Corny keg question

[MattGuk]

Hi everybody, just a quick question.
I am finally taking the plunge into Kegging after finally getting fed up, crouching over filling numerous bottles, with a bad back, it's not too much fun.
I have just ordered a corny kit from Brew keg tap, my question is, when carbonating say I set the pressure to achieve 2vols for example, once it's reached that and I turn my reg down to serving pressure ( after bleeding off excess pressure ) I guess after a while I will need to turn the pressure back up so the beer doesn't go flat?
Probably sounds stupid, but this is new to me.
Thank guys

 

[foxbat]

If you've balanced your lines then you set it to the carbonation pressure and leave it there until the keg is empty. As soon as you vent CO2 to lower the head pressure CO2 will start streaming out of the beer in exactly the way it does if you loosen the top of a fizzy drink bottle then tighten it again.

So yes, if you have unbalanced lines and need to drop the pressure to get it to serve without producing froth then you'll need to put it back up again afterwards.

Which kit did you buy from BKT? I think I saw that they're sensibly including a good length of 3/16" in their kits so you can serve without venting CO2 first.

 

[Mayor of Simpleton]

I have one of the bkt kits - they include 3m of the 3/16. I set my kegerator at 11c and 13 psi and have used the same for carbonation and serving. I am currently chopping lengths off the 3m line to speed up the pour and get a head on the beer.

 

[phettebs]

There are calculators for balancing lines but in the end it was a bit of trial and error for me. I have 4 beers on tap and I keep my regulator at 13psi. I carbonate at 30psi. Every now and then I forget to purge the corny before attaching to the kegerator line. You end up wearing a lot of the beer!

 

[Braufather]

If you are not in a hurry and have temp control set it and forget. 10psi at 8c will give you 2 vols after a week or two, and you can serve it at that.

 

[Graz]

There seems to be some confusion over this but unless you are burst carbonating then serving pressure = carbonation pressure. You need this to be constant in the keg else the beer will go flat. For my own set up my fridge runs around 6°C so for an ale with 2 volumes of CO2 I need about 8 psi of pressure. I can just set this on my regulator, attach the keg, leave it for two weeks and I have perfectly carbonated beer. It stays at that pressure until the keg is empty.

I do however sometimes burst carbonate where I put it around 40 psi for 24 hours and after that drop it to the serving / carbonation pressure. The beer can be ready in about a week then.

 

[Mayor of Simpleton]

Set it, forget it is my favoured approach.

I would add that a carbonation chart will help you determine the Co2 pressure needed to carbonate to your desired volume at the temperature you have your keg stored at. There are plenty online (although they all seem to be in degrees Fahrenheit) and they are real easy to use.

 

[foxbat]

There are plenty online (although they all seem to be in degrees Fahrenheit) and they are real easy to use.

I've attached the chart in Celsius.

 

[kodak79]

This is the best guide I've read regarding carbonation.
https://brulosophy.com/2016/05/12/sparkle-fizz-methods-for-carbonation/