Problems Force Carbonating Wine -- Help Please!

Hello,

After a great deal of searching and tinkering I'm still having problems force carbonating wine so am hoping someone here can help me.

I have a Cornelius keg filled with ~4L of cheap white wine connected to a CO2 tank. It's been sitting in a cold fridge at 55 PSI for a month now. My first issue is I can't figure out how to dispense anything but foam. I've tried dispensing at pressures ranging from 0-40PSI, from both a 1' and a 30' (3/16" ID) line. I try it into a clean, ice-cold glass but the second I open the little black faucet it shoots/trickles foam. There are some bubbles/air pockets in the line but I've gotten it to where the line looks mostly clear and still have this problem.

The second--perhaps greater--issue is when the foam settles I'm left with barely carbonated wine. From what I've read online what I'm attempting should be possible. Do I need a counter pressure bottle filler or another type of spout? A different line length/pressure combination? Has the wine still not accepted the CO2? Is it possible that due to the chemical properties of certain whites some simply will not hold bubbles? Any other ideas?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
loch

I think your pressure is way too high, creating a situation where the wine rapidly off gases once the pressure is released.

With beer, you set the pressure according to a chart (here) and let it sit two - four weeks for the gas to permeate the liquid. Then you dispense through a line that is long enough to keep the beer from foaming. For me, this means 12 psi for two weeks, then dispensing through a 10 foot line. There are calculators that will let you balance your line length exactly. I think you are going to need a 3/16" line in the neighborhood of 50 feet to dispense your wine at 55 psi, but you can do a google search for a beer line balance calculator if you want to use a higher pressure.

A better plan might be to take the wine off of the pressure and vent the keg twice a day until you don't get gas anymore. Then reset the gas at 12 psi and let it sit a week. Then follow some variation of this guide to fill a bottle. This would give you a better chance to accomplish your goal, I think.

Loch, welcome to WMT!

What I did was to change the adapter on the gas line to the "out" line (the one you'd normally use to dispense from the keg). BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO CARBONATE YOUR KEG RELEASE THE PRESSURE IN THE KEG, ALL THE WAY (especially since you have 50 psi built up in your keg). Then I carbonated the wine by turning on the gas first, putting the CO2 tank higher than the keg, putting the gas on the "out" line, and gently rocking back and forth for a few minutes. You will hear it bubble as you rock it. Keep the gas pressure on or you will get wine shooting back your gas line and ruin your regulator. I used 30 psi. It works better on cooled/cold wine, which is the condition of yours right now.

Let it sit overnight after disconnecting the gas line. When dispensing use your shorter dispensing line. Mine is about 1 1/2 feet long. I didn't add any pressure while I was dispensing, never had too. Occasionally after dispensing a few bottles worth I added some more gas (the normal way, using the "in" adapter). You will have to let it trickle out of your tap and then settle for a few minutes in your glass. I have never been able to get it to dispense like I would a draft beer, pressure is too high. It should be carbonated just fine.

Hope that helps.

Wow thank you both for the helpful, quick replies.

I'm going to follow your recommendation Craig and report back next week. I guess after I've properly carbonated the wine I can try adjusting hose length/pressure/other beer filling techniques to get good flow. But as long as the foam settles into nice sparkling wine I may not worry about it.