Force carbonation pressure v Serving pressure

[RichardS]

Hi all. If I force carbonate an ale in my keg at 5.5 psi at 4 degrees and then change the pressure to serving pressure at 12psi, presumably I'll end up over carbonating my beer (I leave my gas lines connected, as a rule).
How do you guys get round this issue?

 

[Graz]

Serving pressure is the same as carbonation pressure. I aim for around 2 volumes of CO2 in my ales or a bit less. My keg fridge sits at around 6°C. Pressure I need is about 8 psi. I use this: Keg Carbonation Calculator - Brewer's Friend

Typically I'll burst carbonate so I'll stick on 40 psi for 24 hours then drop it to 8 psi. I can be drinking it within a week then. Alternately you can just set it to the target pressure and leave it 2 weeks (set and forget). Once carbonated I only reapply the gas when I'm serving as the kegs don't normally lose any pressure. You can leave the gas on all the time but I'm paranoid about losing a cylinder of CO2 due to a leak somewhere.

 

[RichardS]

That makes sense, but it means I'll need different beer line lengths depending on the beer carbonation. Is that right?

 

[YeastFace]

Yes, different pressures will determine your beer line length.

I have three taps with beer line cut accordingly. One for lower carbonated beers (stouts, British ales etc) one for medium carbonated (usually American styles) and one for higher carbonated beers (Belgian styles, Lagers etc).

I use the smaller diameter line (3/16ths I think) as this provides more resistance and means I don't need miles of 3/8ths line.

With the relatively low pressure you are after you may benefit from increasing the temperature of your keezer/kegerator (or wherever you are storing your keg) as the higher the temp the more pressure needed; otherwise you might need a fair bit of beer line.

 

[AnimatedGIF]

Hi all. If I force carbonate an ale in my keg at 5.5 psi at 4 degrees and then change the pressure to serving pressure at 12psi, presumably I'll end up over carbonating my beer (I leave my gas lines connected, as a rule).
How do you guys get round this issue?

Do you serve at 4 degrees too?

 

[LeeH]

That makes sense, but it means I'll need different beer line lengths depending on the beer carbonation. Is that right?

Yes, but I personally don’t really have an issue between say a larger and an ale.

If you do maybe look at a flow control tap but still make some effort to restrict flow using the lines.

 

[JockyBrewer]

That makes sense, but it means I'll need different beer line lengths depending on the beer carbonation. Is that right?

You do, although you'll probably find you'll only ever use 2 or 3 different pressures.

e.g.
4 PSI for cask like ale
12 PSI for lager/keg pale ale
16 PSI for belgian etc

So you just have a length of line for each and stick it on depending upon what you currently have in the keg.

As @YeastFace mentions above, using 3/16" line with reducers keeps the lines as short as possible.