Strange carbonation issue!

[MattSR]

Hi guys,

I brewed a 45L batch a few weeks ago and put it into two 19L corny kegs. Both kegs went into my kegerator and were hooked up to the same regulator via a T peice. I only hooked up the first keg to a tap and left the other to carb up.

The first keg carbed up nicely and had a good head, when that blew dry I plugged in the second keg expecting to find the beer just as carbed as the first. When I poured from the second keg the beer was quite a bit flatter and the head retention was poor..

Any ideas what could be going on?

 

[barls]

are the two lines from the t the same length?

 

[Camo6]

Was the gas left on the whole time after carbing?

 

[MattSR]

Hi Guys,

Yep both gas lines are identical in length (give or take a centimeter or two) and the gas has been left on to both kegs the whole time..

It's got me baffled!! I think I'll go over the system with soapy water looking for leaks around the under-carbed keg...

Cheers,
Matt

 

[TOF]

Matt, i had a similar problem and found that the valve in the gas post was not being fully opened by the centre pin in the quick connect, ie a very small ammount of gas is getting through the valve but not enough to fully carbonate the beer, hope this helps, Cheers, Ken.

 

[professional_drunk]

Pull and release the prv and listen if the gas comes rushing in.

 

[TheWiggman]

Length of line won't make a difference, an obstruction is far more likely but still unusual. Bugger-all flow going into a carbonating keg.
It never hurts to check for leaks but if the gas has remained on it's very unlikely that a leak would cause it. If the gas was off, yes. While the gas is on the regulator will maintain head space pressure above the beer, and it's that pressure which will carbonate it.
If all else fails I'd be looking at a potential temp difference between the kegs.

 

[MattSR]

Yep - checked that there's gas flow by opening the PRV and we have positive flow. The keg let a good bit of gas out and it re-pressurised quickly.

Very strange indeed, I'll be sure to "test" it again tonight by having to pour another beer or three

 

[Blind Dog]

Are you using the same tap, line and disconnect to pour as you did for the 1st keg?

 

[MattSR]

Yep - it's running off the same tap.

I bumped up the pressure just a tad and now the carbonation seems to be identical to the other keg.. Kinda strange but hey, it's all good and the beer is drinkable, which I guess is all that matters

Cheers,
Matt