{"id":306,"date":"2025-06-28T00:10:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T00:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dougdoug.net\/?p=306"},"modified":"2025-06-28T00:11:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T00:11:32","slug":"more-thoughts-on-psi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dougdoug.net\/?p=306","title":{"rendered":"More Thoughts On PSI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I finally got a new keg. My last keg kicked on the 28th of May. I had been holding off on getting a new keg as a) I had some local brews in the fridge and b) I wanted to make sure I didn&#8217;t kick it just before the 4th of July weekend. Now that I have a new keg, I can continue my experiments with dialing in my perfect Guinness. Originally, I had planned to start testing different faucets. But I decided to play around with PSI instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I generally prefer my beer served at a lower PSI. Especially a beer like Guinness. I find that it increases the perceived creaminess and causes less bloating. I&#8217;ve tried adjusting the PSI on previous kegs and I&#8217;ve found that a lower PSI is better for the first few sips- especially if you prioritize creaminess &#8211; but it can taste a little flat near the end of the pint. Conversely, a higher PSI tastes less flat but the mouth feel is more prickly carbonation than smooth creaminess. A higher PSI also results in a larger amount of head. I care less about head size with the home kegerator as I&#8217;m not paying by the pint. But if you&#8217;re looking for a certain aesthetic then you may want to avoid adjusting the PSI too high and pouring a pint with two inches of head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> For reference, here are all of the variables in my home setup that might have an impact on carbonation (or perception of carbonation):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I keep my kegerator at 42 F. In testing, I have noticed that this means that the actual temperature ranges from 40 F to 44 F (~ 4.5 to 6.5 C)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I am using a blend of 75% Nitro and 25% CO2.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I am using an <a href=\"?cat=18\">aerator disc<\/a> with three 0.7mm holes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>My beer line is around 3.5 meters or 12 feet long.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>My altitude is ~35m.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>When I first tapped this keg, I set the PSI around 25-26. I was not a fan of this. It tasted okay but it just did not pour smoothly. At least not audibly. It sounded like it was sputtering. I thought it might have been because it was the first beer of the keg but I poured four or five and none sounded good. As for taste, it was fine. Maybe a little flat at the end as expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next day I poured my first pint at the same 25-26 PSI to remind myself how it tasted. For the second pour, I adjusted the PSI to around 28 or 29. I thought this was a fantastic pour. Very creamy. Fantastic lacing. Still a little flat at the end  but that&#8217;s the trade off for the creaminess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next day, I again kept the PSI unchanged for the first pour. Then adjusted it up to around 30 for the second pour. I was floored by the difference in the first sip. There was still some creaminess. But it was starting to taste more like the pints you get a lot in the US: vibrant carbonation, but lacking in mouthfeel and depth of flavor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don&#8217;t like to try and do critical tasting after adjusting PSI downwards. I trust my regulator to add pressure to the system; but when adjusting downwards I worry that I&#8217;m going to get some pours at the higher PSI until some of the CO2 comes out and the regulator can start adding it back. I have no idea if this is how it actually works. Regardless, I don&#8217;t try to turn down the pressure when doing comparisons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I get my next keg, I plan to set the PSI around 29. Then, maybe three fourths of the way through the keg I&#8217;ll kick it up a few PSI and see if see the same very noticeable difference. If there is, then I&#8217;ll stick with ~29 PSI for all my future kegs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I finally got a new keg. My last keg kicked on the 28th of May. I had been holding off on getting a new keg&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/dougdoug.net\/?p=306\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">More Thoughts On PSI<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"iawp_total_views":16,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[14,33,32],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beer","tag-guinness","tag-pressure","tag-psi","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dougdoug.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dougdoug.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dougdoug.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dougdoug.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dougdoug.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dougdoug.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":309,"href":"https:\/\/dougdoug.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions\/309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dougdoug.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dougdoug.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dougdoug.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}