Ask The Brewmasters

This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

Hello,

I know stone size, stone condition, beer density, etc. play a role here, but...

Can anyone shed some light on how to ~quickly~ carb beer while following the standard carb calculation (wetting pressure, height of beer in tank, etc.)? 

• are you setting head pressure higher than equilibrium and slowly bleeding off, to try to get beer in solution more quickly?
• are you setting head pressure about 1-2psi below equilibrium, and how long does that take?
• are you slowly increasing stone pressure during the process?

Does anyone have a carb calculator for calculating via cubic feet and what does the timing look like on this?

Does anyone have a standard calculation (as stated above) calculator, and what does timing look like on this?

Thanks in advance for any assistance here!

I cannot attest to our process being the best one but it works for us.  Based on temperature and target volumes of CO2 we decide what pressure we are aiming for in the tank, for example 11psi.  We would then set the head pressure at 10 psi.  Then based on wetting pressure and beer height we set the CO2 pressure, for example 18psi, and start running Co2 through the carb stone.  Then we simply leave it.  We have a flow meter on the Co2 line so we can see confirm we have CO2 going in.  We know we are near or at the target volumes because the head pressure will bump up to the target toward the end and flow will stop in the line.  This is not a fast process.  It often takes a day to fully carb a 4bbl tank, but it is pretty easy and doesn't require us constantly checking things.  

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Patrick Brown
Brewer
2nd Story Ale Works
Tokushima, Japan
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When necessary, we have had some success using a "feed n' bleed" method: keeping the bleed out of the blow off arm regulated so the head pressure remains constant on the tank as the stone is feeding CO2.  Note, we try not to use this process unless we're really pushed to get the beer packaged as it will inevitably lead to some loss in aromatics. 

I usually like to keep the tank at 15 psi head pressure and my stone anywhere from 30-40 psi (depending on tank size) and running the feed n bleed for approx 15-20 min before taking a reading and reassessing.  I'll manipulate how open I keep the blow off valve based on keeping that tank head pressure around 14-15 psi (any lower, you risk gassing out, any higher and the process might not work as effectively).

Hope this helps!  Cheers!

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Drew Kostic
Cellar Manager
Oskar Blues Brewery, LLC
Brevard NC
(828) 883-2337
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