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Date: 17 Jun 2006 17:11:44
From: Rick Eames
Subject: Not holding C02
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My buddy and I are on our third batch. We just did an IPA and put it
in one of the 5 gallon "soda kegs" that we got from a homebrew store
(new). We force carbonated at 20 psi for 5 mins while we shook it. We
then let it settle and poured out a pint at 2 PSI and gave it a go.
The good news is that the beer tastes fantastic, the bad news is that
it's not holding the C02 and seems flat. We're not sure what we might
be doing wrong.
Thanks for any help.
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Date: 17 Jun 2006 18:14:08
From: Scott L
Subject: Re: Not holding C02
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Rick Eames wrote:
> The good news is that the beer tastes fantastic, the bad news is that
> it's not holding the C02 and seems flat. We're not sure what we might
> be doing wrong.
You're not doing anything wrong -- you're just not being patient enough
:-)
If I'm really impatient to carbonate a keg, I'll turn the regulator to
45 PSI and shake the crap out of the keg for a good 7-10 minutes. Then
it needs to sit for several hours. It's easy to overshoot the
carbonation this way though.
Carbonation also seems to take time to "mature" in the keg. I have no
explanation for why, but the carbonation seems to become more even and
less prone to foaming after letting sit for a few days. My wild-assed
guess is that the headspace pressure slowly reduces as the remaining
gas is absorbed, and the dissolved CO2 diffuses more evenly throughout
the beer...
Scott
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Date: 19 Jun 2006 18:27:07
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Not holding C02
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On 17 Jun 2006 18:14:08 -0700, <scott-sp02@neuralnw.com > wrote:
> If I'm really impatient to carbonate a keg, I'll turn the regulator to
> 45 PSI and shake the crap out of the keg for a good 7-10 minutes. Then
> it needs to sit for several hours. It's easy to overshoot the
> carbonation this way though.
>
> Carbonation also seems to take time to "mature" in the keg. I have no
> explanation for why, but the carbonation seems to become more even and
> less prone to foaming after letting sit for a few days. My wild-assed
> guess is that the headspace pressure slowly reduces as the remaining
> gas is absorbed, and the dissolved CO2 diffuses more evenly throughout
> the beer...
Carbonation needing time to "mature" is usually a side effect of the "crank
up the PSI and shake it" method. Like you said in the first paragraph,
this method is fairly inaccurate (unless you are very experienced at it), so
you often tend to overshoot or undershoot the carbonation level. The maturing
you see is just the beer coming to equilibrium with the amount of
carbonation you meant to give it, but didn't get quite right using the
quick 7-10 minute method.
Personally, I set my regulator to the final carbonation level, connect the
gas and leave it turned on for about a week. This method is *much* more
reliable, but it does require more patience.
John.
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Date: 18 Jun 2006 00:37:27
From: Scott Sellers
Subject: Re: Not holding C02
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Rick Eames <rickeames@gmail.com >:
>My buddy and I are on our third batch. We just did an IPA and
>put it in one of the 5 gallon "soda kegs" that we got from a
>homebrew store (new). We force carbonated at 20 psi for 5 mins
>while we shook it. We then let it settle and poured out a pint
>at 2 PSI and gave it a go.
>The good news is that the beer tastes fantastic, the bad news is
>that it's not holding the C02 and seems flat. We're not sure
>what we might be doing wrong.
>Thanks for any help.
It probably just needs more CO2 -- 20lbs for five minutes isn't
alot. You could probably repeat that a couple more times, over a
few hours, and get closer. It takes time for the beer to absorb
the CO2.
You don't want to overcarbonate, either. To get it dialed in,
you need to factor in the temperature. A carbonation table will
tell you what pressure CO2 to use, at what temperature, to get
the carbonation level you want.
If you don't have that, you could post your serving temp here,
and someone will probably help you out.
cheers,
Scott S
--
Scott Sellers
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Date: 18 Jun 2006 00:24:18
From: Dick Adams
Subject: Re: Not holding C02
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Rick Eames <rickeames@gmail.com > wrote:
> My buddy and I are on our third batch. We just did an IPA and put it
> in one of the 5 gallon "soda kegs" that we got from a homebrew store
> (new). We force carbonated at 20 psi for 5 mins while we shook it. We
> then let it settle and poured out a pint at 2 PSI and gave it a go.
>
> The good news is that the beer tastes fantastic, the bad news is that
> it's not holding the C02 and seems flat. We're not sure what we might
> be doing wrong.
Kep it a 20 PSI for a few days, release and replenish the CO2 daily, and
roll the keg around each time. Carbonization does not occur immediately.
Dick
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Date: 18 Jun 2006 15:28:28
From: Brian
Subject: Re: Not holding C02
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Leave the C02 on the keg for 2-3 days between 12-16psi. The colder your keg
is the faster the beer will absorb the CO2.
"Rick Eames" <rickeames@gmail.com > wrote in message
news:1150589504.832266.124550@g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> My buddy and I are on our third batch. We just did an IPA and put it
> in one of the 5 gallon "soda kegs" that we got from a homebrew store
> (new). We force carbonated at 20 psi for 5 mins while we shook it. We
> then let it settle and poured out a pint at 2 PSI and gave it a go.
>
> The good news is that the beer tastes fantastic, the bad news is that
> it's not holding the C02 and seems flat. We're not sure what we might
> be doing wrong.
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
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Date: 18 Jun 2006 19:13:16
From: John Krehbiel
Subject: Re: Not holding C02
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See this site:
http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html
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Date: 19 Jun 2006 18:21:55
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Not holding C02
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On 17 Jun 2006 17:11:44 -0700, <rickeames@gmail.com > wrote:
> My buddy and I are on our third batch. We just did an IPA and put it
> in one of the 5 gallon "soda kegs" that we got from a homebrew store
> (new). We force carbonated at 20 psi for 5 mins while we shook it. We
> then let it settle and poured out a pint at 2 PSI and gave it a go.
>
> The good news is that the beer tastes fantastic, the bad news is that
> it's not holding the C02 and seems flat. We're not sure what we might
> be doing wrong.
It's not a matter of whether the beer "holds" the CO2 or not. If it's
flat then you're not carbonating it enough. Can you be more specific
on your procedure? Do you leave the gas connected and turned on while
you are shaking? What level of carbonation are you shooting for? What
is the temp of the beer while you are carbonating it? Who told you to
pour the beer using 2 PSI of pressure?
John.
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