Carbonating through the bottom port.

[davidw]

Thank you everyone for your input. I'll plan to try this on the next batch since, what the heck it can't hurt.
David Wollner
Willimantic Brewing Company

[BigWilley]

I like using the T set up inline. Just be sure to put it as far from the brite tank as possible, in my case just after the filter. This will give the CO2 time to absorb. I found that putting it directly before the brite tank wasnt nearly as effective. When I attempted to carb directly into the bottom port of my brite, I noticed big bubbles and burps the whole time (w/15 psi head pressure). It didnt seem to work to well. I always thought it would be better to weld a port on he manway (mine are side and near the bottom). This would be much cleaner than trying to go through the tank wall as mine are jacketed. But I have had good luck with in line so far.

[NYSBrewer]

OK, I'm going to give the inline carbonation a try. How i see it, the T will go right after the filter. Should I hook it up directly to the out valve of the filter? Should I keep a little top pressure on the tank I'm filtering into? I usually don't. Finally, at what pressure are you pumping the co2 into the beer? Cant wait to see if this works for me. Right now I am capping off my beers a couple of points befor my anticipated final gravity. Since I don't want to stop fermentation, I'm not really hitting the correct carbonation. I have overcarbonated a few, but mostly I am undercarbonating and since I am filtering into a serving tank it becomes very difficult to carbonate at that point. I have been racking back into an FV and force carbonating there on beers I come up low on carbonation. Seems like alot of extra work to me!

[BigWilley]

You could T right off the filter. You must have head pressure on the receiving vessle. Dont you hook up a CO2 line between the FV and Brite to equalize pressure during transfer? This is a must in my opinion. Unfortunately my guage only goes to 30 Psi so I dont know how much pressure Im carbonating at. I use a sight guage at the end of the run to watch for bubbles. I like to see some bubbles but not excessive. If you are foaming a lot at the brite tank port this gas is most likely wasted and wont absorb. This is obviously not very precise but I have done it for years so I can hit it pretty close. Also there is no set pressure because you have to factor flow rate and current carb levels etc. I also cap during the end of primary so I have some carb in there already.

[NYSBrewer]

I was trained to filter into a tank with no pressure in the receiving vessle. I have top pressure on the FV, but not on my receiving vessle. I am in a different brewery now, so I'll employ any measures that might help my filtration. Obviously, you cant have too much pressure on the receiving vessle, so what do you reccomend. If my top pressure on the FV is around 12, maybe 5-8 on the receiving is good? Thanks for the advice, I can't wait to try some new things in this brewery.

[BigWilley]

What you need to do is run a hose from the CO2 port on the FV to the CO2 port on the Brite tank, first pressure up the Brite to match the FV pressure and then open up the valves to both tanks, the pressure will equalize between the two tanks almost instantly. Then as you filter the pressure will constantly equalize without the addition of CO2 and you wont have any foaming issues plus your carb will stay in solution. I would want 12-15 psi during the run.

[NYSBrewer]

I will try this when I filter next. Thanks for the help. It always amazes me the simplicity of this, but unless you know, some things just seem to be a mystery

[Sir Brewsalot]

I've also found that filtered beer carbonates quicker than unfiltered.

Dave,
Interesting... any notion as to why this might be? Anybody?
Cheers,
Scott

[GlacierBrewing]

Hi Scott,
I have no hard evidence but I suspect CO2 is able to "dissolve" into solution easier in filtered beer due to less material "competing" for space in the beer. I think if you have a high-density of yeast cells, malt particulates, hop particulates, long-chains all floating around together and you attempt to introduce CO2 molecules to try to get them to bond to somebody, the space is just too full. Like I said, this is just my over-heated brain (110F in the brewhouse yesterday!) wondering!

Prost!
Dave
Glacier Brewing