problems carbonating in sanke kegs

[fredipa]

Hey everybody, first time posting. We just launched our brewery in April. One and a half barrel, slogging it out. My problem is we have to carbonate in kegs because no brite tanks yet. I was trying with the CO2 going in the out, but seemed to take forever. Switched to going in the in, and quickly overshot. I have been fast carbonating by rolling the kegs with 40 psi. I have tried timing with a set temp. It would be too little, too little, then over shoot. Anyhow, any suggestions, experience, ideas, help would be greatly appreciated. It's frustrating wasting beer and clients don't like having to fight with the beer.
Thank you
Mike

[Luch15]

So we run a BOP as part of our Brewery and as we have a bar and restaurant and distribution we do everything in Sankey kegs. for the BOP we carb in a Sankey keg. We leave a little head space in the keg and carb through the "out" port at 30 psi for 3 days in the cooler at 38 deg f and end up with 2.6 volumes pretty consistently. no rocking or moving the kegs. YMMV. David chime in here if you see this post since you do this every day.

[TL Services]

As Luch has identified, the critical points are pressure and temperature for consistent carbonation, since it is these two that ultimately control the amount of gas that will be dissolved.

One problem with kegs is that - even with good manufacturing tolerances - the headspace from keg to keg can vary (more so if the keg has any dents!), so the amount of gas put into that space, at a set pressure, will also vary.

Once equilibrated (which will be based on pressure & temperature) this means the amount of dissolved gas can also vary from keg to keg.

I guess from your post you are planning to have a brite tank eventually? That should make your carbonation a whole lot easier!

[TFB]

Hey everybody, first time posting. We just launched our brewery in April. One and a half barrel, slogging it out. My problem is we have to carbonate in kegs because no brite tanks yet. I was trying with the CO2 going in the out, but seemed to take forever. Switched to going in the in, and quickly overshot. I have been fast carbonating by rolling the kegs with 40 psi. I have tried timing with a set temp. It would be too little, too little, then over shoot. Anyhow, any suggestions, experience, ideas, help would be greatly appreciated. It's frustrating wasting beer and clients don't like having to fight with the beer.
Thank you
Mike

Pick up a couple of carbing stones, set between 10-12psi or use chart as other posters said. Bleed about evry 30 min, no need to rock anything. Should be carbed within less then 24 hours.

[Matt Dog]

Maybe out of your price range but check out the Cellarstream Keg Filling Panel from AC Beverage. Its a bigger version of their Cellarstream draft setup. Uses a membrane and beer pump to carb or nitro on the fly. Looks like the keg unit does 1oz per second so you could do a 1/2 Bbl in around 30 minutes. At your size thats not bad. Dont know the price but I paid $1000 for the single unit a few years back. We were using it to do proper Nitro from flat beer at a brewpub. Works great. I would guess the new unit is under $2000. Ask for Charlie. Hes the guy who knows all about the unit.

[Bainbridge]

We use our brites for normal batches, but we find ourselves having to carb smaller projects (barrel aged stuff, pilot batches, portions of batches we set aside to mess with) from time to time. So I set up a Carbonation Station in a corner of our cold room. It T's off the main co2 trunk that feeds our taps and goes to a secondary reg, and from there to a 3 way manifold. Three sanke heads with co2 going in the "In" side, and the penny trick on the liquid 'out' side, so I can carb three kegs at a time. When I need to carb a partially full 50L (say a 10 gallon pilot batch went in) I can just hook it up. But if the keg is totally full we'll pull a growler of beer out to create headspace. Then I just set it and forget it for a week. Done. Patience, co2 tables and SCIENCE! is the key to consistency. High pressure and shaking is a bad homebrewing habit.

[fredipa]

Thanks Luch15 and KWLSD for the info. I had tried 40 psi sitting for 4-5 days with crap results. Must have been a head space problem. How do you fill and maintain headspace with out drawing off some after every fill, or do I just have to draw off?
TFB - How do you use those carb stones, in the CO2 line going in? I assume not in the keg some how.
Matt Dog, I will check that out, but sounds spendy. Could save that money for a brite tank.
Thanks Bainbridge, I know it's a hack method but the best I was having luck with. So you would always draw some off? Or is there a better way?
Anyone have an idea on in line CO2 addition with a stone as I transfer to a keg? Or is that what you meant TFB?
Thanks everybody, with your help I'll get this worked out. First I'll do the draw off, set temp and pressure, check at 3 days. I feel like I'm sending out short kegs.

[ChesterBrew]

Thanks everybody, with your help I'll get this worked out. First I'll do the draw off, set temp and pressure, check at 3 days. I feel like I'm sending out short kegs.

You can weigh the kegs to get a sense of how full they are prior to sending them out -- at least then you'll know there's a relative level of consistency for them going out the door.

[TFB]

I apologize, I just re-read and you're using Sanke Kegs. We use Corny Kegs for the pilot brewhouse, the carb stone is inside the kegs.

[Matt Dog]

Easy to solve the lowfill problem by topping off the kegs after they are carbed. Just rig a sanke to sanke fitting and gently top off otherwise you are cheating the customer unless your stated volume is adjusted for the head space.

[fredipa]

Thanks guys. Duh, of course. Weighing and/or topping off again. Some times I just get too one dimensional.