9
The tank-side pressure is mostly measuring the temperature of the CO₂ tank, not the actual amount of CO₂ remaining. Above the triple-point of CO₂ at about 517 kPa ~ 75 psi, the pressure reading is dominated not by the amount of CO₂, but the temperature, which relates to the fraction of gas vs. liquid in that equilibrium. You'll notice your CO₂ tank will ...
5
Force carbonation is very common for homebrewers. I'd imagine any homebrewer with a kegging setup does force carbonation by default. I would guess, too, that it's much more often than not done without active filtering. Long primary, cold-crashing and careful racking will minimize the amount of yeast transfer for most styles and beers.
There is no signficant ...
5
Force carbonation occurs in the keg, not the bottles.
Carbonation wrt to the article, occurs in the keg using a CO2 tank. Once the beer is carbonated, it is transferred to the bottles via a counter pressure filler.
For this process you will need:
Keg
CO2 Tank
Regulator (CO2)
Lines and Connections (including a tee for gas line)
Counter Pressure Filler (I ...
5
I have tried this. My soda stream is still sticky because of it. It is not advised.
5
No personal experience, but I have heard that while this is not what the sodastream is for (instructions say to ONLY carbonate water), it can be done with success.
The method is as follows: get the beer/cider into the soda stream bottle. Get as cold as possible (like 32*F). Attach to Soda Stream. Use ONE 2-second pull of the lever (as opposed to ...
5
You definitely don't need a second tank. What you need is something like this.
If you have an existing dual-gauge regulator you can just remove the cylinder stem and use a nipple to couple a single-gauge regulator on there. Or if you have a single-gauge regulator you'd just remove the cap nut from where the second (high-pressure) gauge would be and do the ...
4
It depends entirely on what you mean by 'the nature' or 'quality of of the carbonation'.
If we're talking carbonation and only carbonation (literally the level of dissolved carbon dioxide in the finished product, usually expressed as volumes of CO2/volume of liquid, or as parts per million) there's no difference between reaching that by bottle-conditioning ...
4
You might just need more time. I usually let mine go for 7-10 days total before.
5 days seems a little short to me even with your 30PSI upfront charge.
4
I've seen a couple of pages now that list numbers on the milage of a 5 lb tank. From what I gather you can carbonate 5-7 5 gallon corny kegs with a 5 lb tank. You can serve 15-22 5 gallon kegs with a 5 lb tank.
Links on how many kegs you can force carbonate with a 5 lb tank:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/how-much-co2-force-carbonate-333455/
http://www....
4
It will indeed absorb some CO2. But a single blast of CO2 from the tank at 30PSI, then disconnected and left at room temperature is not enough CO2 to generate fully carbonated beer. Leaving it hooked up though it will carbonate, but only to a level dictated by the temperature. Room temperature beer will absorb less CO2 than if the beer was cold.
4
It could be undercarbed
Try the plug and forget method, set at serving psi 12 and let it sit for a week.
If in a rush, set to 12psi attached to the out port and tip the keg on its side slightly and swirl until it doesn't take c02 any more (you can hear the regulator and bubbles in the keg), then it's fully carbed in 30min or so (needs to be at serving temp ...
4
There's isn't any formula or table established for a timescale of force carbonating.
The unknown variables that vary too much to quantify are liquid density, container shape, liquid volume, cO2 delivery method and location.
The formulas for cO2 volumes based on pressure and temp are well documented, but lack the duration needed.
More pressure does reduce ...
3
Yes it is ok. But I really recommend filling the keg with statsan, then purge with c02, then add the beer into the out port of the keg, releasing the pressure by opening the safety valve.
If not there's a lot of oxygen in there to oxidize the beer.
Also do not shake to force carb with that much free space, you will foam the whole gallon.
3
My 5 pound CO2 tank has always sat at about just under 1000 PSI for the reading on the tank pressure until it gets to almost empty. That's at a room temp in the 70's.
When you had that 500 to 400 PSI drop, over how much time was that and also, did you do the shaking the keg method to quickly force carbonate during that time or did you just turn on gas at ...
3
If you have access to a CO2 tank and ball lock adapter, I'd suggest using that and The Carbonater. I've seen the kind of mess that can be created when using non-water liquids in a soda stream, it could potentially totally ruin the soda stream, aside from getting foamy sticky beer/grape juice/etc everywhere.
Definitely wait the recommended time so that the ...
3
The carbonation process shouldn't matter with respect to your altitude. Inside your keg is a closed system. So the same rules of temperature and pressure applied will get you the same volumes of CO2.
The rate at which the beer 'de-carbs' in the glass IS effected by your altitude however. So if you find that the beer is getting too flat to quickly, well ...
3
Will the ginger beer taste different if you don't ferment? Yes. but mostly because you will have a sweeter product because the yeast didn't consume the sugar you put into it. You may want to adjust your sugar levels down a bit, or you may not.
There could be some minor taste differences because of the lack of yeast by-products but with a 2.3% ABV ginger ...
2
Carbonation can have a dramatic effect on beer flavor. I suspect your beer is overcarbonated and that's the cause of the off flavor. You can reduce the carbonation by allowing the keg to warm up to room temperature and periodically venting the keg as the CO2 comes out of solution. As suggested by @Pepi, use this chart to determine what you should set your ...
2
It depends on the surface area exposed (and whether you are shaking the keg).
For the short corny's I've seen, the diameter is the same as a 20L, so the you have the same surface area for half as much beer when the keg is standing. So half the time should work if you're not shaking it.
To carbonate in 10 minutes I suspect you're holding the keg sideways ...
2
The regulator will give you a reading of the pressure inside the keg, but will not release the pressure the way a spunding valve would -- you'll have to do that manually.
2
Assuming the same beer properties, the surface tension should be equal between force carbonation and bottle carbonation. Assuming equal surface tension, the CO2 bubbles should be equivalent in size.
With equal temperature, pressure, time, and surface tension, the CO2 bubble size should be equivalent.
2
The release of CO2 can take certain volatile aroma compounds with it. Sometimes this is a good thing (it can strip sulfur notes out of beers) but can also take hop aroma compounds, less than ideal if it's dry-hopped or heavy on late-addition hops. In this case you might notice a slight loss of hop aroma.
Any foaming caused by degassing will also affect the ...
2
Franklin is right about how much carbonic acid is actually in the beer. The formation of carbonic acid is pretty much irrelevant. But...
The formation of carbonic acid isn't that slow, it's just hard to get CO2 into solution without some agitation. Soda fountains mix CO2 and water just before the soda comes out, and by the time it hits your cup it's all ...
2
You might just need to let it carbonate at 20 psi for a longer period of time. I had a DIPA that didn't hit optimal carbonation for about a week at 20 psi. With the initial agitation at 30 psi, you might even have less of a wait. Just be sure to pull a sample daily until you get it to where you want it to be to ensure you don't over carbonate.
2
Yes you can get a ball lock attachment for plastic bottles, then force carbonate as you would a keg. 12-15psi for a few days.
2
The oils in the lime zest would likely kill the head.
I am personally not very familiar with counter-pressure filling bottles. Personally I only carbonate naturally in the bottle. It might be something to consider on a future batch. It's well suited to hefeweizens where you want a tad of yeast haze in there anyway.
2
I can say likely the "best" option is to just wait for a new regulator to arrive (got a local brew club you can borrow one from?) and carbonate the beer the right way.
But, assuming you HAVE to have this beer NOW
The CO2 you have in there presently isn't going to cut it- even if you shake it. At best, you'll have pretty flat shaken up beer (which ...
1
My experience, probably less extensive than many of the respondents here, is that longer shaking and repeated shaking is needed. It's not just an issue of getting the CO2 to dissolve but rather the formation of carbonic acid needs to take place. That's not a rapid reaction. It's probably one that the presence of yeast might make more rapid, assuming that ...
1
Jsled covers it pretty much already. But I'd like to add that it's not uncommon to force-carbonate beer in standard PET bottles. A stainless steel "carbonation cap" is screwed onto the bottle. This allows the connection of the gas line directly to the bottle.
This is useful for carbonating small batches, or correcting the CO2 level of beers poured off a ...
1
Carbonation can be used in the same way as temperature is used to mask flavours. Just as the colder a beer is the less flavour is noticeable, the more carbonation the less mouth feel, texture, and flavour you will detect. To test this out, try a can of warm flat Coke. Very sweet, much smoother.
Franklin has already answered the degassing part. Also I'm not ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible