Brand spanking new to kegging

[DannyW]

$6 refills on CO2 is a crazy good deal. Make sure you put plenty of line between the keg and the faucet at first. You can always cut it back if it flows too slowly. 8' is a good place to start, and you'll proabably end up back around 6'.

[Brew Engineer]

Ok, I've got another newbie kegger question...

I kegged my first beer tonight. I tried to rapidly carb (as I read in one of these links) by setting the gas to 30psi (room temp) and rocking keg on its side for 5 min. Then I bled off excess gas, set gas to 20 psi, and repeated for about 5 minutes. Then I bled off excess, set the gas to 11 psi, and put it in the fridge.

About 20 min later I check it and the regulator is reading 20 psi.

I shut off gas, bled it off, turn on gas, and it read 11 psi. 20 min later, its back to 20 psi!
I shut off the gas, bleed off, and turn down the regulator. I turn on the gas again, turn up to 11 and leave.

20 minutes later, its back up to 14 again. Now (about 20 min later again) its stil at 14.

Why???

Also, I've got about 7 feet of 1/4" ID tubing on my cobra tap, and get nothing but foam. Is this related?

should I wait longer for things to settle down? Did I do anything wrong?

The beer tastes good though!

[TampaBrew]

yeah, after you "quick carb" it, you should wait at least an hour. probably more. its basically a huge shaken up beer at this point. let it settle out.

Celebrate that Ranger win with some other beer and in about hour or so, try again

[Mylo]

You probably overcarbed. At whatever serving temp you are at - there is only so much gas that will go in. It is equalizing itself, and degassing the excess. Keep venting it every so often. After a day or so, turn in up to the pressure dictated by the temp and the desired volumes. Then leave it for a few days. Everything will stabilize eventually.


Mylo

[Brew Engineer]

Thanks guys! One more question: will the CO2 regulator read different in the fridge vs. room temp?

[Crut]

Thanks guys! One more question: will the CO2 regulator read different in the fridge vs. room temp?

It (ammount CO2 left) will read lower inside the fridge or when in a colder space than at room temp. Thats why i moved mine outside. oh and so i could fit more inside
-Crut

[BrewTa2]

I didn't read the link, so I'm guessing there was something there about bleeding off pressure with idea of having fully carbed beer in an hour or so?

A I understand carbing, according to Boyle (punny) and Henry, at room temp you're forcing CO2 into the beer at 30psi which equals 2.5 volumes at 75f. As the beer cools to a serving temp of say 35f that same 2.5 volumes will be in solution at 10psi.

Bleeding the CO2 off takes the CO2 out of the head space and allows to CO2 that you just forced into the beer to come out of solution into the head space and causing the pressure to rise. Keep doing that faster than the beer cools and you're defeating your purpose. The reason it's foamy is because the beer is not cold enough to keep the CO2 in solution at atmospheric pressure.

What I do is what you started to do. 30psi, room temp, (co2 goes in through the out tube), rock it, roll it for 5 min, come back in 5-10 min and rock&roll until I can hear that not much more CO2 is going into solution. Put it in the kegerator and once the beer is at serving temp it's perfect. At this point plug in the CO2 and serve.

[Brew Engineer]

Ahhh!!! I see! Thanks guys. Tonight I'll check it again, and it will be cold and delicious!!! I should be able to get a few bottled in time for Long Shot...

Which show had Tasty's method for bottling? If I remember, he just put a small length of tube on the cobra tap, to fill to the bottom of the bottle, turned his pressure down low (to like 3 psi or so) and filled. Am I remembering this correctly?

Tasty?