Frustrating under-carbonation issue with keezer

[Narapoia]

Update: After an additional week at 16 PSI set on the regulator so 14 in the Keg headspace, the carbonation is much better. Still not what it says it should be according to the tables, so I have upped it one more psi to 17 on the reg and will see how it goes in a week's time.

Thanks for all the advice from everyone here - it looks like it's just my inexperience - not knowing that about the check valve 2 psi tax and just needing more pressure.

 

[Narapoia]

Adding an update. I don't think I have this sorted. After a few more weeks in 15 psi, I did some testing this weekend, and with 5ft lines I got a lot of foam and beers that are flat. Thought maybe a bit over carbed, so added a longer 9ft line of 4mm Eva barrier to one of the taps and this reduces the foam to about 1-2 fingers, but the beer is still no where near beer carbed to the same level in bottles according to the tables and it's pretty flat within about 5 minutes in the glass.

Serving at 10 or 12 psi is about the same outcome. It's not that different to where I started from but somewhat better.

I've done a few pours from a couple kegs, giving the taps and glass enough contact time to chill down (plus get half drunk tasting it all).

According to the carbonation charts the beer should be at the higher end of the usual range for lagers, nothing crazy and I didn't force carb. The line length calculator I used gave me 5ft as the ideal line length for 12 psi serving pressure. So am a bit lost at what to try next.

I didn't get much head on the beers previously which was about the only difference.

Try sobering up, cutting 30cm of the line at a time and trying again? Bleeding the kegs a bit to reduce carbonation? Will it sort itself out once the kegs empty a bit, have seen that mentioned in some discussions of similar issues?

ETA: did as bit more reading and might be that I'm reducing the pressure to serve, causing bubbles in the tap lines because there not enough pressure in them and crashing c02 out of the beer, so maybe don't drop pressure and use longer lines. Will test that next.

 

[raturay]

"...so maybe don't drop pressure and use longer lines..."

In my experience I think this will nail it for you. I set my system up about five years ago having absolutely no prior experience. My local brew shop advice was:

forget the high pressure forced carbonation method
set the regulator pressure at 10 - 12psi (I'm probably at the higher end of the range)
use 2 meters of beer line per tap (2 taps)
pour and enjoy

It takes about a week to 10 days to carbonate a 19 litre keg. I cold crash, so with the beer being nice and cold when it's kegged, a week is usually the go. The best bit is you don't have to reduce the pressure to pour. The 2 meter line provides enough friction to effectively give a pour at around 4psi.

Good luck

 

[Narapoia]

"...so maybe don't drop pressure and use longer lines..."

In my experience I think this will nail it for you. I set my system up about five years ago having absolutely no prior experience. My local brew shop advice was:

forget the high pressure forced carbonation method
set the regulator pressure at 10 - 12psi (I'm probably at the higher end of the range)
use 2 meters of beer line per tap (2 taps)
pour and enjoy

It takes about a week to 10 days to carbonate a 19 litre keg. I cold crash, so with the beer being nice and cold when it's kegged, a week is usually the go. The best bit is you don't have to reduce the pressure to pour. The 2 meter line provides enough friction to effectively give a pour at around 4psi.

Good luck

Just tried this and feels like the first time I have made progress so far. Best results by far, still not equal to my bottles at supposedly the same g/L C02 but after 5 minutes in the glass more carbonated than my initial pours yesterday and still drinkable after 10 minutes so feel happy as a baseline for serving. Minimal bubbles in the lines after pouring and about 1.5 cm of head on the pour once the tap has cooled down.

Was getting stressed, thanks for the reply! I read a fair amount of advice that said carb and then reduce to serving pressure but I guess in those cases people are using longer lines than I had set up initially or maybe lower temps for lower pressure.

Bit of a journey. It's really great how much better the same beers are out of the kegs vs bottle as well.

 

[Narapoia]

Just a quick update after the party over the weekend. Thanks for all the advice in this thread - got there in the end and the beer was a big hit. Have about 2L left over from the 130L that was served, now to fill some kegs with beer again!