Force Carb Newbie?

I am getting lost with all the different opinions posted all over the web. I just dont want to over carb or ruin my beer haha..

Last night I racked my first batch ever, a Hefeweizen, into my corny keg, its the first batch of beer I ever made Due to the sediment at the bottom, poor boil off calculations on a full boil and incorrect fluid level markings on my bucket I ended up with a little over 4 gallons in the keg.

My keg system came with directions that said rack into keg, set pressure at 30psi and refrigerated. In 24 hours its done. So right now my gas line is hooked up to the "IN" (seen some people reverse and hook up to the out) and its sitting in my kegerator which is set to the mid/high 30s. Its been there for about 20 hours now..

Really thats all there is to it? I have to be missing something? I was reading other people how to's online and they were MUCH more detailed and lengthy that that....

Or it is that simple, and I am going to be drinking my first home brew tonight??

Yes, you are missing something...
After it's force carb'd, you'll turn down the pressure to the Co2 volume pressure as calculated in this table: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php.
For example, if you want 2.4 volumes (different styles are served at different volumes), and you are going to serve at 36F you would set the pressure at about 9 psi.
Then the next thing is serving. The rate of flow is adjusted by longer or shorter lines. If you're using a picnic tap, it doesn't really translate. Those use shorter lines, but assuming you're pouring from a standard beer faucet, I would start with 10' of 3/16" line. If it pours too slow, shorten the line.
The problem with force carbing at higher pressures is that if you go over, you'll pour foam and not know if it's the lines or what.
The safe way to do it is set and forget. This is setting the pressure to the volume level, and allowing to carb slowly (about 10 days) to the set pressure.
Personally I force carb, but I know my system.

acidrain said:

Yes, you are missing something...
After it's force carb'd, you'll turn down the pressure to the Co2 volume pressure as calculated in this table: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php.
For example, if you want 2.4 volumes (different styles are served at different volumes), and you are going to serve at 36F you would set the pressure at about 9 psi.
Then the next thing is serving. The rate of flow is adjusted by longer or shorter lines. If you're using a picnic tap, it doesn't really translate. Those use shorter lines, but assuming you're pouring from a standard beer faucet, I would start with 10' of 3/16" line. If it pours too slow, shorten the line.
The problem with force carbing at higher pressures is that if you go over, you'll pour foam and not know if it's the lines or what.
The safe way to do it is set and forget. This is setting the pressure to the volume level, and allowing to carb slowly (about 10 days) to the set pressure.
Personally I force carb, but I know my system.

Click to expand...

+1. There are multiple factors involved here. Temperature greatly influences how much pressure it takes to carb. Line length and temp play a big role in deciding what pressure to serve at.

Hopefully, you purged the air out of that keg already. With that much headspace, you want it to be full of CO2 to avoid oxidation.

Force carb at 30psi for 36 hours (24 hours if beer is already cold), purge keg until no more co2 comes out, set to desired co2 pressure using the chart posted above, enjoy in 3-5 days. That's it!

First, let me congratulate you on your first batch!

I can understand your confusion due to the plethora of opinions and techniques concerning carbonation. If you just racked to the keg, hooked up to CO2 at 30 psi, and chilled the keg, your beer will not be fully carbonated by now. But if you tap the keg and try to pull a pint, beer will probably come out really fast, and you'll probably get a glass of foam.

30 PSI is too high of a serving pressure for most homebrew setups. The ID of your beer line provides resistance. You must have a sufficient length of beer serving line to compensate for the amount of pressure in your keg. But don't worry! You haven't created any problems yet - there's nothing wrong with having 30 PSI on your keg for a day. It takes a while for the CO2 to dissolve in the beer and it shouldn't become overcarbonated in one day...but it probably would in a week. In order for a beer to become carbonated to a certain volume of CO2, the beer must be exposed to a certain pressure for a given amount of time.

Time - The simplest process with the least chance for error is to set your regulator to your serving pressure, hook up the gas line, and leave the keg in your kegerator for a couple or 3 weeks. There's nothing wrong with pulling a pint every now and then - it just won't be fully carbonated at first.

Pressure - Another method would be to set your pressure high, like 30 psi, and leave it for a couple of days, then back the pressure down to your serving pressure. Increasing the initial pressure will shorten the amount of time necessary for the beer to carbonate.

Exposure - You can use a carbonation stone, which creates tiny bubbles of CO2, effectively providing a greater area of exposure.

Exposure and pressure - You can use the crank and shake method, where you crank up the pressure to 30 psi, shake or roll the keg for a while, then bleed the pressure out of the headspace and back your regulator down to serving pressure. This will get your beer carbonated in the shortest amount of time, but you run the risk of overcarbonating your beer.

Personally, I hook up a keg at serving pressure and shake it for a couple of minutes - until I can hear that the gas flow through the regulator is slowing down significantly. Then I put the keg in the kegerator and leave it. If I think about it the next day, I'll shake the keg again, because it will readily absorb a good bit more CO2 once it cools down. Then I let it sit there a couple of weeks before I touch it. I do it this way for two main reasons - there is no risk of over-carbonation that I'm aware of. And most importantly - your beer will taste better after it's aged for a while in the kegerator. For example, my wife and I sampled my cream ale after 2 weeks in the keg. We both said it was 'pretty good' but we agreed to give it more time. The next time we tried it was after 1.5 months in the keg, and we gave each other the 'this is a really good beer' look. The keg was gone within 2 weeks, but without a doubt, the last pint was the best!

I digress. You said your temp is in the high 30's. I'll assume you're at 38 degrees, and you want to carbonate your Hefe to 3 volumes of CO2. (This might be a little low for this style, but I think it will be fine.) For your situation, I recommend that you give your keg a few shakes at 30 psi. Disconnect the gas line. Back your regulator down to about 16 PSI. [This assumes that you have sufficient length of beer line to provide a proper pressure drop...I think you need about 2 feet per PSI, or 8 feet in your case.] To get an accurate reading, you'll probably have to toggle the pressure relief valve on the regulator. Bleed the pressure out of the headspace of the keg and hook up your gas line. Sample your beer. Drink it when it seems carbonated and starts to taste good. (I would tell you to try to pace yourself - you'll be surprised at how good it tastes after a couple of months.....but it's your first batch. It won't last that long.)

Sorry for the long winded reply, but to answer the question in your post, no, it's not that simple, but yes, you will be drinking your first homebrew tonight!

Cheers!