as air temp swings faster.

[Todd]

Most liquid temp probes are glycol solutions -they mimic the properties of water, but won't evaporate or freeze. Same concept, just more technical. You can get glycol lots of places.

This is the device I use on my chest freezer, as well as on the 400+ medication refrigerators at work, you can see the glycol bottle and how the probe fits in... if you want to go hi-tech.

[bcmaui]

I guess the techincal term for goo is glycol then. If this does not freeze it must be different that the stuff in the plastic ice packs that I was going to use. If that is the case we are not protecting the probe from moisture as much as we are from freezing liquid then? I've tested my kegerator, but still waiting for CO2 regulator before all will be up and running.

[Kazi the Younger]

Thanks a lot for the great info guys--I will keep all those things in mind as I go forward. When I get to the point that I'm adding beer lines, I will make sure they are 5-6 feet long, and 3/16" thick Inner Diameter.

Also, I might get some glycol solution--I'm guessing you can get that at a science supply store? I've been looking to get a few things now from one of those places, but none seem to carry everything I want. I'd like to get a hanna instruments stir plate as well.

[Todd]

As long as you had a way to seal the lid you could use some common household (or at least easy to obtain) closely related items. Glycerin and sorbitol are close enough and you can find either of those at a pharmacy (ask me how I know...) or even a grocery store.

Many of these alcohol derivatives are hygroscopic (absorb water from their surroundings) so you'd want to seal the lid of the probe like in the picture but you can tinker with either the pure liquid, or add a little water to it.. You could use antifreeze, but it's poisonous and an irritant, so I'd say not to.

Have fun!