Force Carbonation Help

[jmiller]

Help. I am new to kegging. I am getting ready to rack my first kegged batch. It is an Einglish Brown Pub Ale. The beer will be at 40 degrees. From looking at the chart I need to place my regulator at 6PSI in order to get 2 volumes of CO2. Is this correct?

What do I need the regulator set at to serve?

Do I need to have the CO2 hooked up all week for it to carbonate or can I just dump a bunch of co2 into the keg, disconnect my co2 and hook it back up to serve later?

Thanks!

-Jim

[Blkandrust]

When serving something like an english pub ale you will want the proper carbonation level.The chart info sounds correct.I used to set my regulator at 10 psi and leave it for a week.I have heard of some cranking the psi to 30 for a few days.Now i use a carbonation stone and i love it.Carbed 5 gallons of lager last night in less than 20 minutes!!!

[Grog]

Please realize, I too am new to kegging, so I am by no means an expert...but for my first kegged beer, I just could not wait the week at serving pressure that was suggested. I was out of homebrew, you see, and had been for nearly a month, so I was desparate. Basically, I adjusted the CO2 regulator to serving pressure and rocked the keg until the CO2 tank stopped hissing. It took about a half an hour. No over-carbonation at all. I have a few beers lined up and ready now, but if I were ever in desparate straights again, I would use this method again.

-G-

[BluesHarp]

I've heard, I believe from someone on this board, that they can tell the difference between "artificially" carbed and naturally carbed beer...I don't know, I've never force carbonated.

I mix up my priming malt, fill my keg, and wait the two to three weeks.

I figure that, if nothing else, I'm giving the beer more time to condition and mature.

[crashbobo]

Not a bad idea BH. I have been force carbonating and I always end up feeling bad for all the beer I consumed before the beer was fully mature and at its best. Sometimes I just can't wait to start testing a new batch though :)

[BrewDog]

Crash-

THE best way to keep from drinking your beer too young is to keep the pipeline full at all times! Then, there's always another batch to replace the one you are drinking. At that point, your production capacity exceeds your drinking capacity, and you will never need to pop 'em too early!