It's Kegging Time 2019

[The Captain!!]

1 hour ago, Bearded Burbler said:

Table Sugar - for bottling?

Nah kegged. Never changed the profile 

[Norris!]

All three kegs are blown , so I got a 4 pack of Balters Hazy pale ale for the weekend while I decide whether to cold crash this brew or just keg it and start drinking it tomorrow afternoon. I really screwed up my production schedule, at one point I had 3 kegs with brews and 2 cubes full, but an empty fermenter. I didn't ferment anything for 3 weeks and didn't brew anything for 4, why you ask? Was I on some adventure somewhere?

Nah isolated like everyone else but was just too lazy to put anything on, me own fault right there. Oh well, after the 1st keg went, I started fermenting a batch but I totally misread my amounts because the other two went quickly because I bottled 24 beers out of the 21l batches for mates and neighbours, so that kind of explains it but I had totally forgotten that, well not taken it into account for my supply after the fact, if that makes sense.

One keg had been on tap for like 3+ months so that one was expected. The other two were just getting really nice. The last glass of the house XPA was nice as was the house pale variant I did.

Anyways, that is where I am. To keg a hazy batch or to wait 4 days while I cold crash and try to clear this with the good ole gelatin. Do I think this batch will clear? Not really.

Right, I talked myself into it, I am kegging it, soon.

Maybe. I am lazy and maybe I don't need beer, my pants seems a little tighter, not that my wife minds .

[Journeyman]

I got delivery today of 2 kegs from beerbelly - only ordered them yesterday so stunning service. I got an email about how to check progress of my order about an hour after I had the kegs.

So that's it on hardware for a bit - got some bits and pieces coming (spares for JIC) but other than that I have 5 kegs for a 4 tap kegerator and can ferment 2 brews at a time so just gonna cruise for now and save some bikkies.

I can however feel the pain from @Norris! - my last (2nd ever) keg in the kegerator blew last night and my 2 brews will be ready Sunday - I blame SWMBO - she drinks too much!  So it's keg those 2 and new brews in the fermenter instanter and hope we don't do 2 kegs before they are ready.

[kmar92]

Does anyone know why cornelius kegs have oval shaped lids? I have had some problems getting an airtight seal and to my thinking that would be so much easier if the lids were circular as then orientation of the lid would not be in play.

[iBooz2]

@kmar92 If they were circular lids and openings, how would you then propose to get the lids inside the hole?

Cheers - AL

[Hodgo]

What Ibooz2 said, the oval shape is to be able to pass the lid through the hole

[iBooz2]

On 5/15/2020 at 4:58 PM, Journeyman said:

I got delivery today of 2 kegs from beerbelly - only ordered them yesterday so stunning service. I got an email about how to check progress of my order about an hour after I had the kegs.

So that's it on hardware for a bit - got some bits and pieces coming (spares for JIC) but other than that I have 5 kegs for a 4 tap kegerator and can ferment 2 brews at a time so just gonna cruise for now and save some bikkies.

I can however feel the pain from @Norris! - my last (2nd ever) keg in the kegerator blew last night and my 2 brews will be ready Sunday - I blame SWMBO - she drinks too much!  So it's keg those 2 and new brews in the fermenter instanter and hope we don't do 2 kegs before they are ready.

@Journeyman Sooo mate, have we done any calculations on daily consumption of pints since kegging career started, huh huh?  How does it stack up compared to daily consumption back in your bottling days.  Its a novelty being able to pour just another one when otherwise we probably would not if we had to open another bottle.

Cheers - AL

[Shamus O'Sean]

I am not sure if I can say this.  But I am a keg blowing virgin.

My Abbey Dubbel keg blew tonight.  I must admit, I was expecting something a bit more spectacular. 

Anyway disconnected the empty keg.  Ran sodium perc through the beer line.  Stopped halfway though and left it for 5 or so minutes.  Ran the rest through.  Ran 3L of plain water through to rinse.  Ran 1L of starsan through, stopping halfway for a minute or two.  Connected up the keg of Promising Ale, already sitting at 3°C in another fridge.  Closed off other kegs at the manifold and upped the pressure to 32psi.  Will leave the Promising Ale to carb up for 24 hours.  Cannot wait to try it because one of these that I bottled when I kegged the rest and tried a week or so ago was great.

I also cut 30cm off the beer line.  It was taking a lot longer to fill a pint than I read others were getting on their systems.

[Journeyman]

51 minutes ago, iBooz2 said:

@Journeyman Sooo mate, have we done any calculations on daily consumption of pints since kegging career started, huh huh?  How does it stack up compared to daily consumption back in your bottling days.  Its a novelty being able to pour just another one when otherwise we probably would not if we had to open another bottle.

I drank more for a while but would now be back to 3 or 4 schooners a night.  Which is about what it was for bottles.

[Smash]

Keg dispensing nightmare continues.
Since I've owned my keg (2 years), I've yet to have a good pour. Tried a few different things but to no avail. It pours 50/50 head to beer but the beet is flat, after carbonating and pouring at 12psi set and forget. Fridge is set to 2 degrees but not sure what the beer itself is. 19l keg, around 2.5-3m of 5mm id line. Tried a pluto gun, then a tap in the fridge door, and recently added a flow control disconnect (https://www.kegland.com.au/flow-control-ball-lock-disconnect-flow-restrictor.html), but it still pours at 50/50 with flat beer.  There isn't heaps of pressure when it comes out, probably takes about 6 seconds to fill a 325ml glass. I've had the C02 bottle for a little while, could it be a lack of C02 getting through the beer and just the top part of the keg? Could there be something stuck inside the dip tube? Should I get longer line? Anyone have any thoughts on a fix or issues with my system? Thanks heaps guys!

[Red devil 44]

19 minutes ago, Smash said:

Keg dispensing nightmare continues.
Since I've owned my keg (2 years), I've yet to have a good pour. Tried a few different things but to no avail. It pours 50/50 head to beer but the beet is flat, after carbonating and pouring at 12psi set and forget. Fridge is set to 2 degrees but not sure what the beer itself is. 19l keg, around 2.5-3m of 5mm id line. Tried a pluto gun, then a tap in the fridge door, and recently added a flow control disconnect (https://www.kegland.com.au/flow-control-ball-lock-disconnect-flow-restrictor.html), but it still pours at 50/50 with flat beer.  There isn't heaps of pressure when it comes out, probably takes about 6 seconds to fill a 325ml glass. I've had the C02 bottle for a little while, could it be a lack of C02 getting through the beer and just the top part of the keg? Could there be something stuck inside the dip tube? Should I get longer line? Anyone have any thoughts on a fix or issues with my system? Thanks heaps guys!

CO2 should be fine mate.

I had a blockage in my dip tube in a keg a while back, nothing was coming out of my beer tap, just a dribble but my beer wasn’t flat before or after I fixed it. I made up an adaptor which I can hook the gas up to the beer out post, blew some gas down there which unblocked it ( piece of hop matter ), hooked back up and it poured fine after that. I just let the keg rest a few hrs after stirring the beer up. 
Hope this helps, cheers RD44

[Journeyman]

1 hour ago, Smash said:

Keg dispensing nightmare continues.
Since I've owned my keg (2 years), I've yet to have a good pour. Tried a few different things but to no avail. It pours 50/50 head to beer but the beet is flat, after carbonating and pouring at 12psi set and forget. Fridge is set to 2 degrees but not sure what the beer itself is. 19l keg, around 2.5-3m of 5mm id line. Tried a pluto gun, then a tap in the fridge door, and recently added a flow control disconnect (https://www.kegland.com.au/flow-control-ball-lock-disconnect-flow-restrictor.html), but it still pours at 50/50 with flat beer.  There isn't heaps of pressure when it comes out, probably takes about 6 seconds to fill a 325ml glass. I've had the C02 bottle for a little while, could it be a lack of C02 getting through the beer and just the top part of the keg? Could there be something stuck inside the dip tube? Should I get longer line? Anyone have any thoughts on a fix or issues with my system? Thanks heaps guys!

Set and 'forget' - for how long? 

Have you tried force carbing? put it on at 30 psi and rock it around for a while?

What disconnects have you got and how long since they had a soak and a clean? 

I'd start with head issues - flat beer is strange but could be just carbonation issues - it is pretty easy to over-carb a keg apparently.

6 seconds sounds like you've got pressure and lotsa head suggests the pressure might be too high at the tap end. (speculating here but I'm a novice at kegs so maybe one of the experienced guys can help) It depends on where the head is forming I think - is it happening in the glass or coming out of the tap already foamy? 

If it is exiting the tap already foaming, maybe dirty or poorly made taps? Anything in there that interferes with the flow of beer can make it heady.

I'd take out the flow control disconnect for now - it's a variable you don't need until you get a standard beer pouring right. My beer lines are about 1.25m long but they are 4mm ID, which is unfortunate because most line calcs seem to be US and they don't do 5/32 ID line.

Have a look here... https://brucrafter.com/too-much-foam-from-a-kegerator-4-paths-to-perfect-pints/ and follow the links - there may be a light bulb moment there for you.

Edited May 29, 2020 by Journeyman

[Otto Von Blotto]

Shouldn't be over carbonated on 12psi, doesn't matter how long it sits there. The pressure and temperature determine it. It's flat in the glass because the excessive foaming is driving the gas out. 

I wouldn't recommend the rocking method if he's already having pouring issues just force carbing on serving pressure, it's a lot easier to stuff it up doing that and make things worse. 

Check the beer lines and see if they have a heap of bubbles in them. They shouldn't, but if they do then there's an issue. 

Could be roughness inside the tap causing it. Could be fixed but probably easier to replace it. Could be getting turbulence elsewhere as well. In saying that, I'd expect that would cause foaming all the time, not just half a glass.

Maybe it's just warm taps. I find if I forget to turn my font fan on an hour or more before I pour a beer that it foams excessively on the first one, but the rest are fine. Make sure the tap is fully open when pouring, or it will foam up. Probably already doing that but just in case. I've seen people be a bit "careful" in the past and they just pour more foam as a result. 

[Journeyman]

4 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

I wouldn't recommend the rocking method if he's already having pouring issues just force carbing on serving pressure, it's a lot easier to stuff it up doing that and make things worse. 

I wasn't recommending it, just finding out if that's what he's been doing. I know he said 'set and forget' but it's also been 2 years - that suggests there might be a variety of things happening as he tries to fix things.

[Smash]

3 hours ago, Red devil 44 said:

CO2 should be fine mate.

I had a blockage in my dip tube in a keg a while back, nothing was coming out of my beer tap, just a dribble but my beer wasn’t flat before or after I fixed it. I made up an adaptor which I can hook the gas up to the beer out post, blew some gas down there which unblocked it ( piece of hop matter ), hooked back up and it poured fine after that. I just let the keg rest a few hrs after stirring the beer up. 
Hope this helps, cheers RD44

Thanks mate, might give it a blast and see what happens! 

2 hours ago, Journeyman said:

Set and 'forget' - for how long? 

Have you tried force carbing? put it on at 30 psi and rock it around for a while?

What disconnects have you got and how long since they had a soak and a clean? 

I'd start with head issues - flat beer is strange but could be just carbonation issues - it is pretty easy to over-carb a keg apparently.

6 seconds sounds like you've got pressure and lotsa head suggests the pressure might be too high at the tap end. (speculating here but I'm a novice at kegs so maybe one of the experienced guys can help) It depends on where the head is forming I think - is it happening in the glass or coming out of the tap already foamy? 

If it is exiting the tap already foaming, maybe dirty or poorly made taps? Anything in there that interferes with the flow of beer can make it heady.

I'd take out the flow control disconnect for now - it's a variable you don't need until you get a standard beer pouring right. My beer lines are about 1.25m long but they are 4mm ID, which is unfortunate because most line calcs seem to be US and they don't do 5/32 ID line.

Have a look here... https://brucrafter.com/too-much-foam-from-a-kegerator-4-paths-to-perfect-pints/ and follow the links - there may be a light bulb moment there for you.

Thanks Journeyman. I've got brand new taps & disconnect, so shouldn't be an issue there, especially as the issue was occuring before I got them. Could be an issue with interferance though!

15 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Shouldn't be over carbonated on 12psi, doesn't matter how long it sits there. The pressure and temperature determine it. It's flat in the glass because the excessive foaming is driving the gas out. 

I wouldn't recommend the rocking method if he's already having pouring issues just force carbing on serving pressure, it's a lot easier to stuff it up doing that and make things worse. 

Check the beer lines and see if they have a heap of bubbles in them. They shouldn't, but if they do then there's an issue. 

Could be roughness inside the tap causing it. Could be fixed but probably easier to replace it. Could be getting turbulence elsewhere as well. In saying that, I'd expect that would cause foaming all the time, not just half a glass.

Maybe it's just warm taps. I find if I forget to turn my font fan on an hour or more before I pour a beer that it foams excessively on the first one, but the rest are fine. Make sure the tap is fully open when pouring, or it will foam up. Probably already doing that but just in case. I've seen people be a bit "careful" in the past and they just pour more foam as a result. 

Might give the out post a squirt of C02 to see it anything happens. Tap is brand new, but it has a spring for auto close, could that interfere much? Issues occured before I got the tap & disconnect though.  I poured for a while last night but it was all foam (although after I tried to decarb). Why do you say its an issue if theres excess bubbles in the beer line? I would say its on the higher side, with larger bubbles rather than smaller ones. Could there be something giving a bit of turbulence prior to the line?

Edited May 29, 2020 by Smash

[Smash]

8 minutes ago, Journeyman said:

I wasn't recommending it, just finding out if that's what he's been doing. I know he said 'set and forget' but it's also been 2 years - that suggests there might be a variety of things happening as he tries to fix things.

Never really tried the rocking method as time isn't an issue when I keg. There would've only been about 4-5 beers in the keg in that timeframe though! 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Because if everything is sealed properly and balanced there shouldn't be any bubbles in the line. If there are it means that something is causing gas to come out of solution before it comes out of the tap, and if there's bubbles in the line they'll just end up in the glass as foam. Usually it's because there's more pressure in the keg than the regulator is set to i.e. over carbonated, but 12psi at 2 degrees or so doesn't sound like too much to me and being set and forget on that, the pressure should be stable. 

How are the lines set up? I find it's a good idea to coil up the beer lines and sit the coil on top of the keg so there's no line dropping below.  

[Titan]

I think your regulator is fakd. See if you can borrow one from a mate but i suspect that its not delivering the correct pressure to the beer. Enough to pour one but not enough to carbonate.

[Norris!]

All good suggestions. My mate had a similar issue, it was fixed by cooling the taps. With that said it could be the line length also or even the regulator, as said above.

Have you tried a picnic tap? I ask because that is what I started on and I pretty much always got good pours, once I went to taps, I had to adjust the line length to ensure little foam. The shorter picnic tap would also help rule out if it is the line length or the tap temp, as they are no longer in the equation of the pour. Then you can work backwards and figure it out.

Good luck and brewing,

Norris

[Norris!]

Not saying that it is because the lines are to short, but that is generally the issue, and the blockage. That could be it also. Work backwards and it will show itself.

[Norris!]

On 5/15/2020 at 4:28 PM, Norris! said:

All three kegs are blown , so I got a 4 pack of Balters Hazy pale ale for the weekend while I decide whether to cold crash this brew or just keg it and start drinking it tomorrow afternoon. I really screwed up my production schedule, at one point I had 3 kegs with brews and 2 cubes full, but an empty fermenter. I didn't ferment anything for 3 weeks and didn't brew anything for 4, why you ask? Was I on some adventure somewhere?

Nah isolated like everyone else but was just too lazy to put anything on, me own fault right there. Oh well, after the 1st keg went, I started fermenting a batch but I totally misread my amounts because the other two went quickly because I bottled 24 beers out of the 21l batches for mates and neighbours, so that kind of explains it but I had totally forgotten that, well not taken it into account for my supply after the fact, if that makes sense.

One keg had been on tap for like 3+ months so that one was expected. The other two were just getting really nice. The last glass of the house XPA was nice as was the house pale variant I did.

Anyways, that is where I am. To keg a hazy batch or to wait 4 days while I cold crash and try to clear this with the good ole gelatin. Do I think this batch will clear? Not really.

Right, I talked myself into it, I am kegging it, soon.

Maybe. I am lazy and maybe I don't need beer, my pants seems a little tighter, not that my wife minds .

I have 2 kegs filled and a hazy sitting at cold crash. Kveik.

[Journeyman]

1 hour ago, Smash said:

Why do you say its an issue if theres excess bubbles in the beer line? I would say its on the higher side, with larger bubbles rather than smaller ones. Could there be something giving a bit of turbulence prior to the line?

My lines are all bubble-free. I would think any bubbles in the lines you have a leak somewhere prior to the taps.

I see @Otto Von Blotto mentioned that.  

The only times I have seen bubbles in my line is when something (me) bent the beer line - I use duotights and until I got the line angles sorted I had a few 'bend' issues.

Edited May 29, 2020 by Journeyman

[Pezzza]

5 hours ago, Norris! said:

Work backwards and it will show itself.

Also could @Smash possibly have a leaky keg?  It's just I had a brand new keg with a pharqued PRV which was leaking... I did not have flat beer problems (just my cylinders ran out faster)... but am wondering whether lack of carbonation in keg also might be an issue - sadly Smasher - there are quite a few possible failure points... Norris strategy is good and also @Titan re the Reg.

Fact that you have not run out of gas may mean leaks are not the issue here...

Interestingly when I did my very first Nitro-CO2 mix stout... due to lower C02 partial pressure it takes longer to carb up... and it would pour... but pour flat... if the reg is not doing as it should... maybe it is not carbing up properly but there is enough pressure to pour as @Titan mentions...  and @Red devil 44 Red's good point about the blockage indicates too lack of pressure being able to build up in the keg headspace?

And my beer lines are all min of 3.5m - to my pluto guns and Stout Tap... is the line too short... or sucking in air somewhere ?

 

[kmar92]

On 5/28/2020 at 9:25 PM, iBooz2 said:

@kmar92 If they were circular lids and openings, how would you then propose to get the lids inside the hole?

Cheers - AL

I knew that.

Reminder to self, do not ask dumb questions.

What about screw on lids sealed with an O ring?

[Otto Von Blotto]

2 hours ago, kmar92 said:

I knew that.

Reminder to self, do not ask dumb questions.

What about screw on lids sealed with an O ring?

They probably wouldn't handle the pressure rating of the kegs.

8 hours ago, Titan said:

I think your regulator is fakd. See if you can borrow one from a mate but i suspect that its not delivering the correct pressure to the beer. Enough to pour one but not enough to carbonate.

I'm not sure about that. If it wasn't carbonated then it wouldn't foam up at all. The 6 seconds to pour a glass sounds like plenty enough pressure to carbonate it. More likely if it is stuffed it's the other way and putting too much pressure in it. 

I don't think this is an issue of flat or significantly under carbonated beer. When this happens in kegs it just pours like water, minimal foaming if any. It's tasting flat because all the gas is coming out of solution in the heap of foam being poured. There's obviously a reasonable amount of gas in the beer for this to occur. Personally I suspect the most likely cause is just warm taps. If I went to pour a beer on mine with the flow control opened up fully and the taps warm, I'd get a heap of foaming initially as well. I can't really do much about this other than expensive glycol chiller setups. The font fan in the kegerator helps by cooling the portion of beer lines in the font though. 

@Smash try pouring a second beer immediately after the first one and see if the problem persists once the tap is cold. If it doesn't then that's almost certainly the problem. If it does then the problem is obviously elsewhere as well. The gas is definitely all through the beer though, it doesn't just sit on top.