I have just kegged my first batch and unfortunately, I do not yet have a kegerator or chiller to drop the temp on the keg while force carbing. My basement is about 64°F, so I pushed 23psi for three days before pulling anything from the keg. I poured my first mug after venting the keg and resetting the gas to 10 psi. The pour seemed a little frothy, but nothing too extraordinary. I returned the keg to 23psi and let it sit for another day. Then, I reset again and poured a couple growlers. This time, it seemed really foamy and I had to drop serving pressure to 5psi (so slow) to get a decent fill on the growlers. Now, I am not a huge fan of 64° beer, so I refrigerated the growlers. I expected there might be some change in carbonation level, but I couldn’t quite nail down what my expectation was. After a couple hours of refrigeration, I poured a beer from the growler and was surprised by how flat it was. Predictable?
Anyways, I have read a couple things on here about foamy/flat conditions as they relate to temperature and serving tube length. I already have a 5’ serving tube (standard issue kit from NB) and cannot affect the temperature right now.
Am I screwed until I buy something to chill the keg during carbonation? Or are there work-arounds? Am I just jumping the gun and need to wait for a few more days before drawing any conclusions?
a more experienced kegger can hopefully help you with your other questions, but in the few batches I’ve kegged, I’ve had much more appropriate/desirable carb levels if I serve it at 1-2 psi. Just enough to push it out. The more force you use to get it out, the more it will froth in the tube/glass.
You really need to get the temperature down to carbonate - unless you add some sugar and contition it that way. CO2 disolves to different levels at different temperatures. It also foams up more at higher temperature. So unless you are looking for flat and ultra foamy beer…?
Why not just put the keg on ice until you get a kegerator?
[quote=“pduppel”]I have just kegged my first batch and unfortunately, I do not yet have a kegerator or chiller to drop the temp on the keg while force carbing. My basement is about 64°F, so I pushed 23psi for three days before pulling anything from the keg. I poured my first mug after venting the keg and resetting the gas to 10 psi. The pour seemed a little frothy, but nothing too extraordinary. I returned the keg to 23psi and let it sit for another day. Then, I reset again and poured a couple growlers. This time, it seemed really foamy and I had to drop serving pressure to 5psi (so slow) to get a decent fill on the growlers. Now, I am not a huge fan of 64° beer, so I refrigerated the growlers. I expected there might be some change in carbonation level, but I couldn’t quite nail down what my expectation was. After a couple hours of refrigeration, I poured a beer from the growler and was surprised by how flat it was. Predictable?
Anyways, I have read a couple things on here about foamy/flat conditions as they relate to temperature and serving tube length. I already have a 5’ serving tube (standard issue kit from NB) and cannot affect the temperature right now.
Am I screwed until I buy something to chill the keg during carbonation? Or are there work-arounds? Am I just jumping the gun and need to wait for a few more days before drawing any conclusions?
Thanks all![/quote]
Fairly predictable.
First, 5’ is too short. I buy my line from the Home Depot for $5 for 20 feet. Next, bottling from the keg has to be done slowly. You don’t want a trickle but you don’t want it gushing out. Find a happy pressure where the beer in the growler doesn’t foam and pour down the side. Last, the carbonation in the beer is going to fill the head space in whatever container you’re using which means less CO2 in the beer. Leave as little head space as you can so the CO2 has to stay in the beer.
Do you have a garage? The temps in MI should be coming down. You beer should be safe into the mid 20*.
23psi @64* is on the lower end of the carbonation chart. Still acceptable for most ales. But you need more than 3 days for the CO2 to get into solution. You can rock the keg to speed the process up.
Put the keg outside to help cool it down. The beer will dispense better if it’s cold.
Before I got my get fridge, I would keep a tapped keg in the garage. Worked well in all but the most extreme cold weather, kept the beer reasonably cold between november and end of april.
