Shut Of The Co2 Or Leave It On?

[Offline]

Its not only gas lines that leak, take for example the post orings.

A mate of mine lost 18 litres of water :blink: when the oring on his liquid post decided to leak. He didnt notice it while carbonating because the liquid disconnect was not attached. Two days after hooking it up to the tap it was empty (all over the floor).
At least it wasnt beer .

 

[Tony]

yeah mine did that

the oring on the beer outlet of a "comercial" type coupler had pinched and when i was heading out to the ute to go the work the next day there was an American Brown Ale river eminating from the fridge to the drain.

Dont know how much i lost but i wasnt happy.

I did the same test (disconect and watch the pressure) and had no leaks but should do it again..... its been a while.

My 9KG gass bottle has been going for about 15 months now and i drink a good 4 or 5 schooners a night, gassing up 50 liter kegs.

cant be leaking to much

cheers

 

[sqyre]

In the past i must admit that i have come home to find an empty gas bottle..But only once.

After that i was "once bitten twice shy" so i would turn my gas off after each session.

The only prob was untill i found the source of the leak everytime i left it for a while the beer was flat.

Turned out it was just the "in" post connector on one of my 18l kegs had come loose.

Then when the leak was fixed and i still turned the gas off i had no noticable change in pressure when i turned it back on.

Supose it is better to end up with a flat beer than an empty gas bottle :blink:

But when you've had a few too many and nod off in your chair... turning off your gas can be difficult

Still i choose to leave it on...

I wonder if a small storage tank (similar to the way an air compressor tank works) was put in line with a second regulator so that you could charge up the tank quickly, giving you enough pressure stored for say 20 pours. This would allow you to walk away without the worry of coming back to an empty bottle.And you you would only have to "charge up the tank" again during say.. a large session with the boys.

Worse case senario - lost a little gas,beer flat... :super:

Hmmm...time to pull out the lab coat..a few experiments to be done.

 

[Wortgames]

Crikey, didn't any of you guys fix your own bicycle punctures?

If you submerge your manifold / lines / QDs in a bucket of water whilst under pressure you will soon see if you have any leaks. If you are really paranoid then leave it there overnight and see whether you get any tiny bubbles forming around the joins.

If you want a trouble-free draught system, the only way to do it is to LEAVE THE REG ALONE! Any time you make an adjustment it takes at least a day (and usually several) for the system to settle and rebalance, you really don't want to be constantly SCREWING WITH THE REG.

If you leave your system balanced, when you hook up a new (uncarbed) keg it will be perfectly drinkable in a day or so and perfectly balanced within a week. If you want to force carbonate then get a second reg to do it, or accept the fact that your whole system will be out of whack for a few days because you SCREWED WITH THE REG.

The trouble with disconnecting the gas every night is that if you have any kegs that are still cooling or not fully carbed, the whole system will try to equalize and lose pressure until you reconnect. This constantly fluctuating pressure is a PITA and means your system will never properly balance - it is the same as SCREWING WITH THE REG.

If you have leaks you will lose gas regardless - so it is your choice whether to lose gas out of the beer and always have a crappy draught system that never settles, or lose gas out of the bottle but pour perfect beer. Or fix your leaks, lose no gas and have perfect beer.

I disagree that it is 'bad practise' to leave the gas connected, I think as long as you check approriately for leaks it is the only way to go.

AND STOP SCREWING WITH THE REG!

:beerbang:

 

[frogman]

STOP SCREWING WITH THE REG!

:beerbang:

I worked in pubs for nearly seven years and have to agree.
Set it up. Get it right and don't frig around with it.

 

[Fingerlickin_B]

I have to agree with Wortgames...in fact I think it was his posts that made me go "balanced" anyway :beerbang:

A balanced system is awesome, just chill a keg a plug on the gas while you are drinking another, then when ready to drink the new one it is also ready for you to drink it :chug:

Once balanced, you can just walk up, pour a beer no worries, no pulling on PRVs and such...makes life sooooo simple

PZ.

 

[PistolPatch]

This is because your beer was under carbonated in the first place, it has nothing to do with leaks. Leaving the gas on is bad practice - The day you come home to to find your kegged discharged & your bottle empty, you'll understand why - that's without the potential danger from the CO2 as well, depending on where you store it...

cheers Ross

Rossco, mine is a slow leak problem not the under-carbonation. For example, I just turned the gas tap off on the manifold for 24 hrs (that way reg knob etc stayed the same) and had the same 40 second problem. All beers have been under 60kpa since Fathers Day so definitely no under-carbonation.

The problem is finding the leaks. There's only so much you can do with submersing and soapy water. I was thinking that I'll get two of those quick disconnect stoppers from you and then submerse the keg with disconnects on into water.

The CO2 danger is my biggest worry (all else, I'm prepared to wear the consequences) so I always have the doors and windows open here plus ceiling fans on low rotation so I'm not too worried. If I close up, gas goes off.

When you and the others stay for Indy I'll let you turn the gas off though. I mean you will be sleeping in the same room as the bottle!


Pat

 

[Fingerlickin_B]

I'll get two of those quick disconnect stoppers from you

PP, can you direct me to where these are on the Craftbrewer site?

I can't see them anywhere :blink:

PZ.

 

[PistolPatch]

Howdy Finger,

I'm not sure if this link will work without you logging in to Craftbrewer first Craftbrewer Quick Release Fittings

If it doesn't, just go the Craftbrewer home page and click on 'Quick Release Fittings' (bottom left of main list. The stopper thing is fifth from the bottom, 'Plug - OD 5/16 (8mm).' This just fits into the other fittings to cap them off.

These fittings are brilliant and do not leak - I've tested them. The other great thing is that they swivel to wherever you want the lines to go.

My prob is with the disconnects. Need some more of those washers of yours I think.

Cheers
Pat

 

[Fingerlickin_B]

Ah, now I can see why I couldn't find them...they aren't there :lol:

You said "quick disconnect stoppers" so that's what I was looking for, but obviously you meant the other pluggy doo-dads...I thought you were referring to something that plugged a ball lock Quick Disconnect.

As for the washers, if you mean the ones I sent you ages ago...can you still not get them locally? Bummer
If you really need some, chuck me a PM with your address again, plus how many you need and I'll send you some more :beer:

PZ.

 

[Sparky]

Happily run a balanced system here with the reg sitting on 80kPa (just under 12psi). Haven't twiddled it in months.

..I've always been unsure of how people get leaks in these systems and fear loosing their gas? My tubing is thick and tough and (so far) I've been able to hear if any of my kegs are leaking...I guess I'll probably find out the hard way though one day...

I got caught Sammus with my oldest female stainless ballock fitting when the o-ring between the body & the poppet housing let go.

Lots of patience was req'd & lots of testing the manifold & hose connections with soapy water & a bucket, before I found this leak. Had always prided myself on my hoses, connections & posts but overlooked the o-rings in the females.

If there's a leak it's gotta be found, else how is carbonation pressure maintained when the gas is turned off??

 

[Hillbilly]

This what I've been looking for since I,ve been kegging. I recently added a second tap to my fridge door combined with a co2 manifold and found that balancing your system became more important than ever. I only have two kegs but got fed up with changing disonnects over to have some beer from the other keg with one tap. Great to see that more and more people are getting there system balanced but it would be great to share what you did to achieve it.

I'm running two Alumasc taps and have 4 meters of 5mm lines running to each of them. Fridge is set to 4C.
Planning on balancing the system at 70 to 80 Kpa, would this be right?

Thoughts?

Hillbilly.

 

[PistolPatch]

Hillbilly,

Took some time to find but this page here provided by crozdog will get your system balanced. I'm pretty sure this is the page I ended up using.

Cheers
Pat

P.S. Thanks Finger - I might take you up on that after I test again :beerbang:

 

[Fingerlickin_B]

Hillbilly,

Took some time to find but this page here provided by crozdog will get your system balanced. I'm pretty sure this is the page I ended up using.

Cheers
Pat

P.S. Thanks Finger - I might take you up on that after I test again :beerbang:

Not that hard to find, as it is quoted/linked in the first page of this thread

Pat, let me know man...I owe you one..or three :beer:

PZ.

*edit* - It appears that I replied to a PM in this tread...PP and I are pisshead by the looks of it :lol:

 

[bugwan]

I worked in a pub (during the Uni years) for over 5 years...we never screwed with the reg (cheers Wortgames!) and always turned the gas off each night.

...for what it's worth...