Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

CO2 use for carbonating 10bbl to 2 volumes

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #91
    I'm assuming it drops to 0 because you have no flow. You only have .5 differential between the regulator and the headspace. You haven't even accounted for the wetting pressure of the stone yet or the depth of the stone below the top of the beer. The point of the flow meter is to increase the regulator pressure until you have half scale flow. If your wetting pressure is 4psi for example and 28 inches of beer above the stone (1psi per 28inches), then you would need 18.5psi on the regulator just to overcome that and start getting some flow.

    Comment


    • #92
      idid the same set up. what i ended up doing is first perge the tank with co2 fill tank with beer I DONT SET THE HEAD SPACE i set hook up the co2, turn on co2 set flow meter to 1/2 way ,and check it a few time durning the day when i leave for the night i set it a little higher bc it will drop over night. I end up haveing beeer done in 36 hrs to 48 hrs let it sit over night for saturation of co2. walk in next day usely the head presser has gone from say 10 psi to 11 psi then you have saturation. now remember he spudes his beer i his fermenters befor there in his brite tanks so he has co2 already in the beer
      hope this helps if you need more help send me a PM and ill give you my number talk you throw it
      cheers matt 3GB

      Comment


      • #93
        Oh ok, thats news to me. Earlier in the thread I was pretty sure Gitcheegummee had said you set your regulator a little above what the serving pressure would be. I'll give that a shot and see waht comes. Thanks.

        Comment


        • #94
          you are figuring out the bubble pressure of your carb stone. for me, I have my head space set to 14 psi. After a filtration with some inline carbonation, my base starting CO2 is ~ 1.8 volumes. Thus, I would like to add 0.7 volumes of CO2 (roughly 5,000 liters of CO2). 5,000 liters of CO2 over 8 hours is 615 liters per hour. I like to carb initially at 13 l.p.m., and can do a 60 bbl tank in about 8 hours really slowly. but in order to get 13 lpm through my stone, I need ~ 22.5 psi at the regulator.

          to check this follow these steps:

          If you have a glycerin filled pressure guage, screw that into a T/C X 1/4" fnpt fitting (http://www.gwkent.com/female-adaptor.html). Clamp that to a pneumatic fitting X T/C (http://www.gwkent.com/pneumatic-plug-tc-adaptor.html). Then figure out what pressure you need to get flow going through your stone. Bear in mind, at the beginning of carbonation will be your max flow rate (13 lpm). as you begin to reach saturation, the flow will slow, and ultimately stop, again, I am almost perfect 8 hours later.

          I say use a glycerin filled guage, b/c I find they are more accurate...give it a good 15 seconds before taking the pressure reading...

          Cheers
          Derek N. Luke
          Brewmaster
          Newport Storm Beers

          Comment


          • #95
            This is just the thread that keeps on going, and one that I keep coming back to.

            I was following these instructions to a T before: crash to 33 degrees, apply 10psi head pressure, open valve to carb stone. I installed the flowmeter from mcmaster and it worked great. I would open the flowmeter just so that it was barely flowing, I would have to increase the pressure 2-3 times until I reached around 14psi in the tank and done.

            These were 3bbl tanks and I just installed some 6bbl tanks that I double batch into. After I apply 10psi head pressure I open the carb stone valve but nothing flows. I have to increase the flow on my regulator to about 45psi and then it will start flowing. Here's where it gets confusing: I now have to keep lowering the pressure to keep the flow down. My initial thought was that the caarb stone was blocked and I needed to increase the pressure to unclog it and then start lowering it. I took all my carb stones out and figured my wetting pressure in a bucket of water. Everything seemed normal.

            Anyone had any thoughts on why this is responding like this?

            Comment


            • #96
              I have been trying this technique and it works OK but here is my problem. I continually blow through the head pressure prior to complete carbonation. I have the same flow meter as was recommended in this thread. I can not seem to get flow slow enough to stop this from happening. I also am surprised in the fact that I put pressure on the stone at a level just high enough to produce flow (as shown by flow meter) yet as blow through and head pressure increases even 5 plus psi above set level my flow continues. Are these a problem with my carbonation stone being of low quality or an issue with my flow controller. Thanks in advance.

              Comment


              • #97
                Originally posted by skelley View Post
                I have been trying this technique and it works OK but here is my problem. I continually blow through the head pressure prior to complete carbonation. I have the same flow meter as was recommended in this thread. I can not seem to get flow slow enough to stop this from happening. I also am surprised in the fact that I put pressure on the stone at a level just high enough to produce flow (as shown by flow meter) yet as blow through and head pressure increases even 5 plus psi above set level my flow continues. Are these a problem with my carbonation stone being of low quality or an issue with my flow controller. Thanks in advance.
                Flow is different from pressure. What pressure are you setting your regulator to? What is your head pressure? For example if your head pressure is 10 psi and your regulator is set to 20 psi, it won't matter how slow you flow. The pressure is still in excess of your head. You either need to be watching to stop it when you see the the gauge begin to move past the head pressure set point or you need to have the regulator set so that the flow will stop when you reach equilibrium. Example head @10psi, wetting pressure of stone 3psi, therefore 13psi on the regulator will cease to flow at equilibrium.

                Comment


                • #98
                  I can not get flow until my regulator pressure is at 30 psi. Therefore my wetting pressure of my stone is quite high. It has been since first use so I do not think it is about clogging. My head pressure begins to rise within 15 minutes. There is no way my beer is carbed appropriately. Also if head pressure rises in should put back pressure on my stone and stop it. At least that is what seems logically as long as I am working right at my minimum pressure to produce flow. What do I have wrong?

                  Comment


                  • #99
                    Sorry
                    My head pressure is at 13 psi when regulator at 30 psi to get any flow

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by skelley View Post
                      Sorry
                      My head pressure is at 13 psi when regulator at 30 psi to get any flow
                      That is the reason then. With a regulator at 30psi of course you will blow through a 13psi head. You need to know the wetting pressure of your stone ie, the pressure needed without any meter to get flow through the stone. If your stone is clogged and that is why you need 30 psi to get flow through it then that should be fixed. All that aside with 30psi on the regulator you can not leave it unattended, as you will blow past your head pressure everytime and over carb the batch.

                      Comment


                      • Wetting pressure is the pressure to produce and flow while in a shallow bucket of fluid vs good flow? Not sure. Although it has always taken 30 psi to get the flow meter to move. Maybe the problem is insensitivity of flow meter but I think wetting pressure plus head pressure plus column pressure of beer and pressure of the pressure release valve approaches 30 psi. No matter the number I do not get any flow until 30 psi and that is where I leave my regulator.

                        Comment


                        • Need some advice with this method....

                          Originally posted by gitchegumee View Post
                          Once transfer is complete, I raise the head pressure on the receiving tank (quickly) to saturation pressure at the carbonation level I want at that temperature. Then start carbonation slowly through a rotameter. Carbonation is done when the head pressure rises a tad and the rotameter slows to a trickle. I can carbonate 10hl in 3-5 hours this way. 20hl takes a bit longer and I let it go slowly over night. This is done without excess CO2, and with using the maximum amount of "natural" CO2.
                          I'd like to use the method above but it's not working well for me. I CO2 purge the brite tank, leave no pressure in it, transfer beer and chill to 32. Once it reaches temp, I use one CO2 line and regulator coming in thru the CIP port to set the desired end head pressure for that temp: say, 7 psi for 2.5 volumes at 32 degrees. The other regulator and line comes in thru the bottom diffuser via the rotameter you suggested. I start with 0 pressure on the diffuser regulator then slowly increase until the rotameter ball stabilizes at 3 (in this case that's about 15psi). My expectation at this point is for the rotameter to slowly drop from 3 to zero indicating that the beer has absorbed all the CO2 it can at that temp and at a head pressure of 7. What is actually happening is that the head pressure continues rising (from 7 to almost 10 this morning after a couple hours). I slowly bleed off the excess head pressure to continue carbing thru the diffuser but this seems counter to your original instructions.

                          Can anyone point out where I'm going wrong? All advice welcome and appreciated. Thanks!

                          Comment


                          • I can not but this seems to be the problems. Either you blow through and raise head space pressure before carbonation complete and/or the flow continues. It seem that if the rotometer was sensative enough that you produce your flow at the lowest possible pressure on the regulator to the stone at a given head pressure the flow would stop as you bleed through and increase head pressure. I do not get it either. Maybe the rotometer is not sensative enough to show flow as soon as it occurs??? Thanks to anyone who can explain this but it seems at least a couple of us can not get this method to work as stated in this thread.

                            Comment


                            • It's been explained numerous times in this thread and others and honestly is pretty basic level stuff. The rotameter means nothing. It's only an indicator of flow. If your regulated pressure is greater than the head pressure then what do you think is going to happen? Read back through the entire thread and other ones that deal with this same topic. Good luck.

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by soia1138 View Post
                                It's been explained numerous times in this thread and others and honestly is pretty basic level stuff. The rotameter means nothing. It's only an indicator of flow. If your regulated pressure is greater than the head pressure then what do you think is going to happen? Read back through the entire thread and other ones that deal with this same topic. Good luck.
                                Since my regulated pressure on the carb stone is about 15, and the combination line loss and stone wetting pressure is about 7 psi, I reason that there remains 8 psi pushing against the 7 psi of initial head pressure, for a net 1psi of CO2 leaving the carb stone and dissolving into the beer. What I think is going to happen is that the beer will absorb the CO2 bubbling thru it until it gets close to equilibrium then the excess CO2 will start to pass thru the saturated beer and raise the tank pressure to about 8 psi before the rotameter stops. Basic level stuff or not, that's not happening for me and I'm hoping someone can point out where I am going wrong in either my logic or technique. Thanks.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X