Brew UK Forum | General Brewing Discussions
Force carbonation
Hey guys;
This is something I had looked into a fair while ago and never really drew any conclusions from... Is it feasible to force-carbonate *and bottle* at home? Not for the desire to have no sediment, but to have something carbonated at a higher ABV than yeasts would tolerate; obviously it is possible as the likes of Brewdog have shown with Sink The Bismark at 41%, even though the style is not heavily carbonated.
Planning: Hardcore IPA clone
Fermenting: Damson pale
Conditioning: Morello Cherry Lambic 2
Drinking: Schneider Weisse Tap 7 clone, Morello Cherry Lambic 1, Rauchbier
Fermenting: Damson pale
Conditioning: Morello Cherry Lambic 2
Drinking: Schneider Weisse Tap 7 clone, Morello Cherry Lambic 1, Rauchbier
Responses
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
I expect you could with a cornelius keg set up as you could force carbonate the beer as per normal then bottle and cap. I suppose to get rid of oxidization you could blast some co2 in bottles then fill so the beer should only come in contact with co2 and no air. Im not sure you would get a "pssst" sound when you open as the beer would be carbonated but there wont be any excess pressure.
Plannin'-
Loads a beer after an upgrade!
nathbrew@gmail.com
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Steve,
Word of warning on the whole Corny thing- It was an option I spent some time exploring last year but in the end I had to give up; I just couldn't find a decent (and reasonably-priced) supplier of CO2 in NI. Tried a load of places like BOC, Calor, AirLiquide, etc to no avail. The next avenue was going to be, maybe, welding suppliers, but I lost heart and opted for another King Keg in the end.
I'd be interested in hearing what your experiences were.
Cheers,
-Barry
Fermenting: Marston's Pedigree
Conditioning (Bottles): Warsteiner Lager Clone
Drinking (King Keg): Fullers London Pride
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Hi Steve. I know this is right because I've worked in GK's bottling line. In a commercial brewery the beer is cooled to somewhere close to freezing. The tank it is in is then pressurised, I think to around 60 psi, with Co2. The Co2 then dissolves into the beer because of the high pressure and is retained because of the low temperature. It then goes in the bottles and is capped within a few seconds of it leaving the pressurised tank. Enough Co2 escapes before the cap goes on to fill the airspace. As the beer warms again Co2 is released to pressurise the bottle. The whole process is very carfully controlled. I have no idea the pressure a Corny will take, so .... if you have a big enough fridge .... and a warm enough anorak ..... and a suit of armour ....
Planning: - To get some more brews on now the weather's a bit cooler
Fermenting: - Ginger Beer experiment
Conditioning: - A normal bitter with Styrians
Drinking: - All of it!!
E-mail: arnyfris@gmail.com
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Thanks guys, but I'm not planning to get a Corny keg system. I guess I'll stick to mucking around with eisbocks without carbonating the end product
Barry - have you found anywhere to get S30 refills? I went to Natures Way the other week and they aren't doing it any more; though they had a fair pile of used ones sitting by the till.
Fermenting: Damson pale
Conditioning: Morello Cherry Lambic 2
Drinking: Schneider Weisse Tap 7 clone, Morello Cherry Lambic 1, Rauchbier
Posted 1 year ago by Member
I use a CO2 tap on a minikeg. You get impressive carbonation with the valve on full! Not exactly forced carbonation but gives you an impressive head.
Fermenting:
Condtioning:
Drinking: Twibute Clone, PJ Clone
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Steve,
That is disappointing. I phoned Nature's Way last summer and they told me they didn't do S30 refills anymore. Then at Christmas my wife picked me up a copy of their latest price list and S30 refills were included, but after what you've just found out it seems I got my hopes up prematurely
So to answer your question - it's back to my original plan of posting my empties back to this site and then including a refill as part of larger grain order, to keep postage costs down. There are places down south that do refills but again you'll get shafted with postage unless you've got relatives in Roscommon or Athlone that you regularly visit.
I did look into using sodastream cannisters with the S30 adaptor, but hardly anywhere do the old 35L SS cannisters anymore. There's a place on the Woodstock Road that still do them but the guy on the phone told me that it won't be indefinitely.
-Barry
Fermenting: Marston's Pedigree
Conditioning (Bottles): Warsteiner Lager Clone
Drinking (King Keg): Fullers London Pride
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Hi guys
Slightly off topic but I primed and bottled my way to amerallo last Sunday and left for a week inside and tried one on Sunday night past before putting the batch in the shed to make room for my next brew and it had an ok amount of carbonation and lovely head retention.
Tried two this evening and no carbonation what so ever just a slight psst when i opened the beer
is the beer ruined or if i bring it in and leave for another couple of week should carbonation build back up ?
Sam
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