Ok…just received my carbonation lid that I ordered. It did not come with any instructions, and the only reason I was looking for some was because I had been trying to read up about them before mine arrived. There is apparently a strategy to using them, so I was hoping someone could provide some insight for me. This is the one I ordered.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/8132TVhYeIL.SL1500.jpg
I’ve never seen one of those before, but it is clever, and I’m pretty sure I understand the principles.
- Connect the line with the air stone to the bottom of the gas port on the keg
- Sanitize everything
- fill your keg with beer.
- hook up the gas line to the post in the lid
- purge the head space in the keg by pulling on the pressure relief valve on the lid a few times
- Leave the gas line hooked to the lid, and wait for the beer to carbonate. It should carbonate faster if the beer is kept cold.
The reason this should speed up the carbonation process is that the CO2 comes into the gas directly and is dispensed in little bubbles which get absorbed faster. Basically, a much larger effective surface layer interface is created for the gas to be absorbed into the beer.
I would be interested in hearing how much faster this is than the old “sit and wait” method for carbing a keg. Let us know the results.
Actually, I understand the premise behind it and why it stands to help with carbonation. My question is more about the process. For example, one piece I read stated that the keg should be chilled first, and then the gas hooked up to about 3-4psi. At that point, every hour, pump it up one psi until hitting 12psi. Let it rest for a while, and then unhook, release pressure and then hook up usual gas line at serving pressure.
Chilling is a good idea, simply because it will keep the beer colder which will aid in CO2 intake. The process you describes sounds logical, but a lot of effort. If you’re going to play with the thing every hour for a day, I’m not sure why you wouldn’t simply use a regular hook up and shake the keg. That get’s it fully carbonated in 10-15 minutes. Though, my arms can get pretty tired from 10-15 minutes of shaking a full keg.
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From my understanding that is how those are utilized.
