Corny teething problems

[daddies-beer-factory]

Hi, I have just done my 1st brew into cornies - which is a nice beer, the question is the 2 cornies seem to be using a lot of co2

at first i suspected leaky kegs - but then i started thinking "is the beer absorbing the co2 ?"

the Cornies are quite full and are stored at 13 C, so does fresh beer absorb a lot of co2 at low temps ?

[Kev888]

Yes, it does indeed, if the pressure is high enough. Its a balance between temperature and pressure, cooler beer absorbes CO2 more easily than warmer. Theres a chart here to tell you how many volumes of CO2 you could expect it to absorb at a given temperature and pressure - assuming you keep the pressure on. Thats what people do to force carbonate, choosing a combination appropriate to the style of beer.

If you disconnect the gas after pressurising the corny it should instead absorb a bit, until the pressure reduces to the point where it no longer forces any gas in, and so reach equilibrium - 'hopefully' at a pressure which remains enough to keep the lid sealed.

Cheers
Kev

[Fil]

if you can maintain a steady temp for the kegs its best imho to refer to a kegging table like http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php (pretty sure Jim linked to one using centigrade ) and set the ideal pressure to serve and maintain condition, and leave the kegs on pressure all the time. it will take a week or so for the kegs to achieve full condition without any input, tho i tend to rock mine for a good 10 mins till i get bored and the co2 isnt surging in after each shake when first hooking up.

if you serve at a lower or higher pressure than ideal for maintaining the pressure you will lose or gain condition during the kegs pouring life, its a gradual change and if you sup quickly may not even be noticed..

either way its no biggy excess condition can be shaken/vented out, and lost condition can be made up by whacking up the pressure and agitating if your in a hurry, though it is time consuming and you only notice the problem when you want to pour a pint so can also be frustrating. Which is why if you have temperature control i would suggest keeping the kegs hooked upto the ideal maintenance/serving pressure is the most hassle free option.

the impact of maintaining a higher maintenance pressure in the keg than you need to just push non foaming beer out the tap is you may need to add more restriction to your serving line probably with the 3/16" microline, my understanding of this aspect is ideally you want to balance the pressure in the keg with restriction so at the tap the pressure drop at the point of release isnt huge and therfore isnt likely to stimulate a massive foam out. iirc aiming for a 1-2psi pressure drop (gradient) at the tap should be a fair target. For example.. as the microline restricts between 1 and 2 psi per foot length, with a pressure of 10psi in the keg 4-5feet of micro line should balance that out.