Carbonating a Keg
- Thread starter KevinC
- Start date
Kevin58
Grandmaster Brewer
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2017
- Messages
- 972
- Reaction score
- 140
Use a carbonation chart like the one linked. Find the temperature you keep your keezer/keggerator at... let's say 40° F. Follow that row until you get to the 2.4 volumes you desire (2.39 on the chart) then follow that column down to show you the PSI that will get you there... 11.
Set your regulator to 11 PSI and just leave it there until your beer is carbonated. It won't carbonate any higher once it reaches its equilibrium.
Set your regulator to 11 PSI and just leave it there until your beer is carbonated. It won't carbonate any higher once it reaches its equilibrium.
GigaFemto
Grandmaster Brewer
I don't know of any quantitative way to determine when the carbonation is "complete". It can take a couple of weeks for beer to be fully carbonated. You can speed it up by using a higher pressure or by agitating the keg or rolling it on the ground. I find that after a week at the calculated pressure, the beer is pretty well carbonated, but between the first week and the second the foam changes in character and the bubbles get smaller. I have heard things about the dissolved CO2 being "finer", whatever that means. I am a simple physicist and that doesn't make sense to me, but I have seen that waiting 2 weeks or longer gives a better result. Tapping too soon gives a thin head with large bubbles that disappear rapidly.
--GF
--GF
Yes, that I know. BeerSmith gives me that. My question is how do I know when I've reached that 2.4 volume?
If you hold the keg at the proper temperature and pressure it takes about a week to fully carbonate.
GigaFemto
Grandmaster Brewer
If you really want to know, you can purchase a carbonation tester for just under $400:
--GF
--GF