What Keeps Freezing My Beer

[fursey]

Hi Guys,

I'm obviously not very good with this kegorator stuff.

You would obviously have seen y previous posts where I was (and am) having trouble with carbonating my beer.

The posters who advised me that my beer was frozen were quite right, I left the keg out of the fride overnight and it had begun to defrost, I relieved the gas on several occasions until no more CO2 was released. I put the keg back in the firdge and set the CO2 gauge to pouring pressure (14 PSI) and thoght I would wait for a few days for the beer to absorb the CO2.

I tried to pour again tonight and again no liquid would come from the tap. I've checked the fridge temperature and it is reading around 7C. When I took the keg out of the fridge, ice could be heard swishing around inside the keg.

What am I missing here, I'm having real trouble trying t get a beer.

Anybodies help or advice would be warmly received.

Thanks guys.

Fursey

 

[Screwtop]

Hi Guys,

I'm obviously not very good with this kegorator stuff.

You would obviously have seen y previous posts where I was (and am) having trouble with carbonating my beer.

The posters who advised me that my beer was frozen were quite right, I left the keg out of the fride overnight and it had begun to defrost, I relieved the gas on several occasions until no more CO2 was released. I put the keg back in the firdge and set the CO2 gauge to pouring pressure (14 PSI) and thoght I would wait for a few days for the beer to absorb the CO2.

I tried to pour again tonight and again no liquid would come from the tap. I've checked the fridge temperature and it is reading around 7C. When I took the keg out of the fridge, ice could be heard swishing around inside the keg.

What am I missing here, I'm having real trouble trying t get a beer.

Anybodies help or advice would be warmly received.

Thanks guys.

Fursey

Beer does not freeze at 7C, what is the temp inside the cabinet?

Screwy

 

[Rodolphe01]

How are you taking the temperature?

Is the keg touching the back or sides? Although I don't have a kegerator (or kegs), I know that in my normal fridge if stuff touches the back it freezes while everything else will be at a normal cold fridge temp.

 

[fursey]

Beer does not freeze at 7C, what is the temp inside the cabinet?

Screwy

I know beer does not freeze at 7C. The inside fridge temperature is reading from my thermometer is 7C. I was wndering if this could possibly be caused by excessive CO2 in the keg.

 

[Ian Gommers]

I had the same problem, turned the frigde up a smidge, no problem. Reckon it had something to do with thermal dynamics, fluid dynamics, thero-fluid dynamics and the will of the beer gods. And the fridge trying to cool a large thermal mass quickly, eg; bottom of keg gets really cold, top still warmish. Thermal dynamics. Frozen beer, no beer flowy. Annoyed, thirsty bloke. Just my ramblings.

 

[mfeighan]

my mate had the same problem, it turned out that his beer line was touching the fridge element and freezing the beer inside the tubing which will inhibit your pouring

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

Ok , large or small fridge , how many kegs can you get in there , how many are in there ... where are you takeing the temp ,, top shelf or down the bottom beside the keg ...

My first step would be to put a small computer fan in there , this keeps it all at the same temp ... I have them in all fridges except the food one (that I'm band from touching )

Is your weather changing alot ?

It could be that the thermo has gone in your fridge and its running heaps ,, I got given a fridge that was frezzing every thing , just put a fridgemate controler on it and it sits at any temp I want no probs ,, guy wants it back because its a great fridge , local fridge mob told him cost 300 to fix thermo , I put a fridgemate on it for under 100... he's not getting it back lol...

try a fan see how ya go ..

cheers

 

[joecast]

had the same problem a week ago. temp was set at 4C. turned it up to 6C and reduced the CO2 from ~12psi to ~10C and pouring much better. ive got a fan and think that may have contributed to the beer line freezing, even though you wouldnt expect beer to freeze at that temp. wind chill factor and all
joe

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

joe ,, its not his line frezzing ,, its the keg it self ... I recon its bloody cold at the bottom of his fridge and cool at best up the top ...

I don't think you will get wind chill in a closed enviroment ...

Cheers

 

[Tony]

my mate had the same problem, it turned out that his beer line was touching the fridge element and freezing the beer inside the tubing which will inhibit your pouring

Yep.... this has happened to me too.

try a fan see how ya go ..

I have a fan in my chest freezer. When its off the beer will get super cold at the bottom and the top is about 5 to 10 deg hotter. This causes the beer in the lines at the top to froth in the lines. With the fan running i get constant even temps right throughout the freezer (500 liter)

here you can see the fan mounted at an angle to recirc the hot air at the top back down.

I have a temperature controller running the freezer at 4 deg and put the temperature probe in a bottle full of metho so that its buffered in liquid. This gives a more true loquid temp in the freezer and stops the compressor kicking in and out too often.

It works very very well.

cheers

 

[under]

Anyone thought of a dodgy seal.

 

[joecast]

joe ,, its not his line frezzing ,, its the keg it self ... I recon its bloody cold at the bottom of his fridge and cool at best up the top ...

I don't think you will get wind chill in a closed enviroment ...

Cheers

eis beer anyone??

 

[crundle]

+1 for fans to circulate cold air, helping maintain an even temperature by stopping the cold air sitting at the bottom of the fridge while the hot rises.

+1 for getting a temperature controller eventually.

+1 for checking where your temp probe is. If it is near the top of the fridge, then it will be reading a higher temperature than the bottom, which will be helping to freeze your kegs. Either turn up the temperautre to read about 13 degrees on your probe where it is, or move it to the bottom of the fridge.

Crundle

 

[crundle]

I would guess that with no air circulating in your fridge, that the temperature at the bottom of the keg is far lower than at the top.

My suggestion would be to turn up your thermostat to about 5-6 degrees higher than it is currently, and then to measure the temperature of the beer that you are pouring, which will be coming from the bottom of the keg. When this is where you want it to be, note the temperature of your thermometer and you will then be able to work out how much you will need to allow in future.

cheers,

Crundle

 

[fursey]

Thanks for all your comments and advice.

How is the circulating fan powered?

Certainly sounds like I need one.

Thanks again your help and advice is invaluable to a novice like myself

 

[rude]

It could be powered by a transformer 250v primary to 12v secondary

Use a computer fan & a phone charger to power it thats what I did for my chiller

 

[Ian Gommers]

Dont over complicate things, give your beer the time it needs and deserves to cool down! Time is your friend.

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

Old phone charger and a Computer fan ,,, Red and black wires are power ,, (forget about yellow If it has one )

cheers

 

[crundle]

The computer fan is one solution, which will allow you to keep your fridge set at the temperature it is now but to even out the temperature inside the fridge, OR you can raise the temperature of the fridge so that the temperature at the bottom of the keg is right where you want your beer to be. The second solution costs nothing.

Have faith, you will get the hang of the kegging game. I think everyone (including all the brewers I know of) have had issues like this to begin with, it is just getting to know your equipment.

cheers,

Crundle

 

[Rodolphe01]

If it is indeed freezing through the bottom of the keg, could you not just raise it slightly to get some air-space underneath? That is if raising the temp isn't an option re not being at your desired serving temp.