Chipotle Porter with Cocao Nibs won't carb

[DiscoRick]

I force carbed at 30 PSI for 3 days, let it set and forget for a month at 12 PSI, it pours flat. I ramped up to 30 again for 3 days. It still poured flat.

This weekend I popped the lid off of the keg and it looks hazy on top. Turns out that was carbonation. I dipped a shot glass in the top and it was well carbed. So I assume the carbonation is only half way through the keg now a month plus in since the bottom where the dip tube is drawing from still pours flat. Does that sound right? Should this have carbed by now? Is it the fat from the cocao nibs or the chipotle pepper stopping carbonation from reaching the bottom? I've never had a beer take this long to carbonate in a keg before.

Thanks in advance for any input or advice.

-Rick

 

[Elric]

interested to hear what people say on this. Sounds like a very unique situation I have never heard of before. To be clear, are you saying the beer is flat as in has no mouth feel of carbonation, or just that it pours with no head? No head I could see from the fats in the cocoa nibs, but fully flat from the pour but “carbonated on top” sounds just fascinating to me.

 

[TheMadKing]

I force carbed at 30 PSI for 3 days, let it set and forget for a month at 12 PSI, it pours flat. I ramped up to 30 again for 3 days. It still poured flat.

This weekend I popped the lid off of the keg and it looks hazy on top. Turns out that was carbonation. I dipped a shot glass in the top and it was well carbed. So I assume the carbonation is only half way through the keg now a month plus in since the bottom where the dip tube is drawing from still pours flat. Does that sound right? Should this have carbed by now? Is it the fat from the cocao nibs or the chipotle pepper stopping carbonation from reaching the bottom? I've never had a beer take this long to carbonate in a keg before.

Thanks in advance for any input or advice.

-Rick

the few things that I can think of are:

You have so little headspace in your keg that it can't carbonate. You need a little headspace for effective carbonation. (Most likely)

You have a protein or fat barrier/membrane that has formed and is preventing the carbonated solution from homogenizing (seems far fetched)

Your keg lines are so long that you're removing the carbonation from solution while pouring but somehow not pouring pure foam (very unlikely)

Your kegerator is cold enough that your beer is freezing near the bottom but there is still enough liquid to pour (bordering on conspiracy theory)

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I do a 1.107 og stout that finishes at 1.025-1.028, and back when I was serving that stout on CO2, kegs of that big beer took twice as long to reach equilibrium as every other beer I brew (pales/wheats/ipas/neipas/porters/esbs/saisons/kolsches). The much slower diffusion rate has to have something to do with that high density.

Fortunately, when I switched to a stout faucet on 70/30 beer gas, I then only needed the stout to come up to ~ 1.2 volumes of CO2, and as it finishes fermentation at almost 0.8 volumes on its own, it doesn't take much time to bring it up to that 1.2 (though it almost has to be done at room temperature)...

Cheers!

 

[Dgallo]

How’s your co2 balllock? I’ve read a Reddit a long while back of something similar occurring. The two most common things were bad oring and it wasn’t holding pressure. If it was holding pressure. It was Bad ballock that never fed the keg

You should try the rocking method to see if it will carb;
1) purge headspace a few times.
2) Set to 30 psi and then turn it sideways,
3) rocking it for 4 mins and 30 second by doing quick half roles forward and. back.
4) hook it up to the tap and bleed out the excess pressure and take a quick pour.

You will find out quick if it’s a keg issue by a beer leak or the inability to carb

 

[DiscoRick]

interested to hear what people say on this. Sounds like a very unique situation I have never heard of before. To be clear, are you saying the beer is flat as in has no mouth feel of carbonation, or just that it pours with no head? No head I could see from the fats in the cocoa nibs, but fully flat from the pour but “carbonated on top” sounds just fascinating to me.

Yeah,

interested to hear what people say on this. Sounds like a very unique situation I have never heard of before. To be clear, are you saying the beer is flat as in has no mouth feel of carbonation, or just that it pours with no head? No head I could see from the fats in the cocoa nibs, but fully flat from the pour but “carbonated on top” sounds just fascinating to me.

Yeah, it pours with no head and the mouthfeel is flat. I've poured off at least 4 pints now, so I don't think it's the headspace. But the top is fully carved. I've made porters and stouts before and this has never happened.

 

[DiscoRick]

How’s your co2 balllock? I’ve read a Reddit a long while back of something similar occurring. The two most common things were bad oring and it wasn’t holding pressure. If it was holding pressure. It was Bad ballock that never fed the keg

You should try the rocking method to see if it will carb;
1) purge headspace a few times.
2) Set to 30 psi and then turn it sideways,
3) rocking it for 4 mins and 30 second by doing quick half roles forward and. back.
4) hook it up to the tap and bleed out the excess pressure and take a quick pour.

You will find out quick if it’s a keg issue by a beer leak or the inability to carb

This seems like the solution to me, the CO2 just doesnt seem to be getting to the bottom. I'm gonna try rocking it and see how that works. I think the ball lock is fine, I've never had a problem with it before. I mean I wouldnt have a good pressure release when purging if I didnt right?