On draft · trade spec
Sparkling Wine Kegs
Champagne is from France. Carboniste is California.
Our kegs hold about 50% more dissolved CO2 than beer. Run them on beer settings and you get breakout at the start and flat wine at the end. Three variables fix that, and they are temperature, head pressure, and a gradual pressure drop on the way to the glass.
One page, printable, sized for the wall next to the tap.
01 · Temperature
Under 40°F
Cold from the delivery dock to the faucet. A keg that warms even once loses CO2 to the headspace and finishes flat.
02 · Head pressure
21 psi @ 40°F
Most of our kegs run 3.5 saturations. Push with pure CO2 on a dedicated sparkling regulator, never beer gas and never a 12 psi beer manifold.
03 · Breakout control
2 oz/sec
Foam is a rapid pressure change. Extend the line or close the flow-control faucet so the drop happens gradually.
Set pressure by the wine
Every keg is different, so there is no single house number that works across the range.
| Wine in keg | Saturations | Dissolved CO2 | Head pressure @ 40°F | 3/16 in. line | Serve |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Octopus 2024 Sparkling Albariño Gomes Vineyard, gooseberry, kumquat, blossom | 3.5 sat | 6.9 g/L | 21 psi | about 10 ft | 38 to 40°F, flute or tulip |
| Carboniste Brut, zero dosage Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Albariño, lees-aged | 3.5 sat | 6.9 g/L | 21 psi | about 10 ft | 38 to 42°F, flute or tulip |
| Rouge Brute Sparkling Red Merlot, Albariño, Carignan, Primitivo, lower-pressure red | about 2.5 sat † | about 4.9 g/L | 12 psi | about 5 ft | 42 to 46°F, stem or rocks |
Warmer wine needs more pressure to hold the same CO2, so add roughly 1 psi for every 2°F above 40°F. On a long-draw or tower run, add line or dial in the faucet's flow control rather than changing the pressure. † Rouge Brute is a keg target, so confirm the saturations printed on the keg collar for your lot.
Do not inherit your beer settings
A house manifold at 12 psi under-pressures our sparkling kegs by 9 psi. It pours acceptably at first, then goes progressively flat, and the last third of the keg is unsellable.
The system, seven wetted parts
All stainless where the wine touches it. Keep the entire run under 40°F, and budget about 2 psi of restriction for every foot of 3/16 in. barrier tubing.
Rule of thumb for line length: line feet equals head psi, minus 1, minus half a psi for each foot of rise, all divided by 2.
-
1
Gas
100% food-grade CO2. Never the 25/75 CO2 and nitrogen blend used for still wine.
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2
Regulator
A dedicated sparkling regulator, accurate at 20 to 30 psi. Do not share a beer manifold. Petainer kegs are rated to 45 psi, so never go above it.
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3
Keg and coupler
20 L Petainer Hybrid on a US Sankey type D coupler. It is one-way plastic, so do not drop it or puncture it, and recycle the empties.
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4
Liquid line
3/16 in. ID multi-layer barrier tubing, Bev-Seal Ultra 235 or Barriermaster. Never PVC or vinyl, which leaks oxygen in and leaches flavor out.
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5
Shank and tailpiece
304 or 316 stainless only. Wine acidity corrodes brass and chrome-plated brass, and that ends up in the glass.
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6
Faucet
Perlick 650SS forward-sealing, stainless, flow control, NSF. Skip multi-piece threaded spouts, because sugar hides in the threads.
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7
The pour
Target about 2 oz per second into a tilted glass. A balanced system pours mostly liquid with a thin collar that dissipates fast.
Foaming? Work it in this order
- 1
Check temperature first. Is the wine at or below 40°F all the way from the keg to the faucet? A warm trunk line foams no matter what the regulator says.
- 2
Match the wine, not the house default. Below its equilibrium the CO2 breaks out inside the line, and above it the wine keeps absorbing gas until the pour turns violent.
- 3
Slow the pour. Close the 650SS flow-control lever until you are at roughly 2 oz per second.
- 4
Add line. If it is still pouring fast, add 5 ft of 3/16 in. barrier tubing and test it again.
Never vent the keg to stop foam. Dropping below the wine's saturation trades one bad pour for a keg that finishes flat.
Clean and handle
- Flush every 14 days. This one is not negotiable, because the residual sugar and tannin in wine feed spoilage organisms faster than beer does.
- Alkaline cleaner at 2 to 3%, held at 80 to 110°F, recirculated for 15 minutes or more. Rinse until the water comes out pH-neutral.
- Run an acid cycle quarterly to strip tartrate and mineral scale, always after a caustic pass and never instead of one.
- Pull and soak the faucet at every cleaning. Forward-sealing bodies clean out properly, threaded multi-piece spouts do not.
- Kegs are one-way plastic. Do not drop them, stack them unevenly, or puncture the outer wall. Recycle when empty.
Wines available in kegs
Sparkling Albariño
Our 2024 Gomes Vineyard Sparkling Albariño is our flagship wine at Carboniste. Light and fresh, with gooseberry, kumquat, and stone fruit blossom. Carbonated and kegged, the Albariño was not allowed a second fermentation, so it keeps some of its purity and freshness.
Carboniste Brut
A bone-dry brut, zero dosage, blended for texture and aged at length on the yeast in barrel. It brings together Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, and Albariño, drawn from a reserve of mature lots kept on the lees to build richness. Candied citrus and stone fruit crown a rich, juicy palate, with soft, gentle bubbles that make it easy to pour all night.
Rouge Brute
A sparkling red built for the glass, blending Merlot, Albariño, Carignan, and Primitivo. It runs at a lower pressure than the whites, so it pours slower and softer, and it wants a warmer serve and a bigger glass. Put it on next to a burger and watch the list move.
Troubleshooting videos
Pouring already and something is off? These short walkthroughs cover the questions we hear most, from foaming to swapping the coupler to recycling an empty keg.
Operating a Perlick flow-control faucet to cut foaming
Connecting the coupler to a Petainer Hybrid keg
Recycling and disposing of an empty keg
On tap
Pour Carboniste at your place
Tell us what you are looking for and where you are, and we will help you get set up with kegs. Questions about pressure, couplers, or availability are welcome too.