Further corny advice...

[Randalicous]

Hello.

I'm in the process of carbing my keg with an IPA. I thought I understood the process but need clarification.

It's very warm at the moment and I dont have a spare fridge. At present it's 22c indoors and was 10c outside last night. I left my keg and gas outdoors last night to cool it down.

When carbing with co2 I have set the psi to about 20. My question is how long do I initially leave the gas pumping into the keg. Or is it a case of once 20psi is in the keg, to remove the gas and wait for a week.

My thinking is it should be left connected as the gas absorbs further gas is pumped in to maintain the pressure, or is that wrong. :wha:

Thanks

Steve.

 

[crofty83]

When carbing with co2 I have set the psi to about 20. My question is how long do I initially leave the gas pumping into the keg. Or is it a case of once 20psi is in the keg, to remove the gas and wait for a week.

My thinking is it should be left connected as the gas absorbs further gas is pumped in to maintain the pressure, or is that wrong. :wha:

Spot on. One the keg reaches 20psi the reg will stop feeding it CO2. As more CO2 gets absorbed into the beer and the pressure drops the keg will add more CO2 to keep a constant 20psi for you :

 

[Randalicous]

Cool.

So is there a maximum time I should be leaving it connected...or is it ok to just leave it permenantley hooked up to the cylinder. If I were to get a fridge and just wanted to chill the keg down without the gas bottle connected, will it keep the gas that's already in it or will it start to dissipate?

Thanks

Steve.

 

[Kev888]

If* you are using a pressure and temperature ballance needed for the amount of carbonation you would like, then yes you can leave it connected for as long as you like - it will reach equilibrium when the beer absorbes no more gas at that given pressure/temperature.

But if the temperature fluctuates a lot then it may be better to disconnect the gas after (say) a week, as it would be mostly done by then and a cool period could cause it to become over-carbonated. Disconnecting also saves you loosing lots of gas should there be a leak.

*I say 'If', because for speed you can choose to apply a higher pressure that would overcarbonate the beer if left to run its course, but remove it before the beer gets too carbonated. I personally find that approach quite hard to judge though

Cheers
Kev

 

[Randalicous]

Thanks all.

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