Carbonation stones... Worth it?

Hello all,

Considering getting a couple corny lids with carb stones on them for kegs.
Just wanted to hear a few experiences from people using them as I'm still on the fence, but swaying towards getting one.
Are they worth it?
Can they also be used with mixed gas?

Cheers

What would you be looking to achieve by using a carb stone? Is it just for speed of carbonation?

tondy79 said:

What would you be looking to achieve by using a carb stone? Is it just for speed of carbonation?

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Pretty much aye, my setup allows for 23L batches to ferment at a time and want to be making them more frequently so after examining my process I considered that an easy one would be ways to speed up carbing, and make it reliable. I've seen people get reliable results quickly from them so considering it for my own use.
Will be looking to try bottling from keg soon so if I could speed up the carbing process for that it'd be handy. Also would allow quicker access to my brews and then free up my temp chamber a bit quicker.

Asking about mixed gas as if I make a stout I've seen some periods of having to wait weeks for them to reach equilibrium so was wondering if this would help that as I enjoy a stout on nitro but the idea of it taking up my temp chamber for that length of time for such a small yield is somewhat off putting.
curiosity is getting me about the carbing stones place in my process.

I have one (for other things)
They will work better with CO² not sure if they will work with mixed gas.

Awesome thank you, Mash.
Will definitely help on the normal CO2 front
I'll do a bit more digging about their applicability with mixed gas

I have one of these yokes, which is what I think you mean?



They definitely work with mixed gas and are much quicker than top pressure.

How much quicker?

By bumping things up to 30-40psi I normally have my beer carbonated in 2-3 days.

YeastFace said:

I have one of these yokes, which is what I think you mean?

View attachment 108270

They definitely work with mixed gas and are much quicker than top pressure.

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This is exactly what I mean, that's brilliant to know about the mixed gas!

Thanks YeastFace!

JockyBrewer said:

How much quicker?

By bumping things up to 30-40psi I normally have my beer carbonated in 2-3 days.

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For mixed gas, top pressure could be 3+ weeks until it's pouring as I want. With the carb lid (thanks again!) 10 days to 2 weeks.

For corny kegs the fast carb method works well in my experience if you're in a rush. I have tried one of these lids...works but not as fast as the fast carb method, which, with a corny, you can fully carbonate in about 10 minutes, with a bit of effort.

So worth the investment, well not sure...if you're in a rush then the fast carb method is faster, if you're not in a rush it only takes a few days to carbonate normally if you bump up the pressure for the first 36 hrs before dropping to the correct pressure as mentioned above.

In anycase I think I've been using carb stones incorrectly, not that I use them alot. I assumed you applied the pressure to the closed system and as the beer absorbs the co2, the co2 input through the carbstone is done so in the form of tiny bubbles - or ramp upto your set carb pressure in a few steps. I think this is correct in principle, but not sure how much quicker it is compared to normal headspace.

However recently saw from a commercial brewery they do it differently. They use a spunding valve set to the correct carbonation pressure, calculate the weight of CO2 needed to carbonate the beer, place the co2 cylinder on scales, then apply sufficient regulator pressure to get the spunding valve going, then spund through the carb stone until the weight of the CO2 cylinder indicates sufficient co2 has gone into the beer, then you're done. I guess this method is the quickest if your vessel is too large to use the fast carb method.

I don't use mine anymore so you can have it if you want, I'm happy to post it to you...I just need to find it.

hoppyscotty said:

For corny kegs the fast carb method works well in my experience if you're in a rush. I have tried one of these lids...works but not as fast as the fast carb method, which, with a corny, you can fully carbonate in about 10 minutes, with a bit of effort.

So worth the investment, well not sure...if you're in a rush then the fast carb method is faster, if you're not in a rush it only takes a few days to carbonate normally if you bump up the pressure for the first 36 hrs before dropping to the correct pressure as mentioned above.

In anycase I think I've been using carb stones incorrectly, not that I use them alot. I assumed you applied the pressure to the closed system and as the beer absorbs the co2, the co2 input through the carbstone is done so in the form of tiny bubbles - or ramp upto your set carb pressure in a few steps. I think this is correct in principle, but not sure how much quicker it is compared to normal headspace.

However recently saw from a commercial brewery they do it differently. They use a spunding valve set to the correct carbonation pressure, calculate the weight of CO2 needed to carbonate the beer, place the co2 cylinder on scales, then apply sufficient regulator pressure to get the spunding valve going, then spund through the carb stone until the weight of the CO2 cylinder indicates sufficient co2 has gone into the beer, then you're done. I guess this method is the quickest if your vessel is too large to use the fast carb method.

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I've tried both the quick carb method and the higher psi for a short period on a few occasions and every time I've messed it up
after doing one time, having to spend a while burping the beer only to burp just a smidge too long and end up covered in beer through my PRV was the final straw for me
Since my temp chamber is for both fermenting and conditioning/carbing if I could shorten any of the stages to free it up a bit quicker would be great. And as I'm looking to have a go at bottling from keg, speeding up the carbing process and not overcarbing before I bottle would be ideal yenno.

hoppyscotty said:

I don't use mine anymore so you can have it if you want, I'm happy to post it to you...I just need to find it.

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That'd be awesome! I'd be happy to send you a lil sum for the effort and pay for the postage

aero-spaced-out said:

That'd be awesome! I'd be happy to send you a lil sum for the effort and pay for the postage

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No worries, wont be too much to post. I've got to find it yet, I cant quite recall where it is, but I've not thrown it out so is kicking around somewhere! I'll have a look around the garage tonight and let you know.