I'm following a guide to force carbing, and I need clarification please

[bhamade]

First, chill the keg to serving temperature (42 - 45 F). This lets the CO2 dissolve much easier. Then set your regulator to 25 - 30 PSI. Sit in a chair and lay the keg across your knees with the CO2 line still connected. Now , grasp both ends of the keg and shake vigorously while you slowly count to 100. As you are shaking, you will be able to hear CO2 flowing through the regulator. After you reach 100, stop shaking, disconnect the gas line, and set the keg into the refrigerator for several hours. This will give the beer time to settle. After a few hours, bleed the pressure down to serving pressure and draw a glass.

I am kegging in a Sanke torpedo. I go all the way through the shaking for 100 seconds part. Here is the problem. Sanke couplers do not have quick disconnects for the CO2 and my hose barb is very tightly connected. How important is it to disconnect the gas if I already shut it off? Also, what does he mean by bleeding the pressure down? Does he mean pulling the gas release valve on my coupler? Please help. This is important. I'd like a glass of beer today hopefully.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Shutting it off is fine. And by "bleeding pressure" he means pulling the gas release valve on the coupler.

Edit: "Shutting it off is fine" is ambiguous. By that I meant to say that shutting the gas off at the regulator is functionally equivalent to disconnecting the gas quick-disconnect (which you do not have). So shutting it off at the regulator accomplishes the goal the quoted text is shooting for.

 

[bhamade]

Shutting it off is fine. And by "bleeding pressure" he means pulling the gas release valve on the coupler.

Edit: "Shutting it off is fine" is ambiguous. By that I meant to say that shutting the gas off at the regulator is functionally equivalent to disconnecting the gas quick-disconnect (which you do not have). So shutting it off at the regulator accomplishes the goal the quoted text is shooting for.

Awesome. Once I go down there in a few hours, how do I know how much pressure it has? Do I bleed it then turn on the tank to service pressure and it tells me the reading?

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Awesome. Once I go down there in a few hours, how do I know how much pressure it has? Do I bleed it then turn on the tank to service pressure and it tells me the reading?

It's actually really tough to tell. If you set your tank to serving pressure after bleeding the keg, open the valve, and the needle stays at its reading, then you have equal to or less pressure in the keg than you're serving at. If you open the valve and you see the needle rise, then you have *more* pressure in the keg, and you're overcarbed. This is the danger of doing the "shake & bake" method of carbonating.

That said, I'd bleed it, set the tank to service pressure, and open the valve. If it's only *mostly* carbonated, then it'll still be carbonated enough to drink today.