Carbonation Chart Explaination

[jcwilde1]

We force carbonate our beer based on the standard chart you can find anywhere. However we are carbonating a stout with just c02 and plan on putting it on a nitro style tap. We did this before but carbonated the beer too much and it ended up super foamy.

After reading people's posts they are saying to carbonate the beer to 1 - 1.5 volume and then run it out of your tap from there. So I noticed @ 40 degrees that means we are only putting 1 - 2 psi on the tank. Is that correct? Also, most of the charts have them color coded to show what is under carbonated and what is normal for each style.

However I noticed if you look at this chart:

http://blog.brewps.com/2012/04/homebrew-keg-carbonation-chart-how-to-force-carbonate-beer/

You will see a volume of 1.74 is achieved at 40 degrees and it is listed as under carbonated, however if you look at 37 degrees at 3 psi it shows 1.74 as properly carbonated for a stout. Am I looking to far in this or is there a difference to how the beer will turn out if carbonated at those two scenarios.

Usually we are carbonating beer at about 11 - 15psi at 40 degrees. We are a bit concerned that this will come out really undercarbonated even with the nitro. Thoughts?

[lhall]

We carb to about 1.9 vols and then push it through a stout faucet with standard mixed gas. We tried "nitrogenating" it in the brite tank but couldn't tell a difference, especially for all the extra work.

[jcwilde1]

Thanks for that information, that carbonation makes me feel a little bit better. Last time we did around 2.1 but got all foam from our taps. Hopefully going down to 1.8 will help.

[dvarga]

I have forced nitrogen into the carbonation stone and have had good success with it. Just have to go bit by bit, increase the nitrogen pressure into the stone, over the course of a day.
I started with a C02 of about 1.0 vol in the tank, at about 35-40 deg F. I never really needed to go past 25 psi head pressure on the tank. It starts to absorb nitrogen pretty well after 15-25 psi
While I nitrogenated, I also poured samples to check the level of head on the beer. I know this isn't an exact method, but it gave me a better idea what my beer would pour like.

This, however, was at a brewpub, and we also had a beer pump pushing the beer to the taps. I could control the pour speed by adjusting the pressure of the beer pump.
I am not sure how successful it would be if you were selling these kegs to pubs/bars/restaurants. If you were doing the latter, I would go with 1.5 vol C02 and have them push with beer gas, as one mentioned. It would be pretty consistent on your end, so it would be easier to troubleshoot if they have pouring problems.

I have also known brewers to force a beer gas blend into the stone, with consistent success. Once again, it was at a brewpub.

We force carbonate our beer based on the standard chart you can find anywhere. However we are carbonating a stout with just c02 and plan on putting it on a nitro style tap. We did this before but carbonated the beer too much and it ended up super foamy.

After reading people's posts they are saying to carbonate the beer to 1 - 1.5 volume and then run it out of your tap from there. So I noticed @ 40 degrees that means we are only putting 1 - 2 psi on the tank. Is that correct? Also, most of the charts have them color coded to show what is under carbonated and what is normal for each style.

However I noticed if you look at this chart:

http://blog.brewps.com/2012/04/homebrew-keg-carbonation-chart-how-to-force-carbonate-beer/

You will see a volume of 1.74 is achieved at 40 degrees and it is listed as under carbonated, however if you look at 37 degrees at 3 psi it shows 1.74 as properly carbonated for a stout. Am I looking to far in this or is there a difference to how the beer will turn out if carbonated at those two scenarios.

Usually we are carbonating beer at about 11 - 15psi at 40 degrees. We are a bit concerned that this will come out really undercarbonated even with the nitro. Thoughts?