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kegged beer

Anarchy

Apprentice
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
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Location
St.Louis / MO
I'm new to kegging my beer. I've put in a few batches. but it seams to almost always be flat. any help on this topic would be awesome. Thank you in advance !
 
When I bought the system from the store. I was told to run the co2 in , then roll the keg after back and forth on the ground. I'm not new to brewing just kegging. So I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
 
I usually just put the CO2 to the pressure I want and let it sit for a week connected to the tank, comes out good for me everytime so far.
 
Is that in the fridge ?  Or outside the fridge ? Also I was told I didn't have to age my beer either. Is this true ?
 
It carbonates faster when cold. Also, you could try carbonating at a higher pressure, say 20psi, to speed up the process. Shaking also speeds things up, but I've had beer get into my gas line when doing that, so be careful if you try it.  Just remember to cut the gas and bleed off the pressure before pouring a test glass if you try carbonating at higher pressure. Then when it reaches the desired carbonation level, drop the pressure and enjoy cold, carbonated homebrew.
 
A good starting point is the chart at http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php that shows temp vs. pressure.  Note that if you were to follow the chart to the letter (for example, if your beer was at 40F at 13psi, you would get 2.56 units of CO2) it will take 1 to 2 weeks to achieve the carbonation level you desire.

What I typically do is put my keg in the fridge overnight at 40-44F to drop the temp, apply 20psi to it for 2 days, and then drop it to the pressure indicated by the chart. I'm usually drinking it by the 3rd or 4th day.

Remember, if you under carbonate your beer you can always let it sit longer and/or bump up the pressure.  However, if you over carbonate it..it's a pain to try and reduce the carbonation once it is in the beer.
 
I do pretty much the same as drb1215 and it seems to work well.

Regarding conditioning, you are not trying to get natural carbonation from priming sugar so in that respect you don't need to wait. On the other hand the beer almost always tastes better after a couple of weeks, but it is really, really hard not to start pouring pints before that  ;D
 
I'm with DRB also.  If you're having troubles, maybe go a bit higher, 25-30, and for 3 days instead of 2.  Then purge, set at 14ish, and serve.  Ocasionally after a period of time the 14 becomes too high, so I'll bump it down to below 10.

I'm not personally a fan of the shake rattle and roll method.
 
I just set and forget it.  Something you can try is keg a couple of points high.  I know a couple of guys that use a spunding valve.  the beer is keg a few points high again but the valve has an adjustable pressure relief & a gauge
 
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