Low carb beer :(

[Sooperhonk]

Force carbed my ESB 18 hours ago and let it sit at 37F. It has slight bubbles but goes flat quick and is not enjoyable when flowing through keg at 8 PSI. Should I force carb at 30 PSI again? Or just crank PSI to 11 and let sit for a few hours and try again? Any suggestions? Thx much!

 

[TheCorporation]

18 hours isn't very long, are you trying to drink it right now? If so then do this: crank the psi to 30 then shake the ever loving **** out of that keg. Shake it for like 5 minutes and prepare to be amazed. I've forced carbed beer in less than 24 hrs with this method though its not ideal. Its good if your in a rush but otherwise time is your best friend.

 

[HeavyHefe]

Oh my god. Why did you buy a kegging system and not read about kegging beer beforehand? When you keg there are pretty much three options:

1) put the beer in the keg. pressurize the keg and then quickly carbonate it by shaking it. Co2 will not enter the beer unless it is already cold. But if it is cold then you can have carbonated beer in 14 minutes. Crank it to 30 psi and shake it for 10 minutes. Afterwards you'l have sime-carbonated beer.

2) Set it at 30psi for 3-4 days then crank it down to 10-15 psi after that (+/- purge), you'll have good stuff. you may over or under shoot by a bit

3) just put it on 12 psi and fogettaboutit, fuggit; this method produces the best beer actually

 

[JeepDiver]

Oh my god. Why did you buy a kegging system and not read about kegging beer beforehand? When you keg there are pretty much three options:

1) put the beer in the keg. pressurize the keg and then quickly carbonate it by shaking it. Co2 will not enter the beer unless it is already cold. But if it is cold then you can have carbonated beer in 14 minutes. Crank it to 30 psi and shake it for 10 minutes. Afterwards you'l have sime-carbonated beer.

2) Set it at 30psi for 3-4 days then crank it down to 10-15 psi after that (+/- purge)? you'll have good stuff. you may over or under shoot by a bit

3) just put it on 12 psi and fogettaboutit, fuggit; this method produces the best beer actually

OMG, how can you ridcule someone when you dont realize you can naturally carb a keg?

 

[Sooperhonk]

I followed the 30 PSI force carb method exactly as everyone is posting and let it sit 18 or so hours. Keg was already chilled. I've used this method before and had no issues. This time it is barely carbed and flat tasting. Maybe my serving PSI was too low (7 or 8). I've put it near 11 and am waiting awhile to see if it improves. Only using this quick method because on vacay and have to bail soon so want to enjoy this keg this weekend. Appreciate the input! Cheers

 

[DrunkleJon]

Just make sure it is cold while on pressure. Set and forget or natural carbing will make the best tasting beer, shake methods and fast forcing will work, but often over/undercarb (usually over though) and can cause a bit of a carbolic acid bite.

If it is undercarbed and you need it done quick, chill the heck out of it, up the pressure and shake the sh!@ out of it.Then you may as well put to normal serving pressure (10-12 psi) instead of dropping it so low.

 

[tootal]

Go on line and search for "Volumes of CO2 chart". If you know the temperature of the beer and how many Volumes of CO2 you want then the chart will tell you how much pressure to use. I would use 2 to 2.5 for your beer.

I like to hook my CO2 tank up to the "Outlet" side of the keg so the CO2 bubbles up through the beer. I then set it for 20 psi and shake for a minute. Now lower the pressure to whatever your chart says you need. Keep shaking untill you don't hear anymore bubbles coming up. You're done! You can pour yourself a perfect beer right now. Five minutes to a perfect head every time!

Leave the pressure at that amount. If you get too much foam then you need to run either smaller beer line or make it longer. There is also info on line that will tell you the pressure drop per foot of different diameters of line. In other words your beer needs say 12 psi to maintain 2.5 Volumes of CO2 at 37 degrees. (This is just a guess, I don't have my chart with me.) Keep the keg at 12 psi and figure the correct beer line to give you a pressure drop to 8psi, if that's what you want.

Sometimes a kegerator just needs tuned!

 

[Sooperhonk]

Update to this. I cranked up to 30 one more time and shook for 2 minutes, then let sit for another 36 hours at 38F. Served at 5 PSI or so and it was fine. Frothy but not overly foamy. Mid size bubbles. Good flavor profile coming through as it gets a little warmer. I do get the carbolic acidity kick slightly (tingles on the tongue) but it fades fast. Next time when I have more time I'll use the chart and let it rest. Thx for all the advice. As for reading up on kegging before I bought the system, Heavy, I prefer to learn by life experience (mine and others') and wing it. It seems to be workin out just fine. But thanks nonetheless and cheers!

 

[Sooperhonk]

One final note to this. Just drank the last bottle which sat in the coldest part of my fridge for about a month. It seems to have cleared up nicely with zero seds, tastes more appropriately carbed, and now has a rich chocolate biscuity malt profile. I wasn't a fan at first but this turned out to be a Damn fine ESB in the end. Time heals all I guess.

Thx to the HB talk contributors for the help in making this enjoyable.

Yoopers house ale and a late season Oktoberfest ready to tap next in a couple short weeks. Stoked.