carbing plan

[WhoZiT]

Hey everyone.

OK, so I'll be taking 3 kegs of brew to an event on the 22nd of this month. From here on, I will refer to them as Batch 1, Batch 2, and Batch 3.

First, let me give you some info on my setup so you don't have a WTF moment. I started kegging in 5 g sankes a while back. I live in Japan, and here they don't use your typical kegerator/keezer because the cost is VERY high. Instead, most establishments use a refrigerated jockey box system with 1-2 taps. BTW, this works well. I've been borrowing one of these jockey boxes from a local alcohol shop for a while and will have to return it this weekend.

I have two vessels I use for a fermentation chamber. The first and main one is a huge rice storage fridge (think small big-rig) that stays at about 19 deg Celsius (65 F?). I can have kegs sit with Co2 and all in this chamber. The second fridge is kept at about 9 C (48 F). I can store kegs in there, but not with the heads/co2 attached.

So basically I have no keezer/kegerator yet to chill the whole kegs, other than the areas mentioned above.

For the said party on the 22nd, I plan to sit the kegs on ice and push with a dual regulator.

Batch 1: IPA. Fermentation was complete, dry-hopped, and not green. I primed with half the usual amount for bottling, as per advice here.

Batch 2: IPA. Same recipe as above, minus priming sugar. Fermentation is complete, and dry-hopping now. It's time to keg it, and I want to force carb this batch.

Batch 3: Apfelwein. This is also complete and I will force-carb it.

So, Batch 2 will replace batch 1 if it gets kicked. IPA on one reg, Batch 3/Apfelwein on the other. Ideally, I would cold crash everything but can't, so my plan is to force carb at 20 c, store at 9 c for a couple days before the event, and crash-chill on ice at the event and maybe even for a day or so before.

Can anyone help me figure out a good plan for carbing all this stuff? I guess the part I can't figure out just yet is what happens to the 20c-conditioned beer when cold-crashed just before serving?

Thanks in advance.

 

[WhoZiT]

OK, this isn't the most ideal way to do things, but I think I got it figured out. There was just a lot of factors involved and I was unsure of myself. Thanks, though.

 

[erikpete18]

Sounds like you must have figured it out! Basically all you'd have to do is carb at a higher pressure, since warmer liquids won't take up as much CO2 as cold ones. There's a chart floating around that I'm betting you stumbled on that lists temp vs pressure requirements to get to a certain volume of CO2. Carb it at the pressure warm, then when it comes time to cool it down transfer the carbed keg to the cold room. The dissolved volumes should stay about the same. Once you get it hooked up you might want to pull the release valve before serving, in case the high pressure in the headspace hasn't dissipated, but then you should be good to go.

 

[WhoZiT]

Thanks. I think the purging part was what I was worried about. My tap heads don't have PRVs, but I built an attachment a while back which has a spunding valve. Actually I built three for future plans of pressurized fermentation. I just haven't moved on to pressurized ferment yet. Since I haven't purged head space much, I'm a little inexperienced. Can I just attach my spunding valve, set it, and then let the pressure go until the hissing stops?

I did a partial burst carb to get it started more quickly. I then set the reg to the desired psi for my temp. It's not overcarbed at this point.

Since I want this to go well, my concern is it being undercarbed. Would it be a bad idea to overcarb and then release pressure to the desired psi like 24 hours prior to the event?

 

[WhoZiT]

After watching this (found on a different thread), I think it'll be ok.

 

[WhoZiT]

Bled the kegs after chilling and they came out perfect!!! And I think my light pale ale may have even sparked some genuine interest among my Japanese colleagues. There's more than Asahi, Kirin, and Sapporo!!! Flavor!