What I have been doing lately is after my keg is carbed I take the pressure line off and serve it off the pressure in the keg. When it slows down I just give it a shot and take the line off. Anyone else do it this way? It seems to work fine. I started doing it because with only one reg when carbing up another keg I don’t want to over carb the one I’m pulling off
Usually we carb and serve at the same pressure which is a balanced system. 10-11 psi at around 38-42F will do the trick.
I have done this on occasion for various reasons, and it was not the end of the world.
But as MullerBrau points out, serving through a ballanced system is always best.
The problem with serving on the keg’s preasure is that your carbonnation will never be consistant. And just topping up the keg wtih CO2 will add to the inconsitancy. The gas needs time to dissolve and hydrate, so just adding to somewhat flat beer is not going to produce great results without letting the keg sit for a few days. Then as the head space in the keg grows, you also risk overcarbonnation.
All of this is manageable, but just not ideal.
I usually carb condition 12 to 15 lbs but that’s to much for serving. I’ll set it to 10 lbs and leave it if you guys think that will be enough. I usually give it two weeks to condition do you think I will have to go longer?
I also use a balanced system. My carb and serve pressure is the same. If you think about it, if you carb at 15 and serve at 10, eventually the keg will come to equilibrium and your carb pressure will be 10 anyway.
If you are determined to carb at 15 and serve at 10, you could try setting everything at 15 and putting a longer line from keg to tap. I don’t have the charts handy, but the longer the line the more pressure drop you will get at the tap.
Is there a reason why your carbing up at 15lbs and reducing it? Or is there a reason why you are charging and removing? I ask because if it doing it because there is a problem we can solve those issues.
Also, what temp are your carbing up at? Volumes of CO2 are based on temp of solution as well as lbs of CO2. The colder the solution, the more dissolved CO2 in the solution.
Edit because auto correct changes carbing to carving.
I have one keg carbing while I’m drinking another, that is the reason I disconnect the pressure line on the keg I’m drinking. I also disconnect the pressure line when filling bottles. As far as carbing up at 15 lbs I thought that seemed to work well so I continued to do it. The temp is 40deg about.
15lbs at 40° is 2.75 volumes. That’s on the higher end for most beers.
To serve and carb at the same time all you need is to put a simple “t” fitting and attach additional gas line. Pretty cheap fix.
while were on the subject, ok so i have a full size refridge with 4 perlick faucets installed im set up to brew 10 gal at a time a time. my plan is to brew 10 gal of beer which will use 2 corny kegs and brew. another beer for the other 2 kegs. when i install a 4 port manifold inside refridge im using a 5lb c02 with a regulator. so lets say one or another keg may kick so i shut off the co2 to that keg will all the other kegs be affected by pressure drop or would it be like swapping out one to replace another thanks
I do have a tee. I guess the problem is I’m carbing at to high of a pressure . I’ll just leave it set to ten and forget it. Makes it simple especially if there is no benefit carbing at 15
If you have a valve to each line with a check valve there will be no pressure drop. I would recommend them.
I carb and serve at 11 psi with 7.5’ lines, perfect pours. :cheers:
I’ll play around with it. I have two batches ready to keg shortly. One I will put in the refer at 10psi the other I’m going to prime with sugar outside the refer at 70deg. My pours are nice at 10 also so it’s just the carbonation side that I need to tune in
