I kegged my beer on Friday and I have had it in the freezer at 40 degrees at 20 psi, but it is still not carbonated. Was I wrong to get the pressure up to 20 psi and then take off the connection? I now have it connected at 20 psi. Help me!!
It is the Chinook IPA extract kit here from NB. I brewed this before and bottled it with great results. I don’t want this one to be messed up because I suck at kegging
Relax… all is alright. To carb over time you set the CO2 to the psi you need for the volume of CO2 at your given temp. THEN YOU LEAVE THE GAS ON THE KEG. Taking off only allowed the beer to absorb the CO2 you put in there.
If you leave at 20 psi to long I think it will be overcarbed. I’m no expert but I set it at 12 to 14 for my IPA. Takes about a week to be drinkable. Two to be done.
This is correct, but you can easily leave it on 20psi for a few days - assuming you are just leaving it alone and not shaking or rolling.
I keep at 20 for 3-4 days, take out and roll, leave for a day or so, vent, dial in at serving pressure (or just a little above) until it is finished. Works great for me.
So if you leave it at 20 psi you don’t roll it? Like I said I set it around 14 psi and roll it daily for a couple days. Would be nice to not have to do that. But I don’t have that option when I have another keg on line with it.
With the method I use I have no problems:
I keg the beer and connect the CO2 while the beer is still room temp. I put it in the keezer and let it sit for 2 days at 25 psi at 34 degrees. After day 2 I bleed off the CO2 and dial down to 8 psi. I get one
glass of foam and then its great after that. If I find it isnt carbed enough I dial back to 25 and let it sit for 24 more hours and try again.
My kegs are usually carbed in 5 or 6 days just buy setting it to a pressure/temperature chart, no rolling or shaking.
I always set it a couple volume points lower (set it for 2.2 volumes if I want 2.4) as it’s easier to add carbonation than it is to lower it.
you guys mess with your kegs to much, to much work for me.
I set it at 25 or 30 for a day, then dial it back to whatever I am serving at usually 10-12psi, I never have to go over 12 and it is ready in less than a week.
I will pull sample as it carbs throughout the week to see different effects on flavor
I agree. Too much work. I’m a 10-12 psi set it and forget type of guy.
I roll it after I’m finished at 20 psi to dissolve what is in there evenly.
What I meant is that you would not want to roll or shake your kegs a bunch of times while keeping it set to 20.
[quote=“grainbelt”]you guys mess with your kegs to much, to much work for me.
I set it at 25 or 30 for a day, then dial it back to whatever I am serving at usually 10-12psi, I never have to go over 12 and it is ready in less than a week.
I will pull sample as it carbs throughout the week to see different effects on flavor[/quote]
Not sure what you mean by messing too much. Set it for a few days at higher psi. Tak the keg out and roll (30 seconds of work).
Put back in the fridge. Done.
[quote=“Brew Meister Smith”][quote=“grainbelt”]you guys mess with your kegs to much, to much work for me.
I set it at 25 or 30 for a day, then dial it back to whatever I am serving at usually 10-12psi, I never have to go over 12 and it is ready in less than a week.
I will pull sample as it carbs throughout the week to see different effects on flavor[/quote]
Not sure what you mean by messing too much. Set it for a few days at higher psi. Tak the keg out and roll (30 seconds of work).
Put back in the fridge. Done.[/quote]
Sorry missing a lot of stuff in there not getting it done in 30 seconds. Messing with all the hoses, spraying connections with star san, moving everything around, etc…set it forget it done or set it at 30 for a day turn back to 10 done
[quote=“grainbelt”][quote=“Brew Meister Smith”][quote=“grainbelt”]you guys mess with your kegs to much, to much work for me.
I set it at 25 or 30 for a day, then dial it back to whatever I am serving at usually 10-12psi, I never have to go over 12 and it is ready in less than a week.
I will pull sample as it carbs throughout the week to see different effects on flavor[/quote]
Not sure what you mean by messing too much. Set it for a few days at higher psi. Tak the keg out and roll (30 seconds of work).
Put back in the fridge. Done.[/quote]
Sorry missing a lot of stuff in there not getting it done in 30 seconds. Messing with all the hoses, spraying connections with star san, moving everything around, etc…set it forget it done or set it at 30 for a day turn back to 10 done[/quote]
I am not sure I understand the criticism here. Taking a keg out of the fridge and rolling it for 30 seconds, then putting it back in the frindge is about 1 min total of extremely easy work.
I have been kegging for 10 years and have tried every possible meathod. All work in their own way. I am finding by personal experience, that if I do the simple roll after a few days at 20 psi, then let it sit for about a day to settle, the conditioning becomes more stable and more predicatable. So I will continue with the process, as “backbreaking” as it is.
It is more work for me. I have a keezer and lifting full kegs in and out to shake them is a difficult task. Not to mention I live in coastal South Carolina where the heat is intense and my keezer is in the garage. Constantly opening and closing the lid causes condensation issues. Moreover, I typically have enough beers in rotation where there really isn’t a need to carb them quickly.
Without a need to carbonnate quickly, it is a different story all-together. Best meathod possible is to be able to set at serving preasure until it is done - usually several weeks at least.
But I don’t have the luxury of that time. So this is why I use 20 psi for the first few days.
I added the rolling only recently on the recomendation of many on the forum, and I like the results. For me it is probably the least time/labor entensive exercise in my whole beer making process.
If it is more of a pain for someone else, I can see skipping it, especially if you have a few extra days for the CO2 to diffuse/dissolve and hydrate on its own.
[quote]
I am not sure I understand the criticism here. Taking a keg out of the fridge and rolling it for 30 seconds, then putting it back in the frindge is about 1 min total of extremely easy work.
I have been kegging for 10 years and have tried every possible meathod. All work in their own way. I am finding by personal experience, that if I do the simple roll after a few days at 20 psi, then let it sit for about a day to settle, the conditioning becomes more stable and more predicatable. So I will continue with the process, as “backbreaking” as it is.[/quote]
I didnt say it was “backbreaking” or anything it is just more work and no reason for me to do it. And yes it takes more than a minute for me to pull kegs out, disconnect hoses on other kegs, to get to the keg I want, and dig through the hoses, get starsan for a quick shot when piecing back together, and rearranging back to the way it was from trying to get to the said keg in the kegerator. I was just stating that…oh pull keg out, shake, put keg back in, is missing actual steps and time it takes on my kegerator. Maybe if you have a 1 or 2 keg dorm fridge style kegerator and have to do no rearranging.
Setting at 35 for a day and then back to 10 gets me carbed beer in about 3-5 days depending on temp. If I need it quicker I will let it go at higher psi for longer and then back down to 10-12
Agreed Mike. It really depends on your system, the setup, and one’s needs.
OP - it sounds like your keg lid might not have been fully sealed, maybe. I’ve had this happen, too, where you set it and forget it, only to find out a week or 2 later it’s still flat. Man, does that piss me off. Seems there is juuuust minor enough of a leak that it won’t carbonate but it won’t drain the tank either. Ugh. Used kegs are like that and I am hating my used kegs right now. Fortunately, I’ve got 3 new ones that don’t have sealing problems.
Brew Meister Smith, it’s unfortunately you don’t have the “luxury” of waiting for your beer to properly carbonate. After all, green beer tastes better 
Just kidding. I’d rather just not have to think about it and have it carbonated in a week as opposed to forcing it in a couple days. I may try doing what these other chums are talking about and set it at 20 for a couple days then dial it back to serving pressure. Thing is, I have a manifold and not individual regulators, so I’d have to unhook my other kegs while I do that so they don’t over carbonate.
[quote=“Beersk”]Brew Meister Smith, it’s unfortunately you don’t have the “luxury” of waiting for your beer to properly carbonate. After all, green beer tastes better Just kidding. I’d rather just not have to think about it and have it carbonated in a week as opposed to forcing it in a couple days. I may try doing what these other chums are talking about and set it at 20 for a couple days then dial it back to serving pressure. Thing is, I have a manifold and not individual regulators, so I’d have to unhook my other kegs while I do that so they don’t over carbonate.
[/quote]
That about sums it up. Rolling a keg dose not do anything for the beer that time does not do on its own. But since I am usually fighting the clock these days I find a quick roll gets the beer where I want it to be a few days sooner. Ideally I would just be able to let it sit a few weeks longer both for conditioning and flavour.
Well, I’m trying it out with putting 20 PSI on my hefe I kegged the other day. Going to let it sit for 2 days then dial it back to serving pressure. Hopefully it’ll be mostly ready to drink by this weekend. We’ll see. I’ve never done it before so I’ll at least learn that it does or doesn’t work for me…
