Forced carbonation guide

[johnc86]

Forgive me for asking for it becasue I have looked in all the sections and done a search......


Is there a step by step guide to force carbonating a corny anywhere? I found a guide which showed various different ways of doing it. I am looking for the easiest way :) .
I want to avoid putting the gas in through the outlet unless this in the only way???

Id really appreciate some help. This is my regulator. It has 2 secondary outlets, one is only low pressure. Im worried that even if this is closed off some gas could escape :? . Imthinking it may be ok to use this outlet to gas my plastic keg when it runs gets low. I could just set the pressure and add a tap between the regulator and the line.

Other regulators Iv seen have a big screw knob to turn but this just has screws.....

Im not sure what to do with it!

 

[arthurbear]

Hi Johnc86

I find there are so many different versions on the net and have found only 1 that seems to work for me.

1: Burp your cornie by adding co2 as normal and pulling the pressure release valve.
2: Connect a black beer out to a pipe from your regulator,Turn your regulator screw to get approx 60 psi on the display,Push the black connector onto your beer out post and you will hear all the co2 shooting up through your beer into the cornie,
3:When you hear the co2 stop unplug the black connector lay the cornie on the floor and rock it back and forth for around 2 mins
4:Reconnect the black post and repeat step 3 ( I do this around three times for lager )
5:Leave the cornie somewhere cold to settle,Then pull the pressure release to remove excess pressure and then just connect as normal to you co2 at around 15psi.


this way seems to work for me most of the time even though the first few pints are still a little frothy.

Good Luck :thumb: :

 

[Bru4u]

Hi John, re your regulator, back off the two screws untill there is no resistance, the valves should then be shut, connect up to your bottle and slowly open the bottle outlet, if all is still good connect up a cornie to the lp side and start screwing in (clockwise) this should open the reg and show a pressure on the gauge, I just use a welding reg, CO2, Argon or Oxygen the bottle connections here are the same, I think it may differ where you are but I replaced the LP gauge for one that reads 0-1.5 bar (RS/Radionics).
If one of the outlets is HP, do not use JG fittings, it wont cope with the pressure, brass only, you can always get a blanking plug if your worried about leakage for that outlet, again RS.
for the force carbonating, as Arthur said :thumb: . How I do it is connect up as normal to grey gas in, set pressure on reg to 1.5 bar, hold cornie bey base and handle and shake the ***** out of it for about a min, disconnect and let rest for a few hrs, pour as normal, you will hear the gas going in while doing this, oh yeah, I forgot, chill the ***** out of the cornie first, the beer will absorb CO2 quicker if cold.
I hope that helps a bit, if not ask away :thumb: , Just be careful with any HP gas side of things.
Bru

 

[johnc86]

Hi John, re your regulator, back off the two screws untill there is no resistance, the valves should then be shut, connect up to your bottle and slowly open the bottle outlet, if all is still good connect up a cornie to the lp side and start screwing in (clockwise) this should open the reg and show a pressure on the gauge, I just use a welding reg, CO2, Argon or Oxygen the bottle connections here are the same, I think it may differ where you are but I replaced the LP gauge for one that reads 0-1.5 bar (RS/Radionics).
If one of the outlets is HP, do not use JG fittings, it wont cope with the pressure, brass only, you can always get a blanking plug if your worried about leakage for that outlet, again RS.
for the force carbonating, as Arthur said :thumb: . How I do it is connect up as normal to grey gas in, set pressure on reg to 1.5 bar, hold cornie bey base and handle and shake the ***** out of it for about a min, disconnect and let rest for a few hrs, pour as normal, you will hear the gas going in while doing this, oh yeah, I forgot, chill the ***** out of the cornie first, the beer will absorb CO2 quicker if cold.
I hope that helps a bit, if not ask away :thumb: , Just be careful with any HP gas side of things.
Bru

Christ! I'm glad you said that...... I thought the High pressure one was the correct one to use!
Cheers for both replies, Il let you know how I get on. Might be back with more stupid questions soon enough though :whistle: .

Cheers. :drink:

 

[johnc86]

I thought Id have a quick look at the regulator. The guage that sticks out to the side I presume is the primary. This reads 0 - 2000 psi and 0 -140 bar.

The one to the right of it (the blue one) displays 0 - 100 lb/in2 and 0 - 7 bar.

The third guage reads 0 - 11 bar and 0 - 160 psi.

I will assume I am correct in thinking the primary is the one that sticks out to the side, but there does not appear to be much difference in pressure between the other 2 secondaries. I was told one was low pressure but there is only 4 bar difference between there capacity's.

:HM:

 

[johnc86]

How I do it is connect up as normal to grey gas in, set pressure on reg to 1.5 bar, hold cornie bey base and handle and shake the ***** out of it for about a min, disconnect and let rest for a few hrs, pour as normal, you will hear the gas going in while doing this, oh yeah, I forgot, chill the ***** out of the cornie first, the beer will absorb CO2 quicker if cold.

Ok I did this earlier today (about half 11ish). Thanks to both posters it was all usefull info. I connected the gas and put it up to 15psi then shook it up for ages and then disconnected the gas.

I have just in the last half hour tried to pour a glass and got a glass full of foam. :hmm: The foam did eventually settle though and the beer it turned into was top notch :thumb: .

Should I just leave it as it is and see if it absorbs the gas and sorts itself out, or should I let the excess gas out and then hook it back up to the gas on amuch lower pressure just to propel it out?

Would like a couple of pints of it tonight if possible .

Cheers.

 

[Bru4u]

If there was enough carbonation drop the press a bit, the less you play the more it will settle, the next thing is to set up the beer line length to ballance the system, it's just a case of trying things out now and get to know your system, I'd treat the two outlets the same but replace the gauges for somthing more suited to the pressures we need for beer, you will get much more accurate results and more repeatable, you may only need 3-7 psi to dispence but it will be hard to get it right going by the gauges currently on, glad it's worked out, when you said one was HP, I was thinking it was for a link to another reg, thats why the caution. But both LP :thumb:
Bru

 

[arthurbear]

Now that you have force carbonated,you need to leave the cornie to stand ( Normally somewhere cold ) Outside is a good idea with the current weather ( as long as no one can nick it) CO2 will absord more quickly in Cold beer.Then Burp the Keg ( by pulling out the pressure release pin ) Until all gas escapes.Then repressure to serving pressure.There are many diffrent factors for the pressure but normal rule of thumb for me is to use at least 5ft of 3/8 pipe and use dispense pressure of 6 - 7 PSI.If you have 3/16 pipe it needs to be around 15 psi for 5 ft. : :thumb: