Just started fermenting The Plinian Legacy and have decided that this batch would be my first kegging attempt. Having watch several movies on the internet, I think I might have a very weak grasp on the whole process. My understanding is that it takes about 5 days to carbonate the beer inside a keg with CO2. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
My question concerns timing. I am preparing this beer for a family even in November. However, I will have to drive it 10 hours to the event. What would be the best method to insure that it arrives ready to serve at the event. Will it need to be chilled during the 10 hour drive? can I do the 5 day carbonation prior to the drive? Does it need to be cooled during the 5 day carbonation?
This is a new process for me, so what kind of timing should I use from finished conditioning, Kegging, carbonating, cooling, driving, and finally serving?
I apologize if my questions seem a bit silly, but Its all new to me.
[quote=“LarryZ”]Just started fermenting The Plinian Legacy and have decided that this batch would be my first kegging attempt. Having watch several movies on the internet, I think I might have a very weak grasp on the whole process. My understanding is that it takes about 5 days to carbonate the beer inside a keg with CO2. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
My question concerns timing. I am preparing this beer for a family even in November. However, I will have to drive it 10 hours to the event. What would be the best method to insure that it arrives ready to serve at the event. Will it need to be chilled during the 10 hour drive? can I do the 5 day carbonation prior to the drive? Does it need to be cooled during the 5 day carbonation?
This is a new process for me, so what kind of timing should I use from finished conditioning, Kegging, carbonating, cooling, driving, and finally serving?
I apologize if my questions seem a bit silly, but Its all new to me.
Thanks for the help!
Larry[/quote]
5 day is pushing IMO, but there are plenty that only carb 5 days before drinking.
Will it need to be chilled during the 10 hour drive? - Yes, if you want to serve it upon arrival.
Can I do the 5 day carbonation prior to the drive? - Yes.
Does it need to be cooled during the 5 day carbonation? - No, but it will help settle things out.
You can do a quick carb in 2 days. What I do is set psi to 30 and put keg in fridge(leave gas connected to keg). after 24 hours I turn gas off and release most of the pressure from the keg I take sample to check the carb level if needed I set pressure back to 30 and wait another day. Then set to serving pressure and drink. Some people don’t like to do it this way for fear of over carbing but I don’t have any problems. If the beer ends up over carbed I just turn the gas off and drink some beers after a day or so I set pressure back to serving pressure. Also if you haven’t already use 10 foot or more serving line, you can get away with less but the extra line helps make perfect pours.
There are lots of methods used to carb beer in the keg. The easiest is to hook it up to the CO2 at serving pressure, and wait. That will take you a week or two.
gdtechvw’s method seems to be pretty commonly recommended for “quick” carbing, but it runs the risk of overcarbing as well. If that happens, it will take a few days to bring the carbonation back down to what you want by periodically releasing pressure, and then letting the beer settle, and doing it over until you reach the level you want.
I prefer shaking my kegs to speed up the carbonation process. Simply syphon the beer in, purge with CO2 to get rid of the air in the head space, then connect the CO2 line and shake or roll the keg on its side vigorously for as long as you hear gas continuing to enter the keg. Takes 10 to 15 minutes. After that, it is pretty close to serving pressure, and will go the rest of the way in a day or two.
Whatever method you use, remember that CO2 dissolves easier into cold beer, so let the beer chill before you carbonate it.
Consider transferring the beer to a clean, sanitized, CO2-purged keg before you haul it around. If you chill it during carbonation (speeds up the process) some yeast will settle out and when you move the keg the yeast will get stirred up a bit and the beer will be a bit cloudy.
If possible after the keg is transported let it sit for as long as possible to let it settle. Also don’t throw it in the back of your pickup or trunk. Let it ride shotgun.
