Beer blowing down gas tube

[trustyrusty]

Hi There

I was testing the pressure of the keg and found that the beer is blowing down gas tube. No it was not on the wrong post

I first thought the pressure was really and was not,
also the regulator may have been open a bit first but then closed it and still seemed to be blowing down.

I cannot think what it could be? Is the seal worn on the gas post?

Even if the pressure was high would it come out of the gas post, I mean say 50 psi (@150 psi anything could happen)
Thanks

 

[Motabika]

How far did the beer get ? Do you have a check valve?

 

[trustyrusty]

Probably to end of tube, no check valve

 

[peteru]

If it's still moving back towards the gas bottle even with the valves shut off, then the most logical explanation is a leak.

 

[trustyrusty]

Leak? It is not losing pressure.

 

[peteru]

If it wasn't losing pressure it would not be pushing the beer along, would it? Maybe I don't understand the problem well enough - the original post could use some proofreading.

 

[trustyrusty]

when I put the gas line on from the tank, beer is coming down the gas line. Cheers

 

[Rocker1986]

You need to bleed the pressure in the keg if there is any before you attach the gas line to make sure nothing gets pushed out the wrong way like that, especially if the keg has been quick carbed and shaken around or whatever. I've inadvertently attached the gas line to kegs that were still highly pressurised and ended up with a small amount of beer in the gas line.. I have check valves and an NRV although none of it made it anywhere near that far up the line(s).

Bleed the pressure from the keg, then attach the gas line and turn the gas on. Beer won't come up the line then.

 

[trustyrusty]

Fyi, reduced the pressure down to about 5 psi before I put the gas line on and still there was about 10 cms of beer blow back?

Strange, I am not what is on the gas post but surely there is one way valve?

Once I put the pressure up it seems ok, just wonder how it blow back on low pressure.


cheers

 

[Rocker1986]

There are no one way valves on the gas posts, these are a separate item you buy that goes on the gas line in between the regulator and the kegs (on in my case in between the reg and the gas manifold).

You shouldn't have any beer coming up the gas lines at 5PSI though, so either the keg is full to the brim or you have actually put it on the liquid out post by mistake.

In any case, it's a good idea to bleed the pressure entirely from the keg before connecting lines up to the posts.

 

[pcqypcqy]

Fyi, reduced the pressure down to about 5 psi before I put the gas line on and still there was about 10 cms of beer blow back?

Strange, I am not what is on the gas post but surely there is one way valve?

Once I put the pressure up it seems ok, just wonder how it blow back on low pressure.


cheers

What do you mean when you say you reduced the pressure to 5psi? On the regulator or in your keg?

Like Rocker said, if you've still got pressure in the keg from force carbing and your keg is overfull, the keg pressure will be higher than your regulator pressure and therefore liquid will get pushed back towards your regulator.

This happened to me on my first force carb, learnt my lesson when beer shot out the release valves on the regulator.

 

[trustyrusty]

In the keg, I emptied all the gas except a bit, from experience is about 5 psi....

Maybe over filled?

Btw did you have a problem with beer in the reg?

Thanks

 

[Rocker1986]

Why are you leaving pressure in the keg at all when connecting lines up? I think we need more info on the process. Was the beer fast carbonated by shaking it up with the gas on high pressure, or was it just left to carbonate slower on serving pressure? How far was the keg filled to?

 

[pcqypcqy]

In the keg, I emptied all the gas except a bit, from experience is about 5 psi....

Maybe over filled?

Btw did you have a problem with beer in the reg?

Thanks

When it happened I did my best to open the valves and wash it through and let it dry. I've read that these things can rust up and stop working, but that hasn't happened to me. You can get a repair kit for most regulators and replace the springs/needles etc which apparently is straight forward.

When I fill my kegs, I keep an eye on the gas tube and leave a little headspace between the beer fill level and the dip tube. When I force carb, I use a beer fitting on the gas line and I push the gas through the beer tube. That way I can keep it upright and rock it gently to force the gas to mix with the beer without submerging the gas dip tube. Seems to work well this way.

Keep in mind that even if you burp your keg, after a while the dissolved gas will come out of solution and you might still have a pressure higher than you want in the keg. You need to burp and shake things up a few times to get it back to the normal range.

 

[trustyrusty]

I was checking the pressure of the keg as I am naturally carbonating.... I have 4 kegs and time to let the beer carb up without using CO2 from tank.. I should probably get an auto pressure release valve. (One you can set to 15psi or something, I cannot remember the name). Can you get a guage to just measure pressure, I should probably get one.
thanks

 

[Rocker1986]

Ok, yeah I don't naturally carbonate my kegs. I just put them in the kegerator, give them 45PSI for about 20-22 hours then remove the gas disconnects from the posts and let the kegs sit for another number of hours, or even overnight. After that, the kegs are burped fully and the gas lines put back on straight away, along with the beer lines, and the gas turned back on at normal serving pressure. They're nicely carbed and ready to go, and no beer goes up the gas lines either.