hey everyone, Just ran my first all grain / kegged beer over the last few weeks, used the "averagely perfect New England IPA" recipe and now I have a carbing question. I force carbed the corny keg at 30 psi for 30 hours, then, ratcheted back the pressure to 10 psi and planned on waiting 2-3 days (started this last night). Should I have released the pressure from the keg prior to going down to 10 psi? I did not because I figured the goal was for all of that to get absorbed in the beer over the next 2-3 days. Is that the right way to do it? My only concern is that the psi on the open meter increases to 15-20 psi every few hours (presumably due to the higher pressure already in the keg) Sorry if this is confusing / poorly written. I appreciate any help. Thanks
After 30 hours at 30 psi you do not want to vent and set a lower pressure. The higher setting speeds up the process but it probably will take more than a day+, so set your serving pressure and just wait. Ideally you can reduce the normal 7'ish days to carb down to 3 to 5 days. But you have a lot of variables here, i.e. if the keg was only 1/2 full you are close to being finished with an initial shot of 30 psi. With a full keg (~1" headspace) it'll need more time. Not sure I understand your "open meter increase". There is a check valve that prevents gas from flowing from the keg back to the tank. So you will never know the exact pressure in the keg until it stabilizes. Bottom line is you may save a couple of days over the set and forget method. In almost every case your beer is improving while it is carbing. So a slow carb (set and forget) will deliver better beer faster than a fast carb method. It's just like in this story:
What he said... also, you don't want to vent an IPA because it will cost you some precious hop aroma. Just wait it out and at worst suffer through one or two foamy pints when you tap it.
Sounds like you're in the ballpark of how I do it when I'm in a hurry (and only when I'm in a hurry). It may be a bit overcarbed, it may be a bit undercarbed. Smart money says it won't be exactly where you want it to be. But a bit over or under will fix itself a day or three just by setting it to serving pressure and being patient. Feel free to drink it while you're waiting. You can minimize excess foam by reducing the pressure and venting the keg before pouring, but remember to put it back where it belongs when you're done.
