Corny keg questions

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Jakeyboi

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Hi everyone, I've just kegged my latest brew. It's a pilsner and I want it to have around 2.4 volumes of co2. I've put this into one of them online calcutalors and it has given me 16psi if it's at 10C. 10C is the ambient temperature of my shed. I am leaving it to carb and condition until Xmas, but when I come to drinking it I will store it at around 5/6C. Now my question is, do I just reduce the pressure when I put it in the fridge? Or do I keep it at a lower pressure now and then the carbonation will be right when I chill it?

Second question do I need to leave the gas connected..? Or can I just reconnect the line a couple of times a day until it stops dropping in pressure?

Third question I've read that people drop the pressure to 2 psi for serving. Is this correct? Won't that effect the level of carbonation in the beer?

Thanks in advance

Jake
 
WOw....lot of questions Jakeyboi.....I use corny's and I usually chill the keg BEFORE adding gas, it absorbs more easily (and more quickly). I pressurise to 15psi and leave in a fridge - repressurising as necessary until pressure stops dropping (ie: gas fully absorbed at 15psi). Then it's ready for serving. The process takes up to a week or so, unless you're in a hurry, in which case you can gently agitate the keg (roll it to-n-fro on the floor or gently slosh it back & forth). Then it's done in 10 - 15 mins (if the keg is well chilled). For serving, it depends on your set up. If you have a tap attached directly to the corny disconnect, you'll need to reduce serving pressure to about 2psi. If you have a better set up, beer line & faucet type, the serving pressure can be higher. Hope I've got all that right, others will correct me (hopefully) if not. Let us know how it goes.
 
No expert here as I have just started kegging but .....
1. if you carb correctly at 10oC and then cool to 5-6oC then you may be a tad undercarbed unless you recarb from chilled. The quick carb method could be done within a few minutes (I done this myself tonight with good results). As the brew cools I am not sure if the pressure would drop accordingly. At 5oc you should be about 12 psi.
2. you can do either way. If you leave it connected then make sure that you have no leaks or you will waste your CO2. If you re-charge every few days then it will take longer to do it.
3. Serving pressure depends on what your set up is. I have tried to balance my beerline resistance so that I don't need to worry about lowering pressures for serving. If you have to lower ther pressure to serve then your brew will lose a bit of carbonation over time so would need a recharge. You can google beerline calculations to get the best length and diameter of beerline to ensure your beer pressure/resistance is balanced.

these are only my thoughts and I am no expert. I am sure someone else with more knowledge could come in and give more knowledgable advice.

Zippy
 
Thanks for the replies, I think I will leave it as it is carved correctly for the temp, drink a pint then chill it and see what happens, I'm thinking it would be over carbed once chilled. Guess I'm going to have to mess around with it and drink plenty of beer to get it right, sounds like fun! Thanks
 
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