Author: Marshall Schott
Of all that contributes to the goodness of beer and other adult beverages, I view carbonation as being one of the most important. While guidelines list “required” amounts of carbonation based on style, I’m of the camp who prefers nearly all of my beers to have a decent sparkle, to me it’s what adds that refreshing touch. The beautiful thing about brewing our own beer is that we get to choose the carbonation level we so desire! Want a petillant Pilsner or sparkling Stout? Go for it!
What I’ll be discussing here are the various carbonation methods I’ve used not only for beer, but sparkling cider, mead, and non-alcoholic soda. The focus of this article is on the more practical side of carbonation, what I’ve done over the years to achieve what it is I’m looking for, as this is the stuff most people seem to ask me about. Naturally, as someone who kegs, force carbonation methods are those I know best and will be discussed a bit more in depth, though I’ll briefly go over bottle conditioning since that’s where I cut my teeth and it’s the method many rely on today.
| FORCE CARBONATION |
If there’s one thing I hate about brewing, it’s bottling beer, even more than cleaning up. I get that some people find it relaxing or whatever, but I don’t, I loathe it. Thankfully, I discovered kegging when I did, as without it I’d certainly not be able to brew near as often as I do. I got my first kegerator about 6 years ago and found there were two popular options for force carbonation– set it and forget it or crank and shake. As I progressed as a kegger, I began to view these options as extremes, the bookends inside of which lay other, perhaps even better, methods. Nowadays, I choose the carbonation approach that best fits my schedule, rather than relying on a single method for every beer. I’ll go over all of these here, but first, a few things I keep consistent between batches:
- Every beer I make is cold crashed for 12-24 hours then fined with gelatin and left to sit another 12-48 hours prior to packaging.
- I only transfer the clearest beer to kegs and tend to leave about a quart in the fermentor.
- I only carbonate cold beer.
Set It And Forget It
The easiest force carbonation method there is involves placing your filled keg in the keezer/kegerator, attaching the gas to the proper post, then leaving it alone until the beer reaches your desired level of fizz. I’ve done this multiple times and have found it typically takes 10-14 days at 12 psi to achieve stable and enjoyable carbonation, certainly better than the 2-3 weeks required for bottle conditioning, but still a tad too long for my impatient 
tush. Perhaps the best thing about this method is that it reduces the risk of overcarbonation to nearly impossible. Also, this is where those snazzy force carbonation charts come in most handy– so long as you know your beer temp (whatever your regulator is set to) and the pressure of the CO2 on to your keg, you can produce a very predictable level of carbonation using this method.
Crank And Shake
Presumably developed by eager beavers sick of waiting for their beer to carbonate, the crank and shake method allows brewers to carbonate beer in under an hour. For the first few months of my kegging career, this was my method of choice because ain’t nobody fittin’ to wait a full week for bubbly beer! My approach involved cranking the CO2 to 30 psi and gently rolling the keg on my lap for precisely 10 minutes. The trade-off to this quick and dirty method is the increased risk of overcarbonation, which I certainly have experienced. Nothing like being excited to try your latest concoction only to be let down by a glass full of foam. Also, there’s something about agitating the beer so much that made me anxious, which is what ultimately led me to the method I use most often today.
Burst Carbonating
About 4 years ago, a friend of mine posed the idea of carbonating beer samples pulled from the fermentor with a SodaStream, typically used to make sparkling water and fruit juices via a burst of high pressure CO2. This got me thinking about ways I might utilize a similar approach when carbonating kegs of beer. Without doing any research, the next beer I kegged was hit with 30 psi for 24 hours after 
which I reduced it to my preferred serving pressure of 12 psi. The beer was somewhere around 75% carbonated, definitely enough to drink and enjoy, but it took another 3-4 days to reach peak.
This was the method I used for about a year, until I upgraded my standard manifold to a 4-way secondary regulator, a device that allows for independent control of the CO2 going to each keg. With this, I was able to carbonate and serve beer from different kegs, and so began my experimentation with higher pressure carbonation. What I found certainly isn’t groundbreaking and totally based on my subjective carbonation preferences. There is some simple science involved, pressure to the keg is inversely correlated with carbonation time, but there’s no good way to predict CO2 volume accurately. I’ve documented the time it’s taken 5 gallon batches of my beer to reach what I consider to be adequate levels of carbonation at different pressure settings, your mileage may vary:
| CO2 Pressure | LOW/MODERATE | HIGH |
| <15 psi | Use carbonation chart | Use carbonation chart |
| 30 psi | 16 hours | 48 hours |
| 35 psi | 14 hours | 34 hours |
| 40 psi | 12 hours | 30 hours |
| 45 psi | 10 hours | 26 hours |
| 50 psi | 8 hours | 24 hours |
Ultimately, the goal of burst carbonating is to get to about the same spot on the carbonation chart quicker via more rapid dissolution of the gas into the beer. Also, since time to carbonate is partially a function of volume, smaller amounts of beer carbonate quicker, for example I’ve carbonated 2 gallons of 38°F beer at 50 psi in right about 5 hours. These days, the pressure I select is dependent on when I’ll be able to tend to the keg– if I package on a work night, I’ll set the gauge to 40 psi so that it’s ready when I’m home the next day, whereas for Saturday night kegging sessions I’ll take it up to 50 psi since I’ll be around Sunday morning to reduce the pressure.
| NATURAL CARBONATION |
Bottle conditioning is likely the most popular form of naturally carbonating beer where a fermentable sugar, usually dextrose (corn sugar), is dissolved into a solution that gets combined with the fermented beer in a bottling bucket before being transferred to bottles. The filled and sealed bottles are then placed in a relatively warm location for upwards of 3 weeks where the residual yeast in the beer consume the sugar, producing a small amount of alcohol and, more importantly, CO2 that gets dissolved into the beer. Voila, carbonation!
Besides the time it takes, the biggest bummer I can think of when it comes to carbonating naturally is when a beer comes out either too fizzy or not fizzy enough, which I’ve learned is usually the result of using improper amounts of priming sugar. Thankfully, sophisticated calculators are available that take into account various factors including beer style and type of sugar used, allowing brewers to dial in precisely the volume of CO2 they desire in their beer. Priming tabs/carbonation caps aren’t a bad option in a pinch, but I wouldn’t recommend relying on them for every beer.
For those who keg, natural carbonation is incredibly easy and works very well in my experience. While some sources recommend using the same amount of priming sugar you would when packaging in bottles, others suggest using 1/3 to 1/2 the amount of priming sugar when keg conditioning. I’ve done both a few times and there doesn’t seem to be all the much of a difference. At this point, my recommendation would be to use whatever the calculator suggests for bottle conditioning, which ought to ensure at least adequate carbonation, and in the event it gets too bubbly, you can always purge to fix. Either way, if you decide to try this method out, it’s important to ensure the lid is seated by hitting it with a burst of CO2 from your keg, I’ve found 3-5 psi works well.
| COMMON CARBONATION CONCERNS |
Will cold crashing leave enough yeast to naturally carbonate my beer?
Yes. A cold crashed beer will still carbonate. If you have the ability and you like packaging clearer beer, do it without worry, there’s still plenty of yeast in suspension to consume the priming sugar and produce CO2. If you’ve a beer that isn’t carbonating, it’s likely due to a poor seal or the temperature being a bit cool. Some people experience beers tend as taking a bit longer to carbonate as well.
Will fining with gelatin/Biofine/ClarityFerm leave enough yeast for natural carbonation?
Absolutely! Fining agents help to drop yeast out of suspension, but not nearly enough to make carbonating your beer an issue. In fact, some of the best bottle conditioned beer I’ve had was fined with gelatin prior to being packaged, and it was beautifully clear to boot!
Can I bottle condition a lager beer that spent a long time lagering?
Absolutely. If you’re concerned, which I’ve never been, you can always toss in some additional yeast while racking the beer from fermentor to bottling bucket, just try to make sure it’s well homogenized before packaging. I’ve heard of people having success with anywhere from half a pack of dry yeast to a full pack of liquid, but I’ve never done this, so do your research if choose to.
I used a priming sugar calculator and my beer is way too carbonated, what’s up?
Assuming you used the proper amount of priming sugar, the cause of “gushers” can likely be explained by one of two things. First, it’s possible you packaged your beer before it was done fermenting, meaning the yeast continued to ferment the residual sugars in addition to whatever else you added. The other cause, which I sadly think is responsible for the large majority of gushers, is contamination. The bottling process can leave the fermented beer more vulnerable to wild yeast and bacteria, many of which are capable of chowing down on sugars the brewers yeast left behind. A consequence of overcarbonated bottles is bottle bombs, which can lead to potentially tragic injuries, please exercise caution when opening or disposing of such bottles.
How can I fix overcarbonated beer?
Fixing overcarbonated beer in a keg is super easy, simple unhook the gas from the post and purge the keg of just enough pressure so that the lid does not become unseated– if you lube your o-rings regularly, it shouldn’t be a problem if you deplete the keg of all gas. Every 6-12 hours, steal a sample and purge the keg again if it’s still too carbonated. I’ve found it takes a few purges, 3-4 over the course of a couple days, to produce a noticeable decrease in carbonation. The nice thing about this method is your beer remains undisturbed, so there’s no impact on clarity, and untouched by oxygen. However, there are some who contend the constant purging may reduce the aromatic qualities of hop-forward styles. A quick and dirty method for those who don’t want to wait involved purging, giving the keg a bit of a shake to push our more CO2, purging again, then repeating this process until the carbonation is where you want it. Similar to the way the crank and shake method increases the risk of overcarbonation, this may lead to undercarbonated beer, plus it’ll require more time to settle afterwards.
For overcarbonated bottle conditioned, I’ve heard of some who’ve had success cracking the cap to relieve pressure a few days in a row, but that seems iffy to me, making the beer vulnerable to both oxidation and contaminants. If one is certain their overcarbonation is not due to a contaminant but some other component, I suppose this is might be worth a shot, I really can’t say since I’ve never done it and I’m inclined to dump anything that gushes.
My kegged beer has been on gas for awhile and it’s still flat, what’s the deal?
I’d bet cash money you’ve got a leak somewhere in your CO2 system. Having built multiple keezers for friends, I’ve learned there are a few main culprits when it comes to leaks, the most common of which is a real facepalmer– a loose connection between the primary CO2 regulator and tank. As tight as you might be able to get the nut with your hand, it’s likely not tight enough, thus I recommend using a crescent wrench or vise-grips to ensure a secure connection. It’s also important not to forget the washer that goes between the regulator and tank, I’ve used both nylon and fiber, they’re similarly effective.
I think that about covers all the methods I’ve used to carbonate beer. If I left anything out, please don’t hesitate to let me know. If you’ve have other unique carbonation methods, please share them in the comments section below!
Support Brülosophy In Style!
All designs are available in various colors and sizes on Amazon!
Follow Brülosophy on:
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM
If you enjoy this stuff and feel compelled to support Brulosophy.com, please check out the Support Us page for details on how you can very easily do so. Thanks!
68 thoughts on “Sparkle & Fizz: Carbonation Methods”
I typically keg my beer @2c or so. I then set my regulator to my desired carb level (12 psi or whatever) and shake for about 30 min and then set it aside until I’m ready to serve it. Minimizes risk of overcarbing and gets it done quickly. Win win in my books.
Hey, whatever works, right? I just don’t like the idea of shaking up my finished beer, even if it doesn’t do anything, it feels… I don’t know… abusive 🙂
This is what I do too. 25 minutes of gentle rocking at serving pressure. Doesn’t over carb. Is really fast. I don’t need an expensive manifold with multiple output pressures. Perfection.
Hi. Is it viable to bottle beer that has been carbonated in a keg rather than using sugar for carbonation?
It’s the only way I bottle these days.
Via a beer gun or “Biermuncher” style stopper and siphon tube?
Never! Haha. I use a slick and simple tool that allows me to bottle directly from the faucet (Perlick 400/500/600 series and Vent-Matic) without having to mess with the psi to the keg. I recently bought a bunch of parts in bulk with plans to sell them to interested readers, still working on the article though. If you’re interested, shoot me an email: marshall@beerconnoisseur.local
Yep, you could go the expensive route and actually buy a fancy bottle filler but a cheaper route is to take a picnic tap and shove a spring tip bottle filler in the tap nozzle, then purge the keg of CO2, and set your regulator as low as it can go (~1-2 psi, though I’ve seen some people advocate for closer to 4 psi) open the tap nozzle and start filling bottles. I’m sure there are other methods online, but this is what I’ve used and had good results.
I use the 40 psi for 24 hour method and it works BEAUTIFULLY.
I often keg on Thursdays (just how it works out) and I almost always have people over on Fridays and of course I’m excited to try and share new recipes. The beer is always perfectly carbonated after 24 hours at 40 psi and my beers have great head on the first pour (and every pour after).
I tried the shaking method on occasion and HATED it. It felt like I was risking dropping or hitting something with the keg and I never knew how much CO2 was actually going into the keg. It was just stressful and annoying.
I’m as impatient as the next person with my beer but I’ve never needed a beer so badly I couldn’t wait 1 day for it.
According to “The Yeast” not much yeast is needed for bottle conditioning. On tenth or one twentieth of the original yeast pitching quantity is enough. So there is no need to use a full package after a long lagering.
Indeed, no need, but the extra won’t hurt anything either… presumably. I’ve never added yeast to fermented beer, so I can’t speak from experience.
+1 for the burst carbonation method. I’m new to kegging, having only kegged 2 batches (in a 9 litre corny) but both were to my liking in regard to carbonation. I got the basics from a You Tube video. It was good to see that my guesswork on CO2 pressure and time correlated with your figures. I’m curently enjoying an American IPA burst carbonated at 30 psi for 30 hours at 3 degrees Celcius, then cranked down to 8 psi serving pressure.
I’m lazy and impatient so I hooked a gas connector to my 30PSI CO2 line, this gets hooked to the gas post (obviously) while the beer is at serving temp in the keezer. Usually I package hook it up and let it sit 8 hours then remove the gas the next morning before work, when I get home vent any head pressure and connect it to a serving line and its ready to go.
If its a weekend I let it sit 8 hours vent the head pressure hook it up and its ready to serve. The benefit to the gas being on the liquid connector is it has to travel through the whole height of the keg before hitting the surface at which point there is a good chance most of it has gotten absorbed.
To me this cuts down time by about 16 hours, the tradeoff is if you forget to disconnect it there is %100 percent chance it will be overcarbonated. So I have taken to setting a timer on my phone to remind me.
I also use this method to purge my freshly kegged beer so that I am forcing any oxygen up and out of the keg and not just swirling it around.
Loving the website keep up the good work.
Timers make shit easier, for sure.
Ryan,
A couple of cautions about connecting the gas to the liquid line. First, although you can force fit the gas connector to the liquid post (ball lock) you will probably damage it if you do and have a leaker I have 3 taps and a 4 valve manifold, so I use a liquid fitting on the 4th gas connector. The second thing is that you don’t absent mindedly reduce pressure on the regulator while it is hooked up, or else beer will backflow into your valve assembly and wreak havoc.
Your bust method only takes a few days to carbonate, but how does the beer taste at that point? I bottle condition and find that it takes about two weeks for all the flavors to blend nicely.
It tastes totally find. I’m not sure I understand what “flavors to blend” means, and since there’s no good way to compare the same exact beer days apart, I’m left to rely on perceptual memory– I can never tell a big difference.
I used to carb up to 40 psi and shake the beer a little before placing in the keezer for 24 hrs. I noticed with this method that my beers had a little bite to them that seemed to age out over a weeks time and were always a little over-carbonated, likely due to the shaking AND the 24 hrs.
After giving up on the shaking and just letting them sit at 40 psi for 24 hrs, the bite seemed to disappear, no idea why, but I don’t mind the tasty-er, better carbed beer!
When I taste an sample on bottling day, it usually doesn’t taste very good (but not in the sense that there are off flavors). Usually it tastes “grainy,” and some of the other flavors can be really in your face. After a few weeks, every thing mellows out. Of course some flavors are still stronger than others, but they stop competing with each other as much.
If you are a shaker, make sure you have check valves in your system! You all get one guess on how came by this tip…
I have since moved to the set and forget method for many beers but I highly recommend keg carbonation as well. I think everyone should try it at least once. I err on the side of under carbonated in this case by using 1/2 the amount of sugar calculated for a bottling run. For me it has always been easier to add carbonation to a beer rather than remove it. I also like this method particularly this time of year as I’m trying to build my pipeline before the real heat of summer hits. I’ll run out of cold storage space and I’ve found that beers with live yeast seem to hold up better at “in my closet” temperatures. Of course that’s all anecdotal and I don’t have triangle tests and p-values to back up my claims!
Hi Marshall
I was so proud of you for not using any off-flavor four-letter words in this post and your Amazon review of the Hops book. Then you had to step in it in the last reply. You are such a good writer until you fling a dollop of literary excrement into the mash. Please don’t juxtapose classy terms like “albeit” with expletives. Would you scoop up your dog’s warm dung with your mash paddle then whirlpool your wort? Do any of the books on your shelf by Banberg, Daniels, Hieronymous, Mosher, Noonan or Gordon Strong have that crude offensive language? Yes, some great fiction writers pepper their characters’ dialog with such. But it’s so unnessicary in a blog about beer. How about trying a recipe without any four-foul-letter contamination?
I for one would savor that!
Quentin
I’ve… not… the… strength! Truth is, I LOVE all words, even the ones other people imbue with negative meaning. Not only do I find them fun to use on their own, but there’s something about the fact people have made meaningful an ultimately meaningless controlled puff of air.
The fact others don’t use those words in their writing isn’t a good enough reason for me to stop “being me.” For better or, perhaps in this case, worse, I’ve never really been easily swayed by the status quo or what those I highly respect do.
Regardless, I absolutely do appreciate your feedback. Cheers!
Wow, are Puritans allowed to drink beer?
This is a blog, not a brewing book, who cares if he uses expletives. If anything I like a couple expletives here and there, it adds character IMO.
I see a lot of personality in these guy’s writing abilities, it might not be your style, but who are you to judge them for it!
Great write-up. You covered all the bases except for my favorite technique. I too have been kegging for many years and I have used all of the methods listed above. However, I have found my favorite technique is a modified approach to the natural carb process.
As a 10 gallon brewer I am concerned about keg number two. I have three main concerns, readiness, stability and constancy. With that in mind, I feel there is nothing better for constancy and storability than natural carbonation. Unfortunately, natural carbing in kegs is a little unpredictable. I now use spunding valves on my kegs to naturally carb. Now I have all three concerns covered and keg number two goes right on tap exactly where keg number one let me down.
Only reason it wasn’t included is because I haven’t used the method. I made this post a page as well and will update it when I try new techniques!
I saw a fascinating video on Youtube about fixing an overcarbonated beer that might be worth trying (I’ve done it once or twice.)
If you find your keg overcarbonated, you dial your CO2 pressure down to the correct serving pressure, then vent the keg, hook the CO2 up to the LIQUID post, and then let CO2 go through the liquid post, when you pull the pressure release valve on the lid. You just have to do this for a short time (15-30 seconds?) and it will knock out all of the CO2 pressure, above the correct one (12 PSI, for instance.) Disconnect your CO2 connection and put it back on on the gas post and pour yourself a beer and it will have carbonation right where you want it.
I can’t explain the physics of how or why this works, but it does.
The only downside that I can see is that if you’ve got a keg with a lot of trub in the bottom, you’re going to stir that trub up by forcing CO2 down the liquid connection.
I can confirm this method works great as well! Just last week I over carbonated a beer that I was submitting into a competition…used the method described above and it worked out perfectly…even won the comp!
I tried this the other day for the first time as well on an over-carbed keg. It worked for me too, albeit not perfectly. The science behind it is apparently to do with the CO2 bubbles racing up from the bottom of the keg as you force gas into the “Out” post. This action “attracts” the CO2 in suspension in the beer and helps “pull” it out when you purge.
Or so they say. But it does seem to work.
On colorful language: I don’t mind it but I have to admit when you suddenly used it in your response to a viewer’s comment it was a little jarring after the “clean” article above. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, just a bit incongruous.
I’ve used all these methods and find the “set it and forget it” and “burst” methods work best. Crank and shake does carbonate quickly, but for some reason i noticed those beers, though not over-carbonated, always seemed to foam the worst. My preference between the two methods does change depending on the beer being produced. Big hops always burst method, but a lager that I’m going to let sit for a couple of weeks there’s not a need for instant carbonation.
This is a great writeup. I would add that another common cause of gushers is inadequate mixing of priming sugar. This is pretty easy to identify because some bottles will be way over carbed and others will be low or not carbed at all.
My first batch of bottle conditioned beer I had issues with carbonation on some bottles. Some over carbed some under… The next batch I made sure to homogenize the priming sugar solution with the beer in the bottling bucket and all bottles were evenly carbonated. I figured the sugar solution I added the first time was not mixed sufficiently, nor did I allow time to reach maximum entropy. I guess the lesson here is if you are using a bottling bucket and adding priming sugar to that vessel, always make sure you give the beer a decent stir – pretty obvious really, but a potential source of getting both under and over carbonated beers in the same batch!
Great article and reinforces the notions I have about force carbonation. Two questions: 1) a lot of people purge their keg after a day or so on 30 psi then set to serving pressure for two weeks. Do you feel this is necessary? Why purge at all just to use more CO2? Why not just dial it down to 12 psi and wait the 2 weeks? 2) I know cold beer absorbs gas faster than warm beer. What if you force carb warm and chill the keg before serving, wouldn’t the CO2 then go into solution as if it had been cold all along? Or is this bad science on my part?
I purge so I can start drinking right away. Wait 2 weeks? If I did that, I’d just use the set and forget method. I burst carb because I hate waiting 🙂
I have no clue about force carbonating warm beer, I’ve never done it.
“The next beer I kegged was hit with 30 psi for 24 hours after which I reduced it to my preferred serving pressure of 12 psi.”
Is there a step hidden in there where you purge the keg from 30 PSI so you can re-pressure to 12? Or do you just reduce the regulator from 30 to 12 and let the pressure drop naturally as CO2 continues to absorb into the beer?
Yes, you absolutely have to purge the pressure to your serving psi.
Marshall, Do you purge your IPAs? I know a lot of people are wary of purging and losing hoppy aromatics. I suppose you could just dial down the pressure and wait for it to equalize, which is a bit imprecise.
Yeah, I purge after burst carbing on every beer.
Great question Scott, I have a similar question…
Everything I read about highly hopped beers states that you should not purge, or else you risk loosing aroma. I feel the jury is out on this, but in order to save my precious aroma, I’ll go with it for now.
I was curious about doing something like you questioned but may be slightly different – a hybrid approach of burst carbonation along with set it and forget it approaches
Instead of charging the keg at 30PSI for say 16-48hrs, then purging to serving pressure (which is what I believe your question was). Charge the keg to say 30PSI, then reduce to serving pressure immediately. This would, as you stated, “let the pressure drop naturally as CO2 continues to absorb into the beer?”
Just wondering if anyone has done something like this or what other thoughts were.
When you say you purge,…..after the given amount of time you selected to burst carb, do you remove gas line/shut it off, purge out ALL the CO2 from keg, THEN, set regulator to serving pressure and reconnect? just trying to get a more clear picture on this as its kind of confusing. Thank you
Remove the gas line and reduce to serving pressure, which for me is about 12 psi; then release the CO2 from the keg until it’s just below about 12 psi, which is always a guess- as long as I hear a little gas flow into the keg when I reattach the disconnect, it’s all good.
Just a personal observation, but after trying the ‘burst’ method on a few batches, while also simultaneously carbing with the “set and forget” method, it is clear to me and my fellow patron beer drinkers, that the burst method introduces a harshness to the beer. Not sure if it’s caused by the purging of hop aromatics, or if the carbonic acid gets out of whack with such a large amount of co2 being pushed into the beer at once, but I have noticed not only aromatics are lost, but also a bitter aftertaste is left on the palate with every “burst” carbed beer I’ve done. Hop forward beers are the most vulnerable to this loss of flavor, though my more malty beers also obtain that distinct bitter bite in that aftertaste with this method. Only warming the beer (50f-ish) and turning the co2 to 6-8psi fixes this for me, but takes a week or so before it is fully corrected. Again just a personal observation, just wanted to share, to see if anyone else has had a similar experience.
I’ve never had this experience, but we have xBmts planned to test it out! What’s interesting to me, and really what motivated me to try the method, is that most commercial breweries burst carbonate.
I was hoping you’d say that! Look forward to reading the results
Yea, but not as often at such high pressure. Many certainly do a version of it.
Personally I hope to stop using the curse words. I know you won’t but I think it degrades what you write and lowers the IQ of your posts. It makes the blog shitty. You don’t need it and the words adds nothing.
I’m not offended by the language it just seems to be something you throw in to appeal to all the beer bros.
I love what you do! I read everything that you put out.
Sorry if you think I am being critical.
Curse words are the new black! I appreciate your input, though in an attempt to keep Brülosophy personable and hip, we’ll probably continue slipping occasional swear words into our articles.
I just got my first keg for Christmas and knew I’d find great info here. And I did! Thanks, Marshall and all. Very, very helpful and I feel less anxious.
Trying my first burst carbonated beer. I have 2.5 – 3 gallons of a pale ale at 40 F and am going to carbonate while at work at 25 psi for about 10 hours. Does that sound about right?
Prior to serving what should I reduced the PSI down to and should I be bleeding off CO2 prior to serving as well?
Thanks for all the amazing info, Marshall! You are the best combination of an academic and a beer lover 🙂
Curious. Wondering what you would do for an English style ale in terms of burst carbonation. Worried 24 hours at 30 psi at 33F will bring me over my desired 1.8 volumes. Currently sitting at 15 psi. Plan to lower to serving after 24 hours.
I prefer even my English ales to have ~2.5 vol CO2, it’s just my thing. I’d bet 18 hours at something like 30-35 psi and 45-50F would get you close to 1.8 vol.
Hey Marshall – do you think taking pours before it gets fully carbonated slows the process down? I ask because I am weird and will even drink my beer partially carbonated because I am impatient.
I’m doubtful it’ll slow it down and, based on my experience carbonating smaller volumes, think it could potentially speed things up. Just make sure your pressure is ~20 psi or lower unless you want a glass full of foam.
When force carbonating in your keg (Burst or Shake method), are you connecting your gas line to the beer outlet port or the gas inlet port? Have you tested using the beer outlet port to carbonate? My thought is that by going through the outlet port through the tube reaching close to the bottom of the keg it will cause CO2 bubble to propagate through the beer and saturating the solution quicker. Any thought on this?
I use pin lock kegs and don’t have a special carbonation line with a liquid disconnect on gas tubing, so I’ve never tried carbonating through the liquid line. I know a few people who have ball lock and have burst carbonated in the liquid post, they’ve generally reported similar carbonation times as me.
Great, I’m about to keg a DIPA next Tuesday and thought that I would give the burst method through the liquid line a try opposed to the crank and shake through the liquid line that I normally do. Thank you for the quick response! Love the podcast, keep up the great work!
Thanks for that excellent article. I’m as big fan of bottle conditioning beer. I always make sure my beer has reached the finished gravity then carefully calculate the required amount of priming sugar to add. I clarify all my beer using gelatin before bottling too. I’ve never had a over conditioned beer.
“I used a priming sugar calculator and my beer is way too carbonated, what’s up?”
another possible explanation, if your beer is heavily dry hopped, is hop creep. That seems to have been the case for a number of my beers
Another great article, thank you! As a small batch brewer, just getting into kegging your comment…
“smaller amounts of beer carbonate quicker, for example I’ve carbonated 2 gallons of 38°F beer at 50 psi in right about 5 hours”
…really struck a note with me. Using the burst carbonation method at 30 psi, would you have a recommendation for how long to stay at this level for a 2 gallon batch?
I haven’t done a 2 gal batch, but a 1 gallon batch that was cold and hit with 30 psi was fully carbonated within 5 hours.
Hi Marshal, how long should be the serving line for a 12psi serving pressure?
I’d go no shorter than 10 ft.
my $.02 – you may need to experiment. While Marshall is probably right, I did find my intertap faucets (without flow control) seem to add some resistance. I only needed about 20″ of 1/4″ tubing at 10 PSI – quite surprised and happy
If you haven’t seen this site yet, it seems well regarded and takes into account the various factors that may vary between setups.
http://www.mikesoltys.com/2012/09/17/determining-proper-hose-length-for-your-kegerator/
Anybody have any recommendations for an automatic gas shut off device? I’m wanting to do that burst carbonation method, but need a reliable way to kill the gas after 18-24 hours.
is it a bad idea to burst carb while the keg is already connected to the liquid line?
i.e. will a faucet leak if PSI is turned up to 30-40 PSI?
I would not connect my faucets to 30-40 PSI.
My slightly-different take on Mr. Schott is to chill the finished beer, add gelatin, wait a day or so, then rack to keg. That cold beer will accept CO2 – I “rock” the keg for 2 minutes at 30PSI (YMMV). I then rock the keg for another 2 minutes to reduce pressure. Transfer keg to keezer. Connect to gas, allow to rest for a day, maintain 10PSI.
Again, YMMV. Feel free to experiment. I don’t like exceeding 15PSI when moving kegs.
I just executed my first burst method not knowing the terminology. I goofed and thought I had two weeks but my brain calendar self-corrected. I had it on 10 psi for a day. Realized I didn’t have 10 days only 4. Purged.Punched it up to 30 for 24 hrs. Just purged it and set it to 10 psi for serving pressure. Now it gets to sit at 10 psi (serving pressure as well as the set and leave pressure). We will pour the first on Wednesday eve. It is a 3 gallon corny keg at 38 degrees. If burst works out, it may be my go to method.
Has there been an experiment between force carbing through a stone or a gas post? More to see how fine the bubbles are and if there’s a difference in how long the carbonation lasts?