When to start serving pressure

[Taquina]

I apologize for this extremely basic question, but cannot find the answer anywhere. I am kegging for the first time and am following the carbonation chart. I have a pale ale that I am looking to put at 2.5 volumes CO2. At 45 degrees my calculator says around 15 psi. So this is where I am now, and understand I should wait about a week and then start checking it for desired carbonation. Once at desirable carbonation I should lower it to 10 psi for serving.

My question is if I should only turn on the CO2 when I'm serving, or should leave it on all the time. I'm afraid if I leave it on 10 psi for a week without drinking any it would over carbonate.

Thanks!

 

[BigMack]

It won't over carbonate, if anything it will lose a little bit of carbonation. I carbonated most of my beers to about 12 psi and serve at that pressure as well. Ideally you should be serving the beer at the pressure you want it carbonated at.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

If you keep it at 45 and under the same pressure it will never over carbonate. You can serve at that pressure too with a longer serving line. Something in the 15' 3/16" id variety.

Once co2 reaches equilibrium it will stop dissolving into the beer. You can leave the co2 on all the time. If you carbonate at 15 and serve at 10 wihout dropping the temperature it will lose carbonation over time.

 

[Morrey]

I am a rookie home kegger, but have been running a kegerator with commercial beer for many years. My observations are that when I set the pressure and temp when the beer is full and new, all is fine. As I drink the keg down and it gets closer to the bottom, it begins to over carb.

I also note the beer gets colder as the volume in the keg gets lower which accounts for a good bit of the over carb situation. In certain situations, when I see this happening, I'll reduce my CO2 slightly and bump my keg temp up a couple of degrees to keep it equalized.

 

[Taquina]

Thanks, this is very helpful!

Does it generally take about a week or so to reach equilibrium?

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Yes, give or take a day.