My kegolator degasses itself

[David Grace]

Hi.

I have been lurking for about a year, and find aussiehomebrewer.com very useful both for recipes and ideas. I'm now asking for some technical help.

I have a kegland kegolator and I am having some real trouble with the set-up degassing itself. It will be fine one night, and the next, the system has no CO2 at all. None in the kegs and none in the CO2 container. I've done all the checks on the lines and connections, and they appear to be fine (using soapy water, and no leaks at the regulator, the y joint, the keg connectors). Does anyone have any idea of what is going on? I also don't hear any noise, and it always appears to happen at night. There are no signs that the relief valves have been tampered with, or that the regulator has been knocked.

Hoping you can help me solve this mystery!

David Grace

 

[MHB]

You have a leak; you just haven’t found it yet!

A few things you can do to help find it.
We can look at the kegs and the gas supply separately.

Kegs
Are easiest, simply pressurise and spray everything with soapy water (if you want to make up a better leak detector mix some Glycerine with dishwashing liquid about 1/4 Glycerine then dilute in the spray bottle with some water but don’t make it too watery. Glycerine makes the bubbles much stretchier and longer lasting)
Cover the Hatch, PRV and both posts.
Inspect both post O-Rings, this are where most leaks happen, as the disconnect actions across the O-Ring it’s easy to gouge or scratch the O-Ring and get a leak. A bit of food grade lube helps prevent this from happening. It can be frustrating as both the kegs and the gas supply test OK, but the system doesn’t.

Gas Supply
Connect your regulator to the bottle.
Disconnect from the kegs, turn the reg up to around 200kPa (2 Bar) turn off the bottle tap, leave for a couple of hours.
If the gauge is still reading 200kPa odds on its not your gas supply.
Good idea to have a careful look at the seal between the bottle and the regulator, because it’s on the high pressure side (~5,000kPa) its very easy for a small leak to happen.
If you can fill a container with water and stick your disconnects in, look for bubbles, same for any T's, Y's, manifolds or taps in the line.

If it holds at 200kPa, try again at 50kPa, some regs will self vent at low pressures.
If you do all of the above and it’s still leaking, try to get as much of your gas line as you can under water, tiny little pinholes in lines can be very hard to find any other way.
If you don’t find the problem get some photos of you system and post them.
Mark

Sorry to have to say this.

Cheap regs are often problematic; some are just rubbish and will cost you no end of CO2 and frustration.

A high quality CO2 reg is a good investment.

M

 

[David Grace]

Thanks for your reply. Been busy doing other things, but will go through the steps you suggested. I'm going to try my grandchildren's bubble mixture to see if I can get better bubbles than detergent!

Regards

David

 

[JDW81]

A high quality CO2 reg is a good investment.

I'd extend that comment to the vast majority of brewing equipment. I've never regretted spending a few extra $$$. I've rarely (if ever) had a decent bit of kit fail, but some of the cheaper stuff i've bought.....

 

[MHB]

Thanks for your reply. Been busy doing other things, but will go through the steps you suggested. I'm going to try my grandchildren's bubble mixture to see if I can get better bubbles than detergent!

Regards

David

if you look into the ingredients i think you will find.....

 

[David Grace]

it looks like it's the regulator. When you turn up the regulator tap, it releases the gas. I thought it was a good one - Kegland Mk4. Any suggestions for a good regulator?

 

[Grmblz]

My preference would be for BOC https://www.boc.com.au/shop/en/au/p...xaOJqOhe3wLsVvSwfFPF1hAlpASNgePAaAswHEALw_wcB or Cigweld CIGWELD CutSkill 400KPA CO2 Home Brew Regulator 210319 if these are a bit rich for you then Micromatic have a reasonable reputation.

 

[MHB]

Hard to beat BOC regs, Harris aren’t bad and Genuine Micromatic are excellent (one of the "Keg" companies was flogging what I suspect was a fake a few years ago)

TESUCO are good value for money, I have a dual TESUCO that has given me years of reliable service.
As above - A good quality reg is a very important part of a keg system and it really is a get what you pay for choice.
Mark