I am a novice at kegging. I don't have room for a kegerator or chest freezer so I simply keg at basement temperature. My basement is currently 69 F and I've had 5 gallons of tripel on pressure for 3 weeks now at 25 psi. The beer is still very lightly carbonated. Is this normal? I was figuring it would take 10 days at 25 psi and 69 degrees F to properly carbonate. Could there be a problem with my keg? It seems to hold pressure just fine...
1 Answer
At 69F with 25PSI a weal carbonation sounds about right. You are probably at the very low end of 2 volumes of CO2, if not below it. And a tripel will require closer to 3 volumes to really be right. At those temps is never going to properly carbonate. The beer can only absorb so much CO2 at 69F. You'll need to chill it down or ramp up the CO2 PSI another 5-8lbs.
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Thanks, I will give that a shot. I was using the PSI recommendations at tastybrew.com/calculators/carbonation.html that actually recommended 22.7 psi. Will try ramping it up to 32 psi for 5-7 days and report back. Time to make room for a chest fridge!– JMerrittNov 8, 2010 at 21:31
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Brewchez is right--you gotta get it nice and cold first. Besides, if you're going to be kegging, aren't you going to want a kegerator? I recommend checking to see if there is a freecycle community in your area (www.freecycle.org). I got my fridge for free, holds two corny kegs nicely with extra room for the CO2 tank.– markskarNov 9, 2010 at 18:05