Beer Forum

I have an Scotch ale in the keg, chilled to 48, and aged but it's not carbonated all the way yet. I need to get the beer bottled by tonight because I'm giving it as gifts to co-workers tomorrow at work.

I'm shooting for 2 vol. of co2 and I'm estimating that as of right now it is at around 1 vol.

Also, I 'dry-spiced' the beer with cinnamon and vanilla beans so there are some particles in there that have settled out. Therefore, I'd really rather not shake it back up if at all possible.

I went ahead and cranked the gas up to 35 in an attempt to expedite the process. Is this too much or too little? I'd like to have the full 2 vol. of co2 in a few hours.

Would maybe lowering the temp help?

Is there anything else that I could do?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance!!

You might be in a pinch here. I doubt that even at 35 psi that you will get the co2 levels you want in that window of time. If you had another day, I would go with gelatin, then shake the hell out of it for 2 min at 35 psi, then let it settle over night. Sorry that I am not much help.

Mills

Your best bet is to give it a lot of CO2 and lower the temp to 35ish. Having it that cold helps for bottling anyway. If you are short on time, crank that sucker up to 40 or 50 PSI! But you better check it regularly if you do that or you could overshoot your carbonation.

If you have a spare keg, transfer the beer to get it off the spices. Then crank up the CO2 and shake the crap out of it.

Wayne

2 words - PLAN AHEAD

Ouch, a little harsh on the new forum goer.

Mills

brewinhard wrote:2 words - PLAN AHEAD

Agreed!!! And I usually do. Just took longer to ferment than I had originally expected. No worries though. They'll just have to wait. Late gift-beer is better than NO gift-beer...that's what I always say...OK, I don't always say that. But, I'm going to now.

Thanks again for the advice!

Good call, late gifts it is.