Natural VS Force Carbonation

I have done it with success a few times. I usually prepare sugar in boiled water and put at the bottom of keg, purge, then rack onto the sugar mixture, seal with 15 psi and let it sit for two weeks. I personally like force carbing cause it's faster. Set at 30psi at 40 degrees for 36 hours then set to serving temp and release gas.

 

Force carbing is not hard at all and you shouldn't be encountering problems.
The "set it and forget it method" is fool proof. I suspect your draft system is not balanced properly and that is why you are not getting perfect pours.

• Refer to a carbonating chart for the proper vols of gas you want for your beer.
• Set your regulator and apply the gas.
• Leave it at serving temperature for about 2 weeks.
• Enjoy.

I am guessing you are not at a proper serving temp, the set temperature varies. your choker is too short, you don't have a tower fan, your regulator is screwy and perhaps something else as well.

Cheers.

 

Should I set my timer before we start seeing posts to not use impure CO2 to force carbonate your beers!?!

Cheers!

 

It’s not how you are carbonating but your set up. You have too much pressure with too short of a beer line.

 

Ya switching to 6 foot lines changed everything

 

Set it and forget it takes the same length of time as priming in bottles, i.e., ~2 weeks. Never primed in a keg, but probably the same. Plus, there is the leak factor. Forced pressure can seal up a keg, where as the gradual accumulation of pressure may not. If your seals are not perfect at no added pressure, they may leak before sufficient pressure accumulates to make the seal. Or so I have heard. It is not an insurmountable problem, but none of it is.

 

An outboard T-Stat is a requirement for temp control.
About 6' of 3/16" x 7/16" Beverage Line is typically good. Sometimes longer sometimes shorter. Depends.

Hang out over at the Home Bar forum for a shit ton of information.
Cheers.

 

Well, it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Perhaps you could tell us about your own experience with force carbonation.

 

I used natural carbonation on my last lager for the first time, using a spunding valve. While the carbonation worked great, I've now lagered it for 3 weeks at just over freezing temperature, and it's still cloudy/yeasty. I've made the same recipe before with the same yeast, and it cleared long before this. Is cloudy beer a regular result of natural carbonation? Is it typical to wait that much longer for it to clear?

 

Maybe we should set a timer, before "upstanding members" take uncalled jabs, for no reason whatsoever. Poke the bear much?

To the OP

Don't forget the height from keg to faucet either.

 

I have done sugar-primed naturally carbed kegs, spunded kegs and forced carb. All do the job just fine.

Personally, for lagers, spunding is what I prefer. Keep that O2 out for the lagering period and it’s all set and ready to tap whenever. I also like this method for imperial stouts or big beers that will age in the keg for a bit.

For IPA’s, I like forced carbonation. I did quite a few spunded kegs and never loved the outcome, things get a bit more muddled (perhaps due to more trub carryover, hop particles, etc…). Then it complicates dry hopping procedures as well. So I like to stick with old-school methods for my IPA’s, allowing them to finish in the fermenter with any dry hopping and then carefully rack into a well purged keg and burst carb. My most recent IPA was done this way after a few spunded examples and it just held up a lot better than the past few. So take that for what it’s worth.

Technique wise for forced carb, I will just transfer the beer into the keg and put at 30psi for 36hrs or so. Then simply just reduce the regulator pressure to my specified CO2 vol pressure for 38F… Usually can drink immediately and it’s 80% or so carbonated. No issue.

Once and a while I will just do the set-n-forget method if I have a beer that won't be tapped right away and can spend a week or two hanging out.

 

With natural carb in a keg, are you guys worry about getting yeast sediments into your glasses? I know if the beer is not filtered i have yeast in my beer but i still bottle conditioning and when i pour from a bottle i try to leave the small yeast layer at the bottom of the bottle away from my glass, dont know if that a concern for you?

 

@Jos3h2r

Usually it can be yeasty for the first few pints but then it's fine. I cut my dip tubes an inch or so to reduce that. Or, you can get something like a clear beer draft system (pulls beer from the top of keg) so that becomes a non-issue. I just got those and so far, extremely impressed. Plan to buy more on top of the three I have already! Mostly for my lagers, but also works extremely well for keg hopping loose for IPA's and such.

 

Not at all in my case. After carbonating it naturally, it has now lagered for 5 weeks at near freezing temperature, and it's still cloudy! (even though I don't get sediment). With the same recipe and not using natural carbonation (numerous times), it usually cleared totally within about 2 weeks of lagering. I've never had this issue of cloudy lagers before. It's possible that the cause might be related to a combination of two processes - natural carbonation and also doing a decoction.

At least from this experience, I would not recommend carbonating a lager naturally (at least along with decoction), and won't be doing so next time.

 

I do it all the time. Krausen most of my lagers actually. 95% of the time they clear right up.

 

The big question is, what happens during the 5% time? In my case, it seems as though the yeast is still somewhat in suspension after 5 weeks of lagering at 33 F. The haze is slight (and the beer is tasty), but it is definitely there. In all the times I have brewed the same recipe (but without decoction or natural carbonation) it has always cleared completely, within a couple of weeks. I can only conclude that this haze is a result of either the decoction, the natural carbonation, or a combination of both. Everything else was kept relatively constant.

 

@TheBeerery naturally carbonates. I doubt you'll find many beers clearer than his.

 

And does he also do decoctions?