How to fully carbonate a keg with no beer line at very low serving pressure?

Question

I use a tap attached directly to my corny keg (similar to this: https://barleyhaven.com/corny-keg-faucet-tap-ball-lock.html). That means I have my serving pressure at 10kpa.

My carbonation method is to cold crash to 2 degrees, keg and purge oxygen, then hook up CO2 at 200kpa (30psi) for 36-48 hours, then reduce to serving pressure and leave for a week or two.

I get a nice pour with a bit of head, but the mouthfeel just isn't right - not enough bubbles - and it seems to get weaker over time. If the serving pressure is any higher I just get foam.

How can I increase the level of carbonation without increasing serving pressure? Do I just get a long beer line so I can increase the standing pressure on the keg and maintain a higher level of carbonation? Or just leave it for longer at the low serving pressure and temperature?

Answer 1

You can't increase the carbonation without increasing the pressure or decreasing the temperature. Presumably the temperature is about right, so that leaves the pressure. It sounds like you need to check out some of the line balancing resources available. The basic steps for carbonating properly are:

• determine desired carbonation level
• Use maths or a carbonation chart to determine the pressure and temperature required to achieve the desired carbonation level
• Select appropriate beer line - you need to have line that has enough resistance to slow the beer flow to a manageable rate with the pressure set to carbonation level

edited for spelling