How do you carbonate?

The ins and outs of putting your beer into kegs.

How do you carbonate?

Postby pmclaren11 » Saturday Sep 19, 2009 9:56 am

Hello,

I know there are many posts on how to get your beer carbonated, but I was wondering how others keep it carbonated?

Initially I used to keep the gas on all of the time and due to a leak, my gas bottle ran out fairly quickly.

Since then I read on another site to only have the gas on when carbonating and turn it off unless you are pouring 6 or more beers (using the existing pressure in the keg to pour).

This is okay but I am finding my beer isn't consistently carbonated. I always top the keg up with gas once I am finished pouring for the night to keep the remaining beer carbonated but I still think it loses carbonation, then leading me to crank up the gas again for 24-48 hours.

Any one have any tips to keep my beer consistently carbonated from start to finsh? Or this just the way it goes?

Cheers,

Paul.
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Re: How do you carbonate?

Postby cliffo » Saturday Sep 19, 2009 2:22 pm

I'd be checking all your connections, sounds like you have a leak.

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Re: How do you carbonate?

Postby chadjaja » Sunday Sep 20, 2009 10:42 am

I have a new freezer I haven't put a collar on yet so I'm topping up the pressure on the kegs for pouring every now and then as the gas is on the outside and not able to be on the keg all the time. I have found I don't have any loss of carbonation. I'd say this is due to the beer and head space pressure is pretty much the same and the beer wont absorb any more. I'd check your seals and poppets if you are losing too much pressure even if you top the keg up after drinking.
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Re: How do you carbonate?

Postby pmclaren11 » Monday Sep 21, 2009 8:21 pm

I have checked all of my kegs for leaks and haven't found anything.

The actual pressure gauge of the keg doesn't go down indicating pressure is being leaked.

Perhaps I need to gas my beer more initially?

Cheers,

Paul.
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Re: How do you carbonate?

Postby Boonie » Monday Oct 12, 2009 8:36 pm

pmclaren11 wrote:I have checked all of my kegs for leaks and haven't found anything.

The actual pressure gauge of the keg doesn't go down indicating pressure is being leaked.

Perhaps I need to gas my beer more initially?

Cheers,

Paul.


Very late repy as I have not been on here for a while.

Replace all your seals, it's a small cost for no worries.

Mine leaked and the gas emptied once as well, or I was drinking waaay too much..... Replaced seals on suspect kegs, ie the ones in the fridge/freezer, no probs after that.

I leave mine on a pouring pressure and the beer is well carbonated right til the end....actually it becomes slightly more bubbly, and clear, towards the end of the brew.

My Freezer with a fridgemate on it developed ice when it was leaking.

Cheers

Boonie
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Re: How do you carbonate?

Postby Clean Brewer » Thursday Oct 15, 2009 10:36 pm

Boonie wrote:
pmclaren11 wrote:I have checked all of my kegs for leaks and haven't found anything.

The actual pressure gauge of the keg doesn't go down indicating pressure is being leaked.

Perhaps I need to gas my beer more initially?

Cheers,

Paul.


Very late repy as I have not been on here for a while.

Replace all your seals, it's a small cost for no worries.

Mine leaked and the gas emptied once as well, or I was drinking waaay too much..... Replaced seals on suspect kegs, ie the ones in the fridge/freezer, no probs after that.

I leave mine on a pouring pressure and the beer is well carbonated right til the end....actually it becomes slightly more bubbly, and clear, towards the end of the brew.

My Freezer with a fridgemate on it developed ice when it was leaking.

Cheers

Boonie


+1 for what Boonie said....

Make sure you check your Pressure Relief Valves and Poppets, they are a known source of leakage problems... The older ones dont seal as well as the new ones that are available, do some shopping around though as the prices vary shockingly between suppliers... :cry: And use keg lube....

CB
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