I'm crashing my beers currently and want to get them carbed before thanksgiving (we're hosting). how much time will they need to get properly carbed up? Thanks
Sort of depends. But 3 weeks is generally thrown about. I find that my beers, while carbed at 2 weeks...needed 3-4 weeks (total) before I was happy with the taste.
Bottle carbonating? Depends on yeast strain/health, temperature, and other factors. In general, from my bottling days, I wouldn't ever count on full carbonation in under two weeks. But YMMV.
No no no, force carbing. Done it a million times just spacing on the timeframe and having a mini panic attack over the holiday and the beers being ready so I thought I'd check here....I thought it was just a few days, not a few weeks...now i'm really panicking
Jeez, force-carbing can be done in a few hours. If you're that strapped (hypothetically) you can keg when the turkey goes into the oven, and be drinking before it comes out. Realistically, it depends on how you do it. Set-and-forget takes a bit longer (others with more experience can chime in with timing) or crash carbing, where you crank the pressure and rock the keg can be much shorter.
If you're force carbing..as in C02 tank and keg. You just need to put the keg in the fridge on 30psi for 36 hours. Purge keg, drop to serving pressure 10-12 psi, and leave it. Beer will definitely be carbed after 48 hrs (total). I'm not a fan of the fast carbing method that includes rolling the keg around. If 48 hrs isn't enough time, you can try it...but surely you have 48 hrs.
So you're worried if 'set and forget' force carbing will be fast enough. It might be. I'd recommend doing set and forget, then check the day of (or the day before) the event. If it's not there yet, shake, rattle, and roll until it is.
Yeah, that crash-carbing isn't ideal, but if someone really is strapped for time, it works well enough.
BRILLIANT! This sounds familiar. Seeing as how the holiday is still over a week away, I will have plenty of time. Thanks much guys!
Something to keep in mind is that while CO2 can go in solution in a relatively short timeframe there is another aspect to carbonation: CO2 hydration. The aspect of CO2 hydration takes longer (e.g., weeks). It is prudent to force carbonate your beer a week or two prior to Thanksgiving. Cheers! P.S. Below is something that Martin Brungard posted on another beer forum: “We know we can infuse CO2 into solution fairly quickly. The soda manufacturers do that every day. Nice coarse and effervescent bubbles are formed. But with time, CO2 is hydrated and I feel that this mechanism is key to the change in carbonation quality that we brewers desire. The hydration of CO2 is a very time-dependent process and it cannot be accelerated. That is why you can force carbonate a keg in minutes, yet not have acceptable foam for a few weeks.”
I tried that on my first couple of beers.. the whole shake and roll and carb it high.. Fucking mess. Not even all that carbonated, and really didn't enjoy it. The set it and forget it, is the easiest and the safest, and quite frankly, doesn't take that long. If he puts them on the gas and keeps them cold, he can have a keg carbed pretty easily in.. a week, to a week and a half. 2 weeks would be perfect and allow it to settle down and everything be perfect. I can take a fresh cold crashed primary, into the keg, put it in the keezer at 36* and have it set on 8-9 PSI for a week, and pull a pint off, and it's pretty much carbed and good to go. But the bubbles are coarse and the beer doesn't really have the mouthfeel I want. Give it a good two to three weeks and it can go from harsh and bubbly, to velvety and smooth small carb bubbles.
40# for 1 day...25# for another day...10# for yet another day...serving pressure for 1 day...then wait a week and you'll have a drinkable beer most often
Because I have multiple kegs but just one regulator, I'm in the set and forget camp. Similar to what others have indicated, with this method I get pretty a very drinkable beer at 1 week, with some improvement in carbonation quality during the second week. After that, not much change.
(strictly bottle conditioning): If your yeast is live and the ABV is reasonable and you give them two weeks, you should be fine. Thanksgiving is a very reasonable goal if you start tomorrow. I'm usually way good to go at two weeks (tho my typical beers are not high ABV). Pop a test bottle at about eight or nine days to be sure, but for most reasonable brews you'll be good to go.
As am I. I've had the same experience; the beer will be "carbed" within a week or so but it really takes another week for it to completely reach optimum carbonation. Regardless, I usually starting sampling to see where it stands after that first week.
When it comes to carbonation I ALWAYS follow this chart.. I have NEVER had a problem with this.. http://www.kegerators.com/articles/carbonation-table-pressure-chart.php
