Do you have to leave the keg connected to the tank to carbonate?

[NitrouStang96]

Can I hit my keg with CO2 at 12psi for 24hr and then disconnect it and let it sit and carbonate for a week?

 

[Fingers]

Nope. The beer will absorb the CO2 gradually. Just hitting it once won't give it the volume you need.

 

[Professor Frink]

You can pump it up really high and shake it to get it in solution - the fast carb method. But it doesn't work as well.

 

[SporkD2]

Do you think hitting daily with 12PSI would carb ok?

 

[FlyGuy]

Nope -- you would need to hit it with 20 - 30 lbs, then let the beer absorb it, then repeat. Doing this daily would take a week or two.

Just hook er' up at the right pressure and give it a week.

Are you worried you have a leak in your gas lines??

 

[sirsloop]

I hit the keg with like 60psi, purge the "air" out, shake it a little hooked to gas a 60psi (you'll hear the gas absorbing into the beer), then yank it and stuff it in my closet until i wanna drink it. The quick shake and high pressure hits the seals in the keg real good, and puts a little carbonation in there. After a few months I find its pretty well carbed from just that... or maybe some left over secondary fermentation from getting stirred up? Either way, its not 100% and still needs gas at serving pressure for a few days to be real good.

 

[NitrouStang96]

I want to carb two kegs while I have two other kegs hooked up. I don't want a couple weeks of down time.

Can I hit them with 50 psi and let that absorb for a week?

 

[FlyGuy]

I want to carb two kegs while I have two other kegs hooked up. I don't want a couple weeks of down time.

Can I hit them with 50 psi and let that absorb for a week?

It really depends on how much headspace there is in the keg. If the keg is half full, this might work. If you have a half gallon of headspace, 50 psi of pressure doesn't amount to a whole lot of CO2.

Try hitting it with about 30 psi every 12 hours or so. It won't take that long.

Or use the quick force carb method mentioned above. Just be aware that it could affect the final aroma of your beer.

 

[david_42]

There is very little head space in a filled keg, maybe 10%. If you are shooting for 2-3 volumes of CO2 and only want to hit it once, you would have to use 300-500 psi. That exceeds the working pressure of a keg. Your best bet is the 30 psi & shake method. Rarely takes more than 30 minutes. Then let it sit & age.