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Kegging and force carbonation
May 30, 2009 - 11:28am
Hey folks,
I'm new to kegging, and I've got a question. I connected the CO2 to the cold keg and ran the pressure in the keg up to 40psi. After shaking the heck out of it for a while and letting it go for about 2 hours, I brought the pressure down to 14psi. As I brought the pressure down, I started getting beer and foam going into the regulator as the pressure in the keg pushed back. Am I in trouble? Do I need to clean the regulator out? Can I? Help appreciated.
--Frank
May 30, 2009 - 11:53am
#2
Try releasing some of the pressure from the keg now that you have it carbonated, put the CO2 back on at serving pressure and serve.
May 30, 2009 - 1:17pm
#3
I turned off the CO2 and pulled the release valve. I then turned the CO2 back on at 10psi. Still foam, but I'll give it some time. BTW, I have 10 feet of hose in the fridge for the beer.
May 31, 2009 - 5:48am
#4
When dropping the pressure on the regulator you need to go below you working pressure. And let it sit for a while to equalize. For example lets say you want to run at 8.5 psi as you working pressure, then you need to release all the pressure in the keg and drop your regulator to about 4 psi. Let it sit for a few hours and then check what the pressure is on the gauge. You will see that it has gone up. If it goes up beyond your intended 8.5 then you need to release the pressure on the and keg wait again. When you force carbonate your keg you might get to much carbonation in the beer and need to work on reducing that. At some point you will see the gauge pressure not creeping up anymore. Then you can increase the pressure on the regulator ever so slightly until you reach you 8.5 psi working pressure. The changes in the regulator and the actual pressure in the keg do not happen instantly. It takes time to equalize.
Does this make sense?
May 31, 2009 - 7:00am
#5
That makes sense. When I was at 40psi, the keg was pretty cold, and there was a lot of room for the gas in the keg since I had to sample my wares. I shook the crap out of the keg for a long time until I didn't hear anymore gas going into the keg from the cylinder, which probably meant that I over carbonated the beer. So yesterday when I was getting all of the foam, my beer essentially had the Bends. Now hypothetically speaking, if I was in a hurry to drink that beer, could I shake the keg to get the excess gas out of the beer?
May 31, 2009 - 8:44am
#6
In theory. Since agitating will cause gas to come out of solution that would speed things up. Of course time will be your friend here.
June 1, 2009 - 7:09am
#7
One thing I always recommend is to just let it sit at 15psi for a week at 50deg ish. That will give you a perfect carbonation. Right now your beer is probebly over carbonated. If you use a longer tube to dispense your beer it will keep it at the proper carbonation levels and should reduce the foam you are getting. use 3/16th beer line for best results. Make sure to crack open your picnic tap or tap, all the way. to reduce foamage.
Crap, now I've got nothing but foam. Grr.
--Frank