Excellent video. I've been struggling with carb management and looking at this device to help solve the issue. This convinces me that it's a tool I can utilize to overcome my carb issues and utilize for other tasks (i.e. transferring from glass carboy to keg....brilliant) as well. Thanks for posting!
Thanks Bruce! I certainly do like the device. I have used it on hundreds of batches. I have some other videos on a pressure transfer that work great.. Here is the method I use. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qgR51xV1Uu4.html
Nice, thorough job with the video. You should also be able to use this for cleaning keg lines. I've also used a similar setup with my conical to do a recirc dry hop in an hour instead of a few days.
Wow I had not even heard of this thing before. Thanks for the great review. Looks like a lot of side uses for that thing. I for one think the in line oxygenation is a really cool concept. Would love to see if you try it out on a brewday. Cheers and thanks again for a great review.
A bit of a pain for 1 keg and a Godsend for multiple kegs. Had an overly leaky pump that could not be saved.Bblichmann was very good in sending me an update. Absolutely love it now.
I bought one. Used it once. Yes it works. It is more precise. I find that after kegging 5 gallons, if I place the keg on my lap and rock it back and forth while CO2 is hooked up at 30 PSI, about 35 seconds is the magic time for a close-to-perfect-but-not-overcarbed keg. Light on the first day, but a day in the kegerator and it's good to go. Easier to add more than remove it. That's at 40°F after cold crashing. YMMV
Yann Leroux Thanks!! I have a few things I have learned since I started using it. I am planning to do a video on those tips in the near future.. Cheers mate!! 🍻
Hi, as said before, I bought my Quick Carb and I really enjoy it. Thanks again for this video. Talking about the other possible uses of the Quick Carb, I think it will be interesting to use it (with little modification) to make an hop gun for K-Keg. What do you think about it? I would like to do it, could you give me some tips or advices? Cheers, Yann
Nate T. you'll really like it for sure. If you're on Facebook or Instagram go look up my post with a quick tip that I put out recently on it about releasing some of the pressure Midway through the carbonation cycle. Cheers enjoy it!🍻
Finally got this running properly a few days ago. I have the newest version with an on and off switch and compression fittings. I found that making sure everything was tightened correctly stopped any leaks. Also making sure the carbonator is on level ground. (First I had it resting inside the suitcase it came with, bad idea.) I only had to carbonate for 30 minutes at 20 PSI for my Hazy IPA (50 F) until the line ran clear. However at first the beer was a bit over carbonated. I waited until it cooled down to about 38 degrees and it came out great!
Thanks for a very informative and well-done review. I just won a QuickCarb at HomeBrewCon2018 and hope to use it soon (Independence Day Brew Day in just a few days!) -- I really appreciate the explorations into supplemental uses; do you see an application to wort chilling?
I got mine for Christmas on sail for $175 + shipping. The only problems with it were the supplied lines were very thin walled and the clamps they supplied for them were to large to properly seal and the lines crimped under the weight of the liquid. They should lower the price or give thick walled lines that would fit the supplied clamps. Also I brew my own soda and found that about 20+ psi is about right at about 40*F
Word of warning! Pipe thread is tapered. As you tighten it, you are basically driving a wedge into the hole. I am responsible for a fairly large facility and use a lot of those little pumps and valves. I can not tell you how many of them have been destroyed by my guys over tightening the fittings.
I ordered one and can't wait to return it. Without a doubt the worst homebrew purchase ever been made next to Whitelabs lazy yeast. Pump doesn't prime and leaks like a sieve even through the pump body. Am re sanitizing just soI can send it back!
Really?? I have only had an issue with the inlet hose leaking at the barb when i did not have it flush all the way down. Sorry to hear about your issue.
Good glad to hear!!! something I never thought about initially was how much pressure 12 - 15 Psi is and how the slightest thing will cause a leak. Really hope you can use it until they can get it replaced. Cheers!
Think I'm good after locating the pinhole. Started to disconnect the running rig and all of a sudden it primed. That was the giveaway I had an air (beer) leak.
Cool video, was wondering about this and or trying to make one. Really like the idea for other uses. Was looking for a pump to transfer from carboy to carboy and to kegs. Like the idea of the beer not touching oxygen, or even to a small keg as I was looking at getting one to experiment with different yeast, dry hops, again, etc..... thanks would love to see a video on keg to carboy or keg transfer. Thanks again really been enjoying your videos... cheers
@@ShortCircuitedBrewers awesome, maybe even some more description in reply? Maybe I should just re watch the video and I am sure I can figure it out! LOL thanks again.
@@ShortCircuitedBrewers no not really was just around the transfer process. Still using glass carboys for now, was thinking about how to use a low pressure transfer to avoid oxygen. Thought about the double nipple caps for carboy and add low CO2 to transfer or maybe better a small pump like you suggested with the quick carb? That may be eaier
Just want to mention that Blichmann has just come out with a new version with stainless steel fittings and and an on and off switch. Just purchased one from Amazon a week ago
@@ShortCircuitedBrewers Actually I'm not sure if the older version did not have stainless steel fittings. I just saw in one review that this was a new feature. In the manual it says the tee is stainless steel. imgur.com/3Lq40sw imgur.com/3Lq40sw
@@ShortCircuitedBrewers Actually I'm not sure if the fittings are different from the first version, I just read in a review that the new one had stainless steel fittings and fixed the leaking issue that some people were having. Also instead of the clear plastic that they use in the first version, they use a better material for the body of the QuickCarb
Totally. Opened mine yesterday and I was like "where do all of these things go!?" And who likes reading instructions??? Thanks agaiN! Nice setup! Jealous.
Awesome! You'll love it for sure.. only other tip I would add. make sure and clean off the outside surfaces of the "in" post. It does get sticky if you don't. Cheers!!
Haven't done it yet, but I just got the hardware to use the QuickCarb out of my conical into the "Out" of the keg. I will pressurize the keg with CO2 and then add an adjustable spunding valve to the keg. Saves CO2 and I plan to go ahead and hit it with CO2 through the air stone just to get a head start on the carbonation.
I just would purge it with bottled CO2, but it would make me feel fancy to do it with the CO2 from fermentation. I just like the idea of the CO2 in the keg with now O2, but thing I need the spunding valve to release CO2 pressure as to not provide too much back pressure to the QuickCarb pump. Might not be necessary given the PSI of the pump, but I have the valve already and like to justify purchases to myself.
James Elliott OK I understand.. The pump is VERY strong.. Only issue with hitting the beer with CO2 during transfer is the foaming. Have you seen my other video with the quickcarb and fermentasuarus?? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mODk7JZZInQ.html
I did and that is a good point. I think I will hook it up and not hit it with CO2. I HIGHLY doubt any CO2 could get sucked in through the stone during the transfer, put hooking it up saves me a step later and seals up the stone.
I am pretty sure it is... it puts out quite a few PSI, I have seen some comments about people using it for that. Only thing to watch out for is the keg posts getting clogged. I did dry hop in a muslin bag in the keg and got a clogged outlet post and it stopped carbing. Thanks for commenting and watching! Cheers!
Brian, Any chance you can review a corny keg carbonating lid? Pretty sure morebeer has them. I would like to see you compare the results. Thanks for all the great videos.
Short Circuited Brewers or just a review of the corny keg lid. I have heard good results, but I still just use burst carb and have beer in a few days vs week. A few hours is really tempting.
Håkon Boman here are the specs: PUMP Power:6 - 12 VDC, 2A Max Pressure: 50PSI (0.4MPA) Flow: 0.5-1.0 GPM (2-4 LPM) POWER SUPPLY Output:DC6V / 2000 mA Look like you could run this off of a 6 volt lantern battery.
That's a sweet looking sink you got there. Did you have to get it from a restaurant supply or where you able to find it one of the box home improvement stores?
That sink was in my old brewery. It was off of eBay. Have you seen my new brewery? I have an entire series on it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-O1TC3iNd1ro.html
@@ShortCircuitedBrewers My first go with this thing was some un-chilled mead (about 60 F). I had to REALLY crank the pressure to keep the foam in the "out line" from the pump. I noticed that if I bled some pressure off the keg with its release, that the line would foam up again. I wonder if that's helping.
@@ShortCircuitedBrewers Yep, lesson learned. From now on I'll carb it up after I cold-crash; I just didn't have the coils set up for this batch. I guess I could just lay the keg down in the bathtub and put ice on it haha
Thank you for your great video. I have some issues with my CO2 line. It looks like there is liquid coming inside from the pipe (every time). Any idea about what I can do?
Make sure that you purge all of the pressure from your keg before you hook up the quick carb. Also be sure that you turn your gas on before you turn the pump on. Finally about 20 to 30 minutes into the carbonation cycle purge the pressure from the keg just a little bit by opening the pressure valve. Just in quick little bursts and that will help keep the beer from going back into the gas line. Hope that helps! Cheers! 👍🍻
Short Circuited Brewers @ 30psi i bet that would be too much pressure for the plate chiller (williams). Im thinking about a pressure regulating return line, with adjustable poppet, to control pressure. Almost like a spunding valve. Hmmmmmm. Email sent to Blichman .
With the included air stone the holes are pretty small and I would say probably 5 PSI would do the job. Just paying attention to what your wort looks like going into the fermenter and that'll tell you if you need to raise or lower it by how much foam it is creating
Got my Blichman Riptide pump yesterday, ordered early december. Exept for all the other parts included in the Quick Carb set, does this pump have totally different specs. compared to the Riptide - meaning, would it be possible/impossible to use a Riptide in this constallation, if having the other parts already ?
It is a totally different pump.the riptide is an impeller pump and the quickcarb is a diaphragm pump. They don't work the same at all. Not recommended to use the riptide in that fashion.
Lew Brew I am not sure what the temperature range is on it. I will see if I can find anything out in the literature I think it is not high temp but I'll let you know.
Have you found a way to save all the beer that remains in the lines when done carbonating? Granted it's not a lot, but it would be nice to be able to send it all back into the keg.
It will pump most of the beer back into the keg, as the pump does not require any liquid to continue pumping. Realistically.. it is less than a couple ounces.. which I am not to worried about. Cheers, thank for watching! -Brian
I'll be plugging mine (should arrive early next week!) into the same foot switch I use on the drill for milling grain. The fact that it's hands free is a bonus! www.harborfreight.com/power-maintained-foot-switch-96618.html
This is an interesting gadget but seems to involve so much extra work in terms of setup, time, and cleanup over just throwing the keg in the fridge and let it carbonate on its own over a few days. People are just too impatient nowadays wanting everything immediately. I guess I'm showing my age because I seem to have enough patience to wait it out.
Guilty as charged Larry.. Lol I enjoy mine but it does add some work. I will say that I "think" I can dial in carbonation levels a little better than the old 30 psi for a couple days then drop it down.. What type method are you using? Beersmith profiles show 30 days at a certain PSI.. I have never done that myself.
Short Circuited Brewers I just dock it in the fridge at my desired final pressure (10-12 psi) and wait about 5 days. If in a hurry, I jack it to 25-30 in the fridge and give a it quick shake a few times a day for about two days before doing it back down to regular pressure.
How is the efficiency of this compared to normal carbonation? Would you think it uses more or less CO2? Also, I know you where demonstrating the product, but it looks like it would be designed to carbonate in a keezer to keep the beer cold. Think that would work?
I am going to weigh the Co2 bottle before and after my next carbonation. Dont think it uses any more that any other form of carbonation. It is a closed system. You are 100% correct I do leave my kegs in the keezer when carbonating. It does work better. on thing I learned from using it as well is to slightly purge the pressure of the keg about midway through carbonating, because the pressures equalize and the Co2 stops flowing into the beer as much. I really like it all things considered. Been using it for about a year now and now complaints at all. Cheers!
Was my first time using it today. Beer went clear thru the line back into the keg after. Nice strong head when pouring but when tasting , it’s flat ? I’m so confused.
@@ShortCircuitedBrewers you talk about how tight you have to screw everything together with to avoid leaks. I figure a couple wraps with plumbers tape on the treads could seal it off so you don't have to worry so much
@@joshsmith7692 I understand the thought process there but everything is compression fittings and O-ring sealed so the seal does not actually occur in the threads which would be taken care of by plumbers tape so no you wouldn’t want to use it
I'm definitely thinking of getting one of these, but I have a (possibly stupid) question here. As with filling the keg before carbing, I always fill the keg with co2, bleed it off, then open it, fill it with beer, seal it up and carb it. Is the same procedure used for this way also? I'm guessing it will be on the count that if the empty kegged wasn't pre carbed it would still introduce oxygen into the beer. Did I just answer my own question? lol I ask only because I was also concerned with the possibility of overcarbing if it's pre-filled with c02.
Of course, I wrote this halfway through watching the video and my question was answered toward the end when you were showing it could be used for racking also. HAHA Cheers!
Lol.. no problem, I know it is a pretty long video. I did try to make it as short as possible, but wanted to cover as many details about it as I could.. thanks for sticking it out to the later parts. You won't regret your purchase for sure! Cheers! -Brian
when using a closed transfer could you hook the in line to your fernenter and the out line to your fermenter is empty and then switch to to the keg line?
When you showed the transfer from the carboy to the keg, would it work if I hooked up a racking kane to the end of the hose so I wouldn't suck up any trub when I transfer?
Gotcha.. Yeah I would say you could do it. Purge the O2 out of quick carb and the run a little through the unit first. Don't thing I would try to carb at the same time...lol
hello, I used this Quickcarb to carbonate my beer, but when bottled (with a BeerGun) I get too much foam in the bottle and almost no beer, after finally filling the bottle I tap it. And when I try my beer it does not have almost gas or sometimes nothing ...... do you have any advice that can help me with this? I would greatly appreciate it :)...... nice videoo and hi from Colombia
I would try chilling the bottles so they are cold when filling them. (I would put in a freezer and get them frozen) and make sure you are filling the bottles from a cold keg.
@@ShortCircuitedBrewers Thank you very much for this information. It's all about lowing temperature in all the process. Now I got a very solid, not flat, Irish Stoud. :)
I was using the wrong word - my regulator has a male barb, not a flare. The Quick Carb has a female flare screw on fitting, but it doesn't attach to the male barb. I assume some sort of additional connector is needed?
okay that makes sense you should be able to swap out the mail barb for a flare fitting you could probably take the hose from the quick carb down to Home Depot and find a flare fitting that is the same size as the threads on the barb and just swap it out.. only thing is if you have it hooked to a Kegerator then you would have to sqap your line in to the Kegerator to swivel barb. this should be what you need to convert your keg linewww.brewhardware.com/product_p/fflbarb14.htm
I set it to serving pressure. the results in the video are from the one hour of carbonating. I do find that you might want to adjust the carbonation slightly after a day of it sitting in your kegerator but once you get it dialed in with the pressure you'll be able to do it without having to adjust the next day.
ZmannR2 it really isn't that complicated to be honest with you. I carbonated a beer last night assembly and sanitization take about 2 to 3 minutes if that. After I'm done I run cleaner(pbw or equivalent) through it for 15-20 minutes. After that I run clean water through it for about 5... hang up the hoses and I'm done.
Short Circuited Brewers Before this, what was your method? I've been doing about 40 psi for 24 hrs and it's been about right. Maybe a little flat but gets to perfection within another day.
ZmannR2 yeah I would do like 30 PSI for 24 hours then drop it down to 20 for another 24 hours and then down to serving pressure and it was usually pretty close. What I like about this thing is that you can serve right after you carbonate I know people will say that the shake method and all that you can serve it right after but I've never had any luck with that. A lot of people say it's a waste of money and too complicated. I understand that opinion, however I really enjoy mine and that's what matters to me.
Maybe put the hops in a muslin bag or cheesecloth bag with a float attached? idk. I just ended up bending the feed tube up a little to stay well off the bottom. oh well some beer is wasted. Brew some more!
Hi, Good video, question of quick carbonating the Keg can you put it back in kegerator, without Connecting C02 on it en leave till you wanna drink it or should you still have a 5-8 PSI C02 on it after quick carbonating while in kegerator
Sure, as long as you don't bleed off any of the pressure after carbonation it will have pressure in it..you wont need any Co2 hooked up to it.. I do it all the time.. Cheers! -Brian.. (I am actually carbonating a beer right now.. lol... we will be doing a live tasting at 2pm today)
Yes it is actually. I have discovered if you crack open the relief valve for a split second or 2 it will start bubbling again. What happens is the pressure equalizes and it slows the CO2 from going into the beer as fast. Try it I am sure you see a difference. Cheers! 👍🍻
Sorry, I meant the relief valve on the keg itself. not on the regulator. I have another video on the quickcarb showing what happens inside the keg when you use it. Here is a link if you want to check it out. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mODk7JZZInQ.html
I need some help hooking this up to my Co2 tank regulator. The regulator I purchased only had hose connect fittings and the quick carb uses 1/4" flare fitting. Do you know the exact fitting I need to purchase so I can get this thing hooked up? Much much appreciated if you could help me out.
No you would not be able to do that. The quick carb would create too much foam. It works with the keg since it is under constant pressure. If you want to see what happens inside the keg check this video out. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mODk7JZZInQ.html
Probably not advisable. The pressure built up in the system might cause filter failure. The other issue is forcing the beer through filter media is going to cause the CO2 to come out of solution, counteracting the thing you are trying to achieve. I would filter first then carb.
There is a possibility to have some beer coming back into the CO2 line what caused it do you know? I have noticed that if you don't turn the pump off before you turn the CO2 off you can have some beer pushed back into the CO2 line.
Yeah I learned I have to really tighten everything down. how long have you been carbonating for? the turbulence does reduce after not too long of a period of time have you tried making sure your tank is above the keg. It also won't hurt anything to increase the pressure going into the keg by a few PSI to force the beer out of the CO2 line then you can purge some of the pressure using the valve on the top of the keg and drop the pressure back down.
Short Circuited Brewers I can't thank you enough for your help today, I raised the pressure and I got it working, however I didn't get a steady flow, after 10 minutes of bubbles it settled. Then after 30 minutes no carbonation at 25 psi. I think my regulator is bad
I have never measured Craig. That is a good question! The next time I use it I will weigh the tank before and after and let you know. I will be using it this weekend. I will share my findings with you. Cheers! 🍻
@@ShortCircuitedBrewers that you very much for your fast answer, can you please give me a link or something? i do not know exactly what is it and the quickcark solution from blichmann is not doing the shipping in my country. :(((. i want to start right away with my beer.
No it needs to maintain pressure to carbonate, if you left the PRV open it would result in MAJOR foaming.. You can see what I mean when I used it on a fermentasaurus. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mODk7JZZInQ.html
That method is not nearly as efficient as using the air stone in the quickcarb because the bubble size that you get from doing that is a very large bubble and the quickcarb stone produces very fine bubbles which actually saturates into the beer much easier. I have performed the "shake" method before as well and find that it loses quite a bit of the carbonation over time. FWIW you can also serve the beer right after carbonating I dare say you can't do that with the shake method.
i carb in 4 mins vs the 45 ? mins the 'quick carb' does and in fact yes i can serve straight away, no problem at all after a quick vent off the top as i use 3/16 lint to the tap , and i dont lose any carbonation at all, unless your keg leaks?
im not knocking your video, its very good i dont see how something that takes 10 times longer to carb is efficient and value for money as to force carb it costs no extra equipment than you have
No problem. I'm up for discussion.. Did not think you were knocking it at all just pointing out a different method. There's a lot of videos right now out there where you can DIY build the same thing for like 35 bucks. I'm a DIY kind of person, but I didn't feel like doing that with this type of product. I really appreciate your comments. -Brian
Sure! I would put it in the suction side of the pump. While I don't have a hop rocket, I have leaf hopped in a muslin bag in the keg with it and it works great! Cheers! -Brian
I usually let it circulate for 10 minutes.. I do rinse with water after that... PBW suggests you rinse after use.. I do not sanitze after.. I think it is a waste of time and product as it is exposed to open air while drying. I only sanitize it before using it.. and make sure to purge the sanitizer before connecting it to your keg.
I'm traumatized in using this equipment again. The first time I used it, I had a very aromatic IPA and the aroma was gone during carbonation. Has that happened to you, too?
I've only used it once so far and the experience was not the best. I had a lot of problems with beer leaks during carbonation and I believe I lost the aroma at that time. I live in Brazil in a very hot region and the beer got very hot during the 60 minutes of carbonation and did not absorb CO2 properly. Next time, I will do it with the Keg (5 gallons) inside the freezer to keep warm and I will tighten the connections a lot to avoid leaks.
That is what I did on my last batch. Hope that works for you. Le me know if you have other issues. The thing about the system is that the.pump can put out 30 psi so it can cause.some leaks.. i always tight mine very tight. On the hoppyness The product should not filter out any of the "hoppyness" by design..
Great video. allthough you proved yourself resorcesfull you could have build that machine for les than 50 bucks. so its no Worth the money at all. cheers
I don't disagree you can build it for cheaper. I build most of the things in my brewery.. just found it to be a worthwhile investment. Thanks for the feedback.
This seems like much more of a hassle than just shaking the keg a few times. I can be halfway carbonated before you're finished sanitizing and connecting.
I hear you and I used to be a shake rattle n roller myself. One thing to consider about the device, though, is that it uses very fine CO2 bubbles into the beer. Having done both techniques, I really do like the way I can dial in a specific style of fermentation with the quick carb. The only other way that I really like to do it is just putting a beer on CO2 for a few weeks at a certain pressure.. To each their own. Brew on!! 👍🍻
Thanks a lot for the complete review. Do you think it would be possible to make the beer pass trough a cooler to maintain low temperature troughout all the process? (kind of like this one eshop.czechminibreweries.com/product/dbwc-c103/ )
