Carbonating your drinks is a crucial skill to learn when purchasing a Kegerator Kit. It’s not only important in making sure your drink won’t be frothy but also plays an important role in making sure your drink tastes good.
This article will take you through the methods of carbonation and different pressure required for different drinks.
What Pressure is required?
First of it’s important to know that pressure is measured in the unit PSI. The greater the PSI the more carbon dioxide pumped into your keg, resulting in a more bubbly, foamy drink and greater serving speed. It’s also important to note this differs for each kegerator and the below should only be used as a guide.
-
Beer:
(Source: https://content.kegworks.com/blog/determine-right-pressure-for-your-draft-beer-system/)
- Seltzer/Mixed drinks:
15psi for serving, 25-30 for carbonation and post use.
Methods:
Pressure over time:
The safest method is to carbonate your drink to the desired pouring pressure and let it sit to 5-8 days however it’s often the case that we’ll want our drink sooner.
Speeding it up
- Bump up the pressure: In order to speed up the process you can increase the pressure. In the case of a beer you could pump it up to 30psi and leave for a couple days then revert back to pouring pressure for a period.
- Get it moving: Shaking and rolling the keg at a high pressure (30-50psi) will increase the surface area coming in contact with the CO2 increase the speed of carbonation. Do this for just under a minute and allow 10-15 minutes to settle
*Why not do this all the time? Speeding up the process can result in the risk of over carbonation.
Carbonation Tips
- Carbonates quicker in the fridge
- To fix an over carbonated beer, release the gas and pull the pressure release valve, gently shake and let it sit.