If I want to achieve the “perfect” carbonation level as well as the perfect pour, do I need to factor in line restriction? What do you guys do to achieve the perfect volume of CO2 when kegging and serving?
Okay so Jamil Zainasheff, John Palmer, and the MoreBeer guys all agree that the following chart should be followed when force carbonating a beer*:
*This photo is from http://www.draft-beer-made-easy.com; I could not figure out how to get a Carbonation chart I saved in flickr to show up in my post.
Therefore, if my beer is at 34 degrees and I want to hit approximately 2.25 volumes of CO2, then my target PSI on my regulator should be around 7.
MoreBeer has this handy instructional pdf, here, and they recommend that “to maintain that Co2 level throughout, you should serve with that same pressure set on your regulator.” However, the paragraph directly proceeding that statement seems to contradict it by talking about “line restriction”:
“Another factor when serving beer is line restriction. A simple way of calculating restriction is with tubing. Typical beer line is 3/16” I.D. tubing with a wall thickness of about 1/8”. This tubing will give you roughly 2 PSI of restriction per linear foot used. You can also factor in some restriction from the beer going through the quick disconnect on the keg and the faucet itself. So, if you were to use five feet of typical 3/16” beverage line this would give you roughly 10 PSI so you would serve at 10-12 PSI to balance the restriction to maintain a balanced pour.”
So does anybody serve at a higher PSI then you carbonate? And, if so, doesn’t ramping up the PSI to serve increase the volumes of CO2 in the keg, thus over-carbonating the beer and changing its character?