Hello All,
I just kegged my first batch of beer! I had to do the shaking method as I am having a few friends over Saturday night. I set the regulator to 30 psi and shook for about 3 minutes then disconnected the gas and put the keg into my fridge. I plan on pulling the relief valve in the morning then setting to serving pressure around 8 psi.
Can anyone offer any pointers to make sure I have the right carbonation?
This method makes it very easy to over carbonate. I would suggest listening to the CO2 entering your keg. I would stop shaking and introducing CO2 if there is no more gas entering.
If I do this ( and I rarely do) I set my reg to 20 psi, shake/hit it with CO2 3 times, then set it to the level of CO2 volumes that I want.
After I pressurize my kegs, before shaking or anything else, I always ‘vent’ them for a second to purge out the normal air, leaving only CO2 above the liquid in the headspace. That way when you shake you are not introducing any oxygen.
To get the best pour you need to have a balanced system.
What temperature are you serving at? How long is your serving line and what size?
These factors will determine at what pressure you can serve the beer at.
This chart shows what pressure different styles of beer are carbonated to.
http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php