A few CO2 Questions

[Dailybrewz]

I am sure all of this has been covered, but I need to get to the brewery and I am running out of search time. I will check back periodically and thanks in advance for any help. I have 4- 3.5 bbl uni-tanks. My goal is to drop the temp to 32 -34 in the uni-tanks and carbonate via an 8" stone for 8 hours. Then transfer to 1/2 bbl kegs. Yesterday was my first attempt and it did not go as planned. Questions: To carbonate the beer can I just set the co2 psi and leave it for 8 hours? Do I just follow a carbonation chart using temperature and desired carbonation levels for the beer? How do I know if I am getting the desired results? If I need to continue to carbonate, can I do it in the sanke and how would I do that? Also, it took hours to transfer into 6- 1/2 bbl kegs. What is the best way to keep co2 pressure on the beer in the uni-tank? What is the best setup to transfer the beer? I am using a beer nut and a beer line hooked to a coupler and a counter pressure fob. Very slow! Another co2 question: how do I know how much co2 to use for each beer line coming from my cold room to the taps? The cold room is in the basement and the taps are directly above, so nothing over 20' in run.
Thank You,
Cheers!

[srooch2]

It sounds like you don't have a zahm & nagel, this will be a good investment in the future but I understand they are expensive. That being said I have never used a chart before so I will just explain what I do. It's always important to cap off the beer towards the end of fermentation and allow some head pressure to build up before crashing. I always like to have about 10 lbs of head pressure before crashing, this will absorb in the beer when you crash and gives it a good jump start. If I don't build up 10 lbs, I will put that much head pressure on the tank and then crash. Make sure your beer is down to temp before starting to carb. Remember, every brewery will do things a little different and you need to develop your own process that works for you so take good notes, even at this stage. Once your temp is down, I will add 10 lbs of head pressure again and set my regulator to 12 lbs psi and start carbing. It usually takes us around 8 hrs. The head pressure will help keep the carb stone co2 from bleeding into the head space which can add on a lot of time. You shouldn't see any pressure build on the gauge which is fine. This is where I'm not sure if I can help as I've never used a chart before, I guess you will have to check it by sight and mouthfeel. Maybe someone else has experience with the chart system. You can carb in a keg by just reversing the hookups in your coupler, again, the only way to tell if it's done is by pouring some out. In regards to filling kegs, are you hooking the co2 to the cip/blowoff arm? You just need to remove from the stone and hook up to that arm and leave it on as you fill, this will be enough pressure to push the beer into the kegs rather quickly. If it's the fob i'm thinking of on the keg filler hook up, you can remove this and run a regular line off of the coupler into a bucket or the drain. The fob's I used at my last brewery did take a little longer but if you have head pressure shouldn't be too long. I cannot help with the coldroom question, my guess would be 20 lbs to run that far but I think you will just have to test that. Maybe someone else can give more help on that subject. I'm not sure if I helped at all but there it is. Good luck.

[dick murton]

There are a number of threads about this on this board. Have a quick search - the most recent one is very comprehensive.

Start off having a look at the Meheen website where they have a section "the Dynamics of Carbonation" (or similar text). Judging by other comments, you can't go far wrong following those guidelines.