How do you carb your kegged beer?

[robcoombs]

I'm finally gettig ready to keg my first two beer this weekend  . I'm wondering what everyone does to carb their beer. I've heard of people force carbing at 30 for 24 hours, then down to 10 for serving but also heard of much lower rates, 10 for 24 hours, then 4 for serving. I've also heard people just keeping it at 10-12 until the beer is carbed. What works best for everyone?

[pliny]

30 PSI for 48 hours.

[jamie_savoie]

also look into keg conditioning (adding sugar in the keg)
you get the bottle condition advantage without the bottling hassle
I tend to only do it on my Belgians and when I'm not in a hurry for a beer

[Al-Loves-Wine]

I am same 30 for 48 then back to serving pressure.

[Jake]

IN A BRITE TANK!

Woooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! (Ric Flair voice)

Your best bet will be to wait as it eliminates the risk of over-carbing. But since it's your fist keg, understandable if you want to go the 30psi for 48 hrs route. Do must people chill their beer first before turning up to 30? or right away you just crank it up?

[Two Wheeler]

I do one of three methods, depending on how quick I want to get my drank on.

• Connect to the system which is set at 10 PSI for serving, leave for 3 weeks
• Disconnect kegs in service, set the new keg at 25 PSI for 48 hours then return to 10 PSI
• Set at 30 PSI and shake the hell out of it for 90 seconds, then set to 10 PSI

Option 3 works good in a pinch if the beer is cold.

[Two Wheeler]

Do must people chill their beer first before turning up to 30? or right away you just crank it up?

I *THINK* that if the beer is warm the CO2 will be less soluble so it will take much longer. I don't think that it is harmful or wasteful to hook up 30 PSI to a warm keg of beer though, it just won't be effective until it cools

[blisster]

I hook my kegs at 30-40psi (and sometimes add gelatine) as soon as I put them in the fridge and leave there for 48-60 hours depending on much carbonation I want then dial it down to 8ish for serving. 

I like my IPA's quite carbonated (I aim for 2.6 volume) but have no way of measuring what the actual volume is... I use the chart bellow as a reference and go by "feel"...  That seems to work quite well.

The warmer the beer, the longer it takes... I've carbed a couple kegs outside the fridge (around 55F?) and I it took about 10 days to get a decent carbonation on them.

[feldmann]

I always just set to 10 and leave it and I've never really had a problem. Its generally carbed in 1-2 weeks for me. I keep my keezer at about 7-8C.

[feldmann]

also look into keg conditioning (adding sugar in the keg)
you get the bottle condition advantage without the bottling hassle
I tend to only do it on my Belgians and when I'm not in a hurry for a beer

Not to hijack the thread, but how does the carbonation last using this method? The same as using CO2?

[robcoombs]

I want to get the first batches carbed quickly as it's first time kegging. So with that in mind and the fact that they are both hoppy beer I'll try the 30 for 48 hours, then dial it back to 10. I'll likely chill the keg first for a day.

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

[jamie_savoie]

also look into keg conditioning (adding sugar in the keg)
you get the bottle condition advantage without the bottling hassle
I tend to only do it on my Belgians and when I'm not in a hurry for a beer

,
Not to hijack the thread, but how does the carbonation last using this method? The same as using CO2?

I'm not sure if I understand, but once the keg is carbed after about 10-14 days, I purge it to avoid having beer going into the line, then hook it up to serving pressure. At this point the co2 is just to push the beer out.

[Roger]

I also use the 30 psi for 48 hrs then I turn off the gas, purge out the 30psi then set it to serving pressure. Always worked for me.

[JamesC]

I bought a carbonation stone, but haven't dialed in my process. It carbonates overnight though. Maybe not fully, but certainly drinkable

[DandyMason]

I was similar, 30 PSI for 36-48 hours. I always liked to test once in a while too. I hate over carbonated beer. But usually that time frame was about right