Newbie Kegging Questions

[feldmann]

I just built my keezer and kegged my first batch last weekend. I've been reading a lot of material online about carbonating but there doesn't seem to be one solid answer so I was wondering what everyone else does.

Right now I have an IPA thats sitting around 10°C. I set the regulator to 20 PSI on Saturday and left it, taking periodic samples to see when it got to a carbonation level I liked. I bring it down to 5 PSI for serving and today its hit the level that I'm happy with. At this point should I leave it at 5 or bring it back up to 20 after I'm finished pouring for the night? Are there any issues leaving the liquid lines hooked up?

Thanks!

[Chris Craig]

Look online for a carbonate on chart. Basically, the pressure you should leave your reg at depends on the volumes of CO2 you want (probably 2.5 for most beer) and the temperature you're serving at.

You shouldn't be jockeying the pressure.

[brew]

Yes if you leave your PSI at 20 you'll get lots of foam. Likely why you're turned down to 5 (slower pour = less foam) and you are likely over carbed by now. A more typical serving pressure is 10-12 (like Chris said around 2.5 vols).

A lot of people here carb at 30psi for 2 days, then serve at 10-12 - works pretty good for me and tends to give me around 2.5 according to the charts I've looked at. I like this chart: http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

As it is, I'd leave it at 5 and serve the rest that way if its at a level you like (if you turn it to 10 it will pour faster and make more foam) - it will take an extremely long time for any carbonation to come out of the beer if you leave it there, and should pour consistently from now on.

Theres a lot of stuff out there on the topic - formulas for beer line length, pressure for each etc... I like the 30psi for 2 days rule though. If you're not running line to other rooms, etc... then it seems to work pretty good.

[Al-Loves-Wine]

This is a pretty handy little excel calculator that I've used, tells you line length and diameters and will tell you what your optimum serving pressure would be for the volume you want. Like the other guys said, if you leave at 20, you will most likely end up over carbbing and pour foam all the time.