I could have sworn I asked this question before, but be damned if I can find it. So here goes. My next batch should be ready to keg this weekend. My plan is to put it in the keg and put it in the kegerator overnight to chill, then hook up the CO2 and carb at about 30 psi for a day or two so that it gets proper carbonation. Then drop it down to about 10 or so and give it a try. Thoughts? Good idea or do you all have something better that you use? I am going to start writing this stuff down so I don’t keep asking stupid questions. LOL.
What you are suggesting should work. But there is no reason to not start carbing while chilling and count that time against the 1-2 days of high pressure carbonation.
Plus, putting it on pressure while dropping temperature avoids any concerns about creating a destructive vacuum - those implosion photos (while very rare) are scary!
I use the set it and forget it method. Just hook up your CO2 and set it to serving pressure. I can usually start pouring within 6 or 7 days.
Every time I put it on high pressure and then backed it down a day or 2 later I ended up overcarbing it. Now I set and forget.
+1. Just let it set and it will clear, carb, and cold crash all at the same time. The beer I kegged yesterday will be under serving pressure for ~ a month +/- when I need it. When I do get around to tapping it it will be clean and carbonated.
I do a 3 day sequence at ~33 degrees that works pretty well – Roughly 1 day at 30 psi, 1 day at 20 psi, 1 day at 12 psi. I used to do 2 days at 30 psi, but that overcarbonated the beer. Sometimes I’ll just do “set and forget,” but my keg schedule is tight enough and I often have multiple kegs I want to carbonate at once (I tend to keg in “bursts”), that I want to keep things moving through more quickly.
Thanks guys. This time I am just going to set it at 11 or so and let it do it’s thing. I will check it in a few days and see how things go.
I do this all the time and it works just fine. I started doing this when we ran out of IPA and my wife would wine why the new batch is not ready to drink right away. The one drawback is that the head on the beer when pouring will be a bit lower for a few days, but that will fix itself at serving pressure. I get appropriate carbonation in the beer in about 2 days at 30 PSI and 35 degrees F. After two days, I turn off the CO2 and lete the keg sit in the 35 degree lagering freezer until I am ready to tap it. Remember to bleed off the pressure in the keg when putting it a serving pressure to you don’t accidentally force beer back through the gas line.
I did a cold crash on a beer recently. At lunch I racked my beer to a sterile, purged keg and instantly started co2 20psi. I was working on my office. Ever 30-45 min I would pop off the keg let it refill as I shook the keg. Did this until 6pm (about 5 hours) moved the keg to the keezer (beer stayed cold even sitting out in the keg). I purged the keg and hooked up to serving pressure and was drinking that beer for dinner.