Keg Lid Carbonation Stone

[Jhonntan Gonzalez]

Hello guys!

I recently bought a keg lid with a carbonation stone to start kegging and carbonating my beer.
I was wondering if you guys have any insight on how to use it.

I have followed the following steps:

1. lower keg temperature to 39F
2. apply carbonation stone at 4PSI for 30 minutes
3. increased by 4PSI at 60 minutes
4. Increased by 4PSI at 90 minutes to reach to a 12PSI for 2.5 volumes of CO2

I let my keg at 12 PSI for around 3 hours and tried to pour a sample to test if the beer was getting some carbonation. It results in my beer was totally flat.

I decided to test if the carbonation stone was still attached to the lead so I relieved the pressure and took the lid out(first error) my keg started foaming, had to struggle to close it again.

So here are some questions for you guys:

1. how long should I let my keg rest before taking the lid out and change it to other kegs?
2. Is there a better way to use the carbonation stone than the instructions I am following?
3. the flatness and foam of my beer could be due to the line length vs pressure I am using? (I currently use a 1/4" LUPULUS III tubing of around 3-foot length and I am sampling at 12 PSI)

Thank you all for taking the time to read!

 

[balrog]

Time.

CO2 does not dissolve instantly into liquid, esp cold liquid which while it holds more dissolved CO2 will not dissolve CO2 faster.

Let it settle a couple days. Also, to keep from stirring up sediment constantly, you'll want to switch CO2 input to the regular gas in port rather than pumping all CO2 in to the bottom of the keg through the carb stone, every pour.

 

[S-Met]

Simple solution.

You skipped one critical step - TIME

You can burst carb without the stone at 30-40 psi while agitating your brew in hopes of tapping the next day.

At low pressures, you need to let it absorb into solution, possibly as little as a week, but 2 weeks is better.

 

[Vale71]

If your keg started foaming so badly that you had trouble closing it up again then it's not possible for the beer not to have been carbonated.
Does the beer foam excessively when you pour? If that's the case your system is either unbalanced or the beer is overcarbed or possibly a combination of both factors. If you pour mostly foam and then let it settle you'll inevitably have a glass of flat and somewhat oxidized beer.

P.S. If you don't want to run the risk of taking a beer shower and possibly having to repaint the room you should give up on the idea of swapping lids. That's like opening about 40 bottles of beer at the same time and hoping they don't start foaming before you can cap them again...

 

[Advance]

I use the carb stone keg lid that morebeer sells. It has worked well for me, but it did take some tinkering in order to achieve consistent results. The first thing I did was change out the plastic tubing that connects the barb on the lid to the barb for the stone. Mine arrived with deep scratches on the exterior of the tubing that I thought would be an infection risk. The length of the tubing was also too long, which made the stone rub around on the bottom of my keg, and made the lid harder to install. The tubing I used for the replacement was John guest 3/8 OD x 1/4 ID Polyethylene, which I believe is the same tubing that the lid came with. I can't give you the exact length I used because my lid is currently in service, but the length placed the stone ~3-4 inches above the floor of the keg when installed. In addition to the tubing length modification, I also rigged together a 1/4 mfl gas disconnect with a 0-30 psi pressure gauge. This gauge is installed on the gas/IN post on the keg during carbonation and let's me know the current head pressure, which really helps dial in carbonation levels. The process I use after transferring the beer into the keg and getting it to the temperature I want is as follows:

1. With the head pressure gauge installed, bleed the head pressure down to 2-3 psi using the kegs PRV.
2. Set your regulator to 5psi and purge the line of oxygen by pressing the poppet in the gas disconnect that will be attached to the lids gas/IN post. Sanitize the disconnect before installing on the post.
3. Wait for the fridge compressor to kick off it it is currently running.
4. Slowly increase the regulator pressure until you can hear the stone release CO2 bubbles. Stop if you hit 7-8 psi on the regulator and still can't hear them. Wait 30 mins and monitor the head pressure gauge. If the head pressure has risen, good, do nothing. If it has not, turn the regulator 1/8 of a turn CW and check the gauge again in 30 mins. Repeat this until the head pressure shows a increase. If the head pressure is not climbing it means you more than likely have a leak somewhere.
5. Monitor the head pressure as it climbs. When it appears to have plateaued. Turn the regulator about 1/8 of a turn CW and monitor for the next one. Continue to do this until the head pressure is 1 psi below the pressure that you want for your desired carb level.
6. Let the keg sit for a day or so. During this time the head pressure should increase 1 psi to reach your desired pressure and the CO2 will have a better tendency to remain in solution when the beer is disturbed. The beer will also have a chance to settle any trub that was kicked up during the carbonation process.

I bottle my beer from the keg, so I have never tried removing the carb lid from a keg full of carbonated beer. If I were to attempt doing it I would make sure to allow the keg to rest for at least three days after hitting the target head pressure. I would meticulously move the keg with minimum jostling to a work area that you could make a mess in. Once there pull the kegs PRV and see if foam starts squirting out. If it does STOP, if not and the head pressure gauge reads zero, pull the PRV once more. If no foam exists, try to exchange the lid.

The better and more fool proof way would be to do a counter pressure transfer of the beer to another keg. This would free up your carb lid without the risk of losing your beer and sanity in cleaning up the potential mess.