Kegging Problem - Help!

[redlegger]

OK guys, newb kegging questions coming up

Have just started kegging and im having all sorts of drama.. ill start from the beginning

1. Brewed a coopers blond as per the instructions with BE2 . Fermented for 10 days
2. transferred to keg yesterday
3. force carbed as per ross method this afternoon. I think i did this wrong, what i did was crank the reg to 300 then turned the gas off, shook like mad for a minute and the dial on reg read only 20kpa? repeated this about 5 times until i got to the recomended 160. burped keg after 20 minutes then applied serving pressure of about 80kpa
4. Now this is where im confused - i left the keg in the fridge @ my serving pressure for a few hours, i have had 4 'beers' (or foam cups as i like to call them). All im getting is head (who would of thought a bloke would complain about that!), NO beer at all, well i get some beer after it sits for about 5 minutes, and when i do drink it, its flat as a tak!
Does head make the beer go flat? If so, that solves the flat beer problem, and i only have to fix the HEAD problem.. HOW?

Other info -
gas is at room temp (or patio temp )
Gas line is about 1 mtr from reg to keg (does this even matter?)
Beer line is about 1.2 mtrs from keg to tap
Tap is cold coz its kept in fridge (not mounted externally yet)
Beer temp is approx 4degC
The beer does seem to be coming out pretty quick

Cheers!
Andy

 

[jyo]

OK guys, newb kegging questions coming up

Have just started kegging and im having all sorts of drama.. ill start from the beginning

1. Brewed a coopers blond as per the instructions with BE2 . Fermented for 10 days
2. transferred to keg yesterday
3. force carbed as per ross method this afternoon. I think i did this wrong, what i did was crank the reg to 300 then turned the gas off, shook like mad for a minute and the dial on reg read only 20kpa? repeated this about 5 times until i got to the recomended 160. burped keg after 20 minutes then applied serving pressure of about 80kpa
4. Now this is where im confused - i left the keg in the fridge @ my serving pressure for a few hours, i have had 4 'beers' (or foam cups as i like to call them). All im getting is head (who would of thought a bloke would complain about that!), NO beer at all, well i get some beer after it sits for about 5 minutes, and when i do drink it, its flat as a tak!
Does head make the beer go flat? If so, that solves the flat beer problem, and i only have to fix the HEAD problem.. HOW?

Other info -
gas is at room temp (or patio temp )
Gas line is about 1 mtr from reg to keg (does this even matter?)
Beer line is about 1.2 mtrs from keg to tap
Tap is cold coz its kept in fridge (not mounted externally yet)
Beer temp is approx 4degC
The beer does seem to be coming out pretty quick

Cheers!
Andy

I have carbed like this a few times, and got sick of (in my experience only) unreliable results.

Your beer line is a bit short mate, you should be aiming for about 2.5- 3 metres. Were you pouring through a warm tap on the outside of the fridge?
I also usually pour at between 50 and 70kpa.

Was the beer cold when you carbed up, or had it only been chilled for 4 hours when you started pouring?

If you have a bit more patience, try this next time:
Keg up, then put in the fridge, leave for a day to chill.
Set reg to 245-255 kpa. Leave for 48 hours. Relief valvce down to serving pressure, pour beer. Perfect (for me anyway)

Cheers, John.

 

[Screwtop]

what i did was crank the reg to 300 then turned the gas off,

I have carbed like this a few times, and got sick of (in my experience only) unreliable results.

Not at all surprised :lol:

Force carbing is a bit hit and miss...........................but it works well enough when short of time.

Which is the need this method is designed to meet.

Think about what you are trying to achieve, you want to force gas into beer under pressure by agitation of the gas-liquid interfacial area (the surface)

Most brewers will have developed their own method for use when time is short, some of the variables are: volume of headspace in the keg, temperature of the beer, pressure of gas applied (regulator setting), amount of agitation (shaking), time agitated under pressure.

It aint rocket science, if you want to be able to use force carbonation read the instructions and search as much information as you can on the subject, maybe read the instructions a few times :lol: Then do it, and practice it till you can get it right in your own way. Remember if you want to get gas into liquid and keep it there, the liquid has to be cold.

Or use the normal method of carbing, it takes time, generally drinkable in 5 days best after a week. I often use a combination, giving the keg a short period of 24 hrs at 300kpa then onto serving pressure.

Screwy

 

[mxd]

burp the keg, try 10kpa pressure and see what you get, if it's still foam, your over carbed, so get the keg off the gas, have about 10kpa of gas and leave it, every day do a little burp, in a week it may be back at the correct level.

good luck.

I do similar to screwtop, put keg into fridge (warm as I don't CC yet) then put 350 kpa gas on (through beer line) for 36 hours, then disonnect gas and leave it for another 24 hours, then burp and put pouring pressure on and see what I have done.

 

[Pennywise]

gas is at room temp (or patio temp ) Pretty sure this doesn't matter
Gas line is about 1 mtr from reg to keg (does this even matter?) This doesn't matter
Beer line is about 1.2 mtrs from keg to tap I have flow restrictors on my taps so line lenght for me doesn't matter, but from what I've read of other setups, this seems a bit short for a tap without the flow restrictor thingy
Tap is cold coz its kept in fridge (not mounted externally yet) Sweet
Beer temp is approx 4degC I'd carb my beer at 10psi at this temp
The beer does seem to be coming out pretty quick Line lenght? Or too high a pressure?
Cheers!
Andy

I think if all you're getting is head and the beer is still flat then you've overcarbed it

 

[zabond]

If this is your first keg and you say"no beer"only foam, as a long shot are you sure you changed your disconects back over after force carbing[and not pouring from the gas and gassing through the beer out]if not try disconecting gas, shake and burp keg several times then try a pour with gas still disconected until you get a decent beer,even if it just dribbles out, then reconect gas at a low pouring pressure[2-3psi]slowly increasing it to your desired pressure when keg settles

 

[brewmasterz]

OK guys, newb kegging questions coming up

Have just started kegging and im having all sorts of drama.. ill start from the beginning

1. Brewed a coopers blond as per the instructions with BE2 . Fermented for 10 days
2. transferred to keg yesterday
3. force carbed as per ross method this afternoon. I think i did this wrong, what i did was crank the reg to 300 then turned the gas off, shook like mad for a minute and the dial on reg read only 20kpa? repeated this about 5 times until i got to the recomended 160. burped keg after 20 minutes then applied serving pressure of about 80kpa
4. Now this is where im confused - i left the keg in the fridge @ my serving pressure for a few hours, i have had 4 'beers' (or foam cups as i like to call them). All im getting is head (who would of thought a bloke would complain about that!), NO beer at all, well i get some beer after it sits for about 5 minutes, and when i do drink it, its flat as a tak!
Does head make the beer go flat? If so, that solves the flat beer problem, and i only have to fix the HEAD problem.. HOW?

Other info -
gas is at room temp (or patio temp )
Gas line is about 1 mtr from reg to keg (does this even matter?)
Beer line is about 1.2 mtrs from keg to tap
Tap is cold coz its kept in fridge (not mounted externally yet)
Beer temp is approx 4degC
The beer does seem to be coming out pretty quick

Cheers!
Andy

I usually crash chill my beer in the fermenter in the Fridge - 4degrees for 24/48 hours and then transfer into the keg - beer absorbs gas better if the beer is cold. Once transferred I connect the gas on for about 10 days at dispursing pressure - around 10 PSI. To balance your system check this wbst out: http://www.kegking.com.au/balancing%20your...g%20system.html. I have had no troubles with over carbonating. Be patient is the best bit of advise. Force carbonating can be very dicey!! Also if you do try this method, dont turn up gas beyond 20 psi - otherwise you will overcarbonate.

 

[cdbrown]

First of all don't give up. Carbing is best done when the beer is cold as it will readily accept the CO2 into solution.

Do you know what the internal diameter of the beer line is? I have two of the picnic taps one with a long line length but diameter is quite large (about 8mm or so) and another very short length but much smaller diameter. I can't pour at the normal serving pressure as the beer comes out too fast and turbulent knocking all the gas from the beer giving lots of foam and effectively making the beer flat (like you have). So I turn the gas off and burb most of the pressure out leaving enough in to give a reasonable flow out the tap. Unfortunately for me gas readily comes out of solution in the beer line giving more foam than I'd like, but not like before.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I think perhaps your first reply had the main problem - it could be that your force carbing method went wrong - but IMHO even if it went right, with only 1.2m of line between your keg and your tap, you would be pouring mostly foam even with perfectly carbonated beer. You probably have a combination of both problems.

I would:

*Leave it overnight to settle in a bit - this will probably help
*Take the keg off the gas and burp it down to nothing
*Drop the pressure on your reg down to virtually nothing
*Re-attach everything, tweak the pressure up until its just showing and try to pour a beer. It will be slow. If you can get to a point where you are able to pour a decent beer at a lower pressure... your beer probably isn't too badly over carbonated and you just don't have enough line. If its still too foamy even when its just dribbling out, you are going to have to try to get some of the gas out of the beer - the previous posters told you about burping the keg to do that.
* Lets assume the beer is OK and its just the line. You can still go about pouring a beer for yourself until you get a chance to get some more line. After doing the experiment above... you know what pressure you need in order to serve yourself a beer. So when you want one, you drop the reg back, burp the keg and adjust the pressure up to the success point. After you have finished pouring beers for the night/afternoon/session - raise the pressure back up to 80kpa or thereabouts, so the beer doesn't go flat. Repeat as required.
*in the meantime have a good read of the info you can find about balancing a keg system, starting with the AHB articles section and this post http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...;showarticle=24.
*Then get yourself some more line and you will be sorted.

Cheers

TB

 

[Snow]

Good advice from Thirsty Boy.

My initial recommendations are:

- have at least 2M of beer line (or a flow restrictor).
- Make sure the beer is chilled for at least 24 hours before carbing.
- Carb (a full keg) at 300KPA for 24 hours.
- burp and serve and store at 80kpa.
- only rapid carb with the shaking method if you are really desperate and be aware you will get inconsistent results.

Cheers - Snow.

 

[redlegger]

Thanks guys, i let the keg settle for 24 hrs, burped, applied only about 5-10kpa pressure, poured perfect first time! I havent got any extra line yet, but the lower pressure has done the trick!

The carbonation is good, but Will keeping this lower serving pressure affect the carbonation of the beer now?

 

[cdbrown]

Basically the carbonation will drop off over time as the pressure in the head space isn't there to keep the CO2 in solution. Really sounds like the beer line diameter is too big and line too short.

 

[syd_03]

Thanks guys, i let the keg settle for 24 hrs, burped, applied only about 5-10kpa pressure, poured perfect first time! I havent got any extra line yet, but the lower pressure has done the trick!

The carbonation is good, but Will keeping this lower serving pressure affect the carbonation of the beer now?

Yep beer will get flatter over time as co2 comes out of solution. Dial presure to 70-80 (or higher or lower depending on the level of carb you want to keep) at the end of the nights drinking. Dial back down to 5-10 kPa and burp before you pour. good solution until you can get more line and/or flow restrictor.

Cheers
Jason

 

[under]

I think you stuffed up. You set the pressure on your reg to 300kpa. While the gas is still on shake for 50-60 seconds. Turn off gas, rock. Needle will move until it stops. You want it to stop between 140-160 depending on how carbed you want it. If too low, repeat method but for only 5-10 or so seconds at a time.

The way you did it was - You set the reg to 300 and then turned the gas off. And then shook it. So..........

 

[redlegger]

I think you stuffed up. You set the pressure on your reg to 300kpa. While the gas is still on shake for 50-60 seconds. Turn off gas, rock. Needle will move until it stops. You want it to stop between 140-160 depending on how carbed you want it. If too low, repeat method but for only 5-10 or so seconds at a time.

The way you did it was - You set the reg to 300 and then turned the gas off. And then shook it. So..........

Yep, i re-read the force carb article (properly) after i had done it and noticed i'd buggered up.

I def need longer and thinner tube by the sounds!

 

[Ian Gommers]

Leaking dip tube seal? Happened to me. Yep. Sure did. New seal fixed him up good.