Force carbonation

[shish]

yea, i'm sure you were all expecting me to post this one!

ok, i need to force carbonate my lager... so it needs to be nice and fizzy.

its in my keg at room temp (22C) and i'm serving at about 1-2C via my chiller

i just tried gassing it to 30psi, sloshing it, topping up to 30psi etc etc.

It's gassy enough for what you'd want an ale or bitter to be at, but not enough for a lager

i know i should get the keg cooler for it to take more co2 but i have no means to do that. <_<

can someone offer some tips?

[shish]

lol yea it seems so... by my reconing i'm going to need to gas to about 40something psi to get enough co2 in it at room temp

i would imagine it wont matter than i'm then chilling after it's carbonated, other than i'm needing more CO2 than i would need at colder temps.

...it also doesn't help that my WW CO2 bottle is now empty <_<

i notice that sodastream do 110 litre CO2 bottles (thats 110 litres of carbonated liquid, not the contents of the bottle), these must be bigger than the WW cartridges. I might order one to see if they fit.

[shish]

right, i'm struggling here...

So, if my keg is at 21C and i want about 3 volumes of Co2 i'll need to carbonate to about 46/47psi?

...which is too high to dispense at, so if i added about 4.5meters of 5/16 into the system this should give me enough to dispense without excess foam right?

if i used some 3/16 line instead of the 5/16 how much shorter would it need to be?

can the narrow line be added BEFORE the chiller? - i dont want to have a ton of beer sat in a line getting warm!

[mysterio]

I've not got a cornie yet and I'm still getting my head round all this.

Is there a reason why you cant gas it at 30psi (or whatever), wait 'til it's carbonated, then release pressure down to 2 or 3 when you want to serve?

[shish]

i dont know... if i dont get some decent results with it soon it's all going on ebay and i'll go back to bottling <_<

[mysterio]

I get it, so if i'm getting a cornie I better have some way of cooling it down. Does it matter how cool? Like, celler temps or fridge temp?

What about ales with less carbonation, does the same apply?

Sorry DaaB, getting bombarding you with kegging questions

You should put a FAQ section along with your guide!

[shish]

anyone know what sorts of methods are used to serve beer in a commercial application (pub/bar etc) and how they might apply here?

my beers have all had a very strong head, which i guess doesn't help

incedentally, does the tap make any difference? like do i need a 'lager' tap or something?

[shish]

Thanks DAAB

As i mentioned before my current beer has a really good head which must make foaming worse, the chiller and tap are all less than a meter from each other and i'm using 3/8 line (apart from a small section of 5/16 to run into the tap).

so i've ordered some of the narrow 3/16 and 5/16 tube, this is what i plan to do:

Keg is 3/8
5 meter run of 3/16 line using reducers
chiller is 3/8
1 meter run of 5/16 line with reducer
tap is 5/16

how the changing line size is going to affect it i'm not sure, but it's worth a try. I can always swap the 3/16 onto the tap side if needs be and...

...make some chilled beer line, by running some 3/16 inside some 3/8 and using my recirc output from the chiller as a water jacket and insulate with pipe lagging.

i'll keep you posted!

[shish]

cerainly a possability... though i'm holding that as a if-all-else-fails plan

[shish]

hi guys...

we have some good news!

changed the 1 meter of 3/8 line from the chiller to the tap for 5 meters of 3/16, it's made such a difference and i'm carbonating at 45psi now

just the right amount for a decent head and it's just about enough carbonation (i might bump up to about 47/48 psi)

my fears about the beer in the line getting warm after the chiller are somewhat unfounded, i measured just 35ml in 5 meters of line (about a mouthfull) so really doesn't affect the overall temp if pooring anything over 1/2 a pint

:beer

[Vossy1]

Hooray....Well done shish, nothing worse tham a warm pint

[shish]

hop and grape

[mysterio]

Cheers for the update shish.. I'll bear this in mind when I'm carbing my Oktoberfest.

Ordered my cornie from Norm and I think it's a meter of 3/8 on it.

[shish]

it's not a problem if you have a means to chill your keg and get the CO2 in at a low pressure

[shish]

sorry DAAB, not dropped in for a while :rolleyes:

figured the best place was on the outlet of the chiller all the way to the tap