Force carbonating your kegs allows you
to enjoy your beer much faster than
natural carbonation with priming sugar
cutting, as much as two weeks off of your
brewing schedule. There are a handful of
methods for forced carbonation out there.
Here are two of the most popular. With
either method you need to start with a
cold keg because co2 dissolves in liquid
way better when it's cold.
we recommend below 36 degrees for the
best results. Start by setting your
regulator pressure to 40 psi and making
sure your valves are open. Connect your
grey coupler to the gas in post and you
will hear a shot gas into the Keg.
Carefully hold the keg over your knees
and rock it side to side for about two
minutes getting the liquid moving around
inside the keg allows the gas from the
headspace to be dissolved all throughout
the beer. This method is widely used
because it does not require you to
change anything about your setup. You can
go from carbonating right to dispensing.
As in the first method pressurize your
regulator to 40 psi and open the valves.
Instead of connecting to the gas in post
you connect the co2 line to the liquid
out post, so that the gas goes to the
bottom of the keg and bubbles up through
the beer, helping it to dissolve better.
Once connected vigorously shake the keg
back and forth for about two minutes
then let it rest until you hear the CO2
stop bubbling through. If you
have MFL fittings on your couplers and
can easily switch the black liquid
coupler to your gas line, we prefer this
method because we've had better results
and you can hear the co2 bubbling
through the beer, as opposed to just
filling up the headspace. Whichever
method you choose allow the keg to
settle for about 15 to 20 minutes after
taking before slowly relieving the
pressure from your keg using the release
valve. If you do this too soon or too
fast it can spray beer all over the
place, so be patient you can drink the
beer immediately after shaking it if
you're in a hurry but the first few
beers can taste sharp because of the
increased levels of carbonic acid. That
taste will go away after a short time.
There are many different ways to force
carbonate so find a way that works for
you and keep making delicious beer! Tell
us your favorite method in the comments
below and subscribe for more home
brewing tips!
