Beer In My Reg.

[vicelore]

Hey guys.

Well last night me and a mate did our best to get through one of my freshly filled Corny kegs.

We went the force carb method as outlined in the sticky.

At the point where you turn off the reg to let the presure drop back down to 140-170 Kpi.

My pressure just went back down to 0 and i had beer comming out the front of the reg. I soon turned the gas back on and blew all the beer out. But after then the screw seemed harder to turn..

I had read that a flowback ? valve should be used to stop this happening..

Soo my question is whats going to happen to my brand new reg ? can you pull them apart and clean them out ?

Cheers Vice.

 

[Fents]

try this thread mate.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=26473

 

[raven19]

Ouch. I hope it still works!

I have installed a non return valve from one of the Sponsors for this very reason.

Type of Regualtor?

Any info in the instruction booklet? Or online?

I would be wary of pulling it apart, as springs, etc could go flying and you may not be able to re-assemble properly. a good shot of gas should move most liquid out of it, and the CO2 is an inert gas, so fingers crossed no nasties grow inside. I just hope it works for you ok! I have heard of others having flooding, and once dried out they seem to continue to work ok - this is just from what I've heard though.

2c.

 

[vicelore]

Maybey i could roast it.... in the oven.. I would think that would dry kill all germs in there.

 

[vicelore]

Its the micromatic one exact same as in the other thread.

Ill have a look at the repair seal kit and see what i can do.

Cheers Vice.

 

[razz]

I've got a spare you can borrow to keep you out of trouble and keep you in beer. I'll even lend it to you even though you didn't invite me around last night, you bastard!

 

[SDJ]

Maybey i could roast it.... in the oven.. I would think that would dry kill all germs in there.

dont whatever you do roast it!! jebus!! I have had to clean mine out once and replaced the seals a few years later,
pull it apart carefully, springs will not fly all over the room, there is one main spring under the front cover holding the diaphram in, and usually depending on what type of reg you have there is a threaded brass plug on the back with a small spring holding a very small 4-5mm seal in place.
Strip it and wash everything if needed, dont imerse the gages in the water!!, dry it, and reassemble the bastard and if it still works good, you now know how to fix it.

at worst a new seal kit for a reg is about $35.00 once again depends on your reg.
P.S buy a flowback reg saver valve, cheap insurance.

cheers Steve B)

 

[vicelore]

I've got a spare you can borrow to keep you out of trouble and keep you in beer. I'll even lend it to you even though you didn't invite me around last night, you bastard!

LOL Sorry Razz it wasnt really a planned thing..For example.. We didnt even have a tap to drink it out of .. we where just kinking the line and poring horrible head beer all night.. lol. Next time for sure mate. ( thanks for the offer on the reg very generous of you bud. )

It does seem to be working ok just a little hard to turn. I would think it might start getting worse as it dries out.

I have allready ordered one of the replacment kits so i should get that this week. rebuild it then finish them off on the weekend

Cheers Vice.

 

[cdbrown]

I wouldn't roast it - just use it as is. If it's still working then everything will be fine, you won't contaminate any beer.

Make sure to test for any leaks on your reg as it's wierd you had beer coming out the front of the reg as it should be a sealed system. Immerse the end into the laundry sink to check for bubbles (I found that spraying water/detergent didn't show my leak). An option to clear out the reg is if you have an empty keg, take the lid off, take both the bottle and keg outside. Connect up and turn on the gas. The velocity of the gas through the reg and out the keg gas post will get rid of any liquid in the line.

Best to pressure up at normal pouring pressure (80-100kpa) and just leave it there.

 

[quantocks]

I force carb'd first time and got beer in my reg, not much though, just turned up the gas and blew it all out and all is good.

 

[pint of lager]

There have been a number of brewers trace back continued infection problems to the regulator after it had a drink of beer.

It appears that micromatic regs have seal kits readily available. Ross has them listed on his site. Does anyone know of a seal kit ofr the Harris 601 which is also a common beer reg?

If you buy a one way valve, you end up with the problem of being unable to read the pressure in the keg. The regulator will only show the pressure in the line prior to the one way valve.

 

[raven19]

If you buy a one way valve, you end up with the problem of being unable to read the pressure in the keg. The regulator will only show the pressure in the line prior to the one way valve.

An interesting quandary we now find ourselves in using these!

Never really thought about it that way - I dare say a steady carbing process will ensure that after a week or so at pouring pressure, the keg should be gassed up to this level also?

 

[cdbrown]

If you buy a one way valve, you end up with the problem of being unable to read the pressure in the keg. The regulator will only show the pressure in the line prior to the one way valve.

But it's only an issue for those that force carb - if you set and leave, the gas in the keg will be absorbed into the beer and the head space topped up with the set pressure. Doesn't the force carb procedure recommend after shaking to pull the relief valve so that there's not 300kpa just sitting there in the head space. So if you relieve it to a lower pressure than the reg, it will read the pressure in the keg.

 

[pint of lager]

I bulk prime my kegs and have hooked the gas line with zero pressure in it up to a fully carbed keg and had beer up the gas line. The force carbonators are at most risk, but it can happen any time you hook a keg up with higher pressure than that in the regulator line. Especially after shifting the kegs and the beer level is close to the gas dip tube.

If every keg was stored in a cool room after filling, the problem should be minimised due to low temperatures, but I am sure we have all seen moulds growing in fridges at low temperatures.

 

[vicelore]

But it's only an issue for those that force carb - if you set and leave, the gas in the keg will be absorbed into the beer and the head space topped up with the set pressure. Doesn't the force carb procedure recommend after shaking to pull the relief valve so that there's not 300kpa just sitting there in the head space. So if you relieve it to a lower pressure than the reg, it will read the pressure in the keg.

It does say to release the presure. But that is after you have let all the presure from the keg drop back into the reg ( this is when the beer came back ).

As far as i know the process was to .

-Depresure the keg.
-Attach gas in.
-Turn up to 300 Kpa
-Roll keg for 50 seconds
-Turn off the reg *i fully turned the reg to closed*
( i wasnt sure it this step was at the reg or bottle so i did it at the reg)
-Watch the gauge drop from 300 to around 140-170
( mine droped to 0 allot of times untill i really shaked the crap out of the keg) This was when beer came in.
-Wait a hour
-Release all keg pressure
-Add presure to serving level 100Kpa.

I did the rolling keg at 300Kpa around 6 times as it just kept dropping down to 0. I later found after watching the video that i wasnt rocking nearly hard enough.

Cheers vice

 

[Ross]

I bulk prime my kegs and have hooked the gas line with zero pressure in it up to a fully carbed keg and had beer up the gas line. The force carbonators are at most risk, but it can happen any time you hook a keg up with higher pressure than that in the regulator line. Especially after shifting the kegs and the beer level is close to the gas dip tube.

If every keg was stored in a cool room after filling, the problem should be minimised due to low temperatures, but I am sure we have all seen moulds growing in fridges at low temperatures.

Harris do not supply a repair kit, as all repairs in their opinion should be carried out by a qualified Fitter & the cost would be more than the unit itself.
They are not prepared for the litigation if/when someone injures themselves.
Protect your investment with a check valve - Cheaper & safer


Cheers Ross

 

[cdbrown]

Lets hope that you can build up enough keg stocks that you can wait the week for the carbing to happen.

After reading abit more it seems wierd to me that upon closing the reg that the pressure dropped so quickly to 0 - I would have thought that indicated a leak in the reg. The pressure drop from 300 down should be the remaining head pressure in the keg being absorbed into beer, not leaking out the reg???

Maybe I don't understand regs properly and that pressure from the gas bottle creates the seal, but pressure on the keg side removes that seal creating a leak? I was lucky enough to get an inline NRV with my reg from GMK (although there was a small leak in the connection which I stupidly didn't test).

 

[Ross]

-Turn off the reg *i fully turned the reg to closed*
( i wasnt sure it this step was at the reg or bottle so i did it at the reg)


Cheers vice

This is where you went wrong!!! - Turn off at the bottle, NEVER at the regulator while attached to your keg.
You have created a drop in pressure from your keg to the regulator & hence the beer has flowed through it.


Ross

 

[vicelore]

Yea i thaught it woudlnt matter ross. The instructions from the guide mislead me a little i spose.

Step 6 Turn the gas off at the regulator and then continue rocking the keg. You will notice the gas pressure on the regulator start to drop quite quickly. The video shows the rough speed that the pressure drops back. This should stop at around about 140-160kPa. If the pressure drop stops above 160kPa you may have overgassed the beer by rocking for longer than 50 seconds. If it falls below 140kPa, the beer is not gassed enough and you will need to repeat steps 4-6 again but for 10-15 seconds only for step 4.

I would of thaught turning off at the bottle would let the reg lose all presure between the keg and reg anyway.

Cheers Vice.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I dont like the method you guys use to "force" carb kegs.. to much guesswork. My method might not be better, its almost certainly slower... but it gets things right every time without guesswork (also my regulator will not go up to 300kpa)

Before connecting gas to gas in post, set regulator to the correct pressure for your carbonation level at whatever temperature your keg is at.

Connect gas to liquid out post

With keg standing upright - rock/shake it back and forwards

When you stop hearing bubbles.. the keg is carbonated to the correct level and if your system is balanced, that will be your serving pressure too.

Disconnect gas from liquid side and reconnect to gas side. It works just fine with the gas on the gas side the whole time.. but takes longer

It takes about 15-20mins.. do it while you watch the telly