Sanke Force Carbonating

    So I am sitting here scratching my head as to why my brew will not carbonate. I have listened and heard that cold brew will take gas a lot easier than cellar temp, but I choose to attempt to carb at cellar temp. It will just take a bit longer, correct? SO WHY WILL MY BREW NOT CARBONATE PROPERLY? I am using a D-type Sanke keg with a D-type tap. I put a penny over the vertical beer out valve, and attached the co2 line into the gas in valve. I have tried keeping constant pressure of 35-40psi for a few days. Ive tried putting 12psi and shaking it for a few days. ALL I GET IS A FOAMY HEAD THAT DISIPATES INTO A FIZZY BEER WITH NO BUBBLES. what gives? what am I doing wrong? can you not force carbonate in a Sixtel keg (which makes no sense to me cause your still exposing the beer to carbon dioxide inside a sixtel like you do a Cornelius keg).

ANYONE WITH EXPERIENCE DOING THIS(CAUSE I KNOW IM NOT THE ONLY ONE) PLEASE HELP!!!

What length is the serving hose for your tap?

Do. Not. Panic.

I do this all the time so it's absolutely possible.

First thing, cold beer takes gas and holds gas better. Warm beer takes longer for the gas to dissolve AND quicker to let it go, too. My guess is that if you're serving at the warmer temp that you carbed at, your system is not balanced with regards to pressure, temperature, and line length. Here is a good article explaining it better than I ever could.

http://byo.com/kegging/item/164-balancing-your-draft-system-advanced-brewing

Your beer is carbed just fine, it's just not being dispensed properly based on the above variables. It sounds like if you hooked it up to your kegerator at the right temp and pressure you'd be just fine.

Let us know a bit more.

It could just need more time?  How long has it been on pressure total?  I've only been kegging for a few months and am still dialing it in, but I recently had one batch that took just over 2 weeks while at 12 psi in the kegerator.  Just when I started to worry that it wasn't going to work out, everything came together.

Try bleeding out some of the pressure before pouring.