Trouble Force Carbonating Wine -- Please Help!

[loch]

Hello,

After extensive searching and tinkering I'm still having problems force carbonating wine so am hoping someone here might be able to help me.

I have a Cornelius keg filled with ~4L of cheap white wine connected to a CO2 tank. It's been sitting in a cold fridge at 55 PSI for a month now. My first issue is I can't figure out how to dispense anything but foam. I've tried dispensing at pressures ranging from 0-40PSI, from both a 1' and a 30' (3/16" ID) line. I try it into a clean, ice-cold glass but the second I open the little black faucet it shoots/trickles foam. There are some bubbles/air pockets in the line but I've gotten it to where the line looks mostly clear and still have this problem.

The second--perhaps greater--issue is when the foam settles I'm left with barely carbonated wine. From what I've read online what I'm attempting should be possible. Do I need a counter pressure bottle filler or another type of spout? A different line length/pressure combination? Has the wine still not accepted the CO2? Is it possible that due to the chemical properties of certain whites some simply will not hold bubbles? Any other ideas?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
loch

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi Loch... I guess I don't really understand your question. Beer holds a head because of the protein chains that trap the CO2 (much like rising dough when you bake bread)... but fruit wines - red or white or rose have no proteins, - they are not made from grain - so when the pressure is released the CO2 will immediately (or very rapidly) be expelled from the body of the wine and without any net of proteins will leave the glass (even glasses shaped to delay their escape). But you may know that and be talking about how long a tube needs to be to prevent foam. But as I only bottle prime my beers I cannot help with a kegging question..

 

[physics911]

55 PSI for a month sounds like your issue. I'm not looking at a carb chart, but that has to be way off the scale. You are, it seems, trying to make sparkling wine as such. For beer, your long-term equilibrium carb is generally around 12 psi, and I've made sparkling water at the same pressure. At 55 psi, I can definitely see you getting a glass full of foam. I recommend de-carbonating it and setting your pressure to around 10-12 psi. There are threads here advising how to de-carb.