Finally took a dive into homebrewing.

[ChairmanDrew]

52 minutes ago, Beercules281 said:

I'd never had a Dark Ale until the other day. After the first mouthful I was sold on making it. Looking forward to trying that one. 

I recommend you try out the Nut Brown Ale recipe next. I reckon you'll like it.

[Beercules281]

2 minutes ago, ChairmanDrew said:

I recommend you try out the Nut Brown Ale recipe next. I reckon you'll like it.

I'll be sure to give it a go. Thanks!

[Graculus]

17 hours ago, Beercules281 said:

I'd never had a Dark Ale until the other day. After the first mouthful I was sold on making it. Looking forward to trying that one. 

If you like the Dark Ale, have a go at SMOTY Ale.

It's very nice. I made one for winter and it's almost gone. I bought the ingredients to make another last week.

Ah, didn't get far enough into the thread to see that @ChairmanDrew has already made a suggestion.

Edited June 30 by Graculus

[Beercules281]

2 minutes ago, Graculus said:

If you like the Dark Ale, have a go at SMOTY Ale.

It's very nice. I made one for winter and it's almost gone. I bought the ingredients to make another last week.

That one sounds good and easy to make. Thanks for the recommendation. 

[Beercules281]

Me again! Looking for some wisdom from all you Kegerator experts.

So i kegged my Dark Ale (KEG 2) yesterday. Wacked that in the keg fridge with the Co2 connected at around 13psi. Fridge ran for about 24 hours until it reached the target temp on the Temp Controller. 

Went to poor a Pale Ale (KEG 1) today from the same keg fridge and had nothing but foam! Shook KEG 1 and it sounded like a slushy.

Is this because the fridge ran for so long to cool KEG 2 that in the process KEG 1 became super ultra mega cold?

What's the best way to rectify this if at all possible? Should i release the pressure from KEG 1 and let it sit for an hour or so? This one has me scratching my head!

 

Edit for context: KEG 1 was already at 5c in the keg fridge. KEG 2 was at 20c after transferring from fermenter. 

Edited July 7 by Beercules281
Context

[Back Brewing]

18 minutes ago, Beercules281 said:

Me again! Looking for some wisdom from all you Kegerator experts.

So i kegged my Dark Ale (KEG 2) yesterday. Wacked that in the keg fridge with the Co2 connected at around 13psi. Fridge ran for about 24 hours until it reached the target temp on the Temp Controller. 

Went to poor a Pale Ale (KEG 1) today from the same keg fridge and had nothing but foam! Shook KEG 1 and it sounded like a slushy.

Is this because the fridge ran for so long to cool KEG 2 that in the process KEG 1 became super ultra mega cold?

What's the best way to rectify this if at all possible? Should i release the pressure from KEG 1 and let it sit for an hour or so? This one has me scratching my head!

The first pour is always frothy what was the second pour like?

Edited July 7 by Back Brewing

[Beercules281]

Just now, Back Brewing said:

The first pour is always frothy what was the second pour like?

I had about 4 foamy pours. Literally like all foam. 

[Back Brewing]

Just now, Beercules281 said:

I had about 4 foamy pours. Literally like all foam. 

This opens up a whole can of worms how long are your beer lines? What temp have you got your Kegerator? Did you force carb or set and forget?

[Beercules281]

Just now, Back Brewing said:

This opens up a whole can of worms how long are your beer lines? What temp have you got your Kegerator? Did you force carb or set and forget?

My pale Keg has been in the keg fridge for about 2 weeks and has poured beers perfectly up until today.  The only thing that has changed has been me putting the second keg in the fridge to chill and carbonate.  

 

Temp is set to around 5c roughly. Set and forget at around 12-14psi

[Beercules281]

For extra reference. The pale ale keg was at 5c in the fridge and the dark ale keg was put in at roughly 20c after transferring from the fermenter. 

[Back Brewing]

13 minutes ago, Beercules281 said:

My pale Keg has been in the keg fridge for about 2 weeks and has poured beers perfectly up until today.  The only thing that has changed has been me putting the second keg in the fridge to chill and carbonate.  

 

Temp is set to around 5c roughly. Set and forget at around 12-14psi

Sounds like the keg is empty

[Beercules281]

She's still about half full roughly. Judging by the build up of ice on the outside of the keg. 

[Classic Brewing Co]

3 minutes ago, Beercules281 said:

She's still about half full roughly. Judging by the build up of ice on the outside of the keg. 

I wouldn't think ice on the keg would help, maybe it is too cold or frozen, it happened to me once & discovered there was beer still left in the keg that had frozen.

[Beercules281]

Just now, Classic Brewing Co said:

I wouldn't think ice on the keg would help, maybe it is too cold or frozen, it happened to me once & discovered there was beer still left in the keg that had frozen.

I'm thinking it's too cold. Since the fridge ran nonstop for 24 hours to cool the other keg, it's cooled down the keg I already had in there too much. I'll let it sit out the fridge for a while and see what happens. Like I say everything was perfect until I put the other keg in there to cool. Trial and error of first keg setups I suppose. 

 

Thanks for everyones replies. 

[Back Brewing]

7 minutes ago, Beercules281 said:

She's still about half full roughly. Judging by the build up of ice on the outside of the keg. 

It shouldn't be that cold I reckon it's frozen take the keg out and let it thaw out a bit for it to get that cold the temp has been set too low

[Back Brewing]

1 minute ago, Beercules281 said:

I'm thinking it's too cold. Since the fridge ran nonstop for 24 hours to cool the other keg, it's cooled down the keg I already had in there too much. I'll let it sit out the fridge for a while and see what happens. Like I say everything was perfect until I put the other keg in there to cool. Trial and error of first keg setups I suppose. 

 

Thanks for everyones replies. 

It should not matter, if you put the other keg in and temp is set for 5c the fridge just maintains the temp and the keg keeps cooling until it reaches set temperature 

[Beercules281]

1 minute ago, Back Brewing said:

It should not matter, if you put the other keg in and temp is set for 5c the fridge just maintains the temp and the keg keeps cooling until it reaches set temperature 

I should also note that it has an inkbird controller to control the temp. The probe hangs on the side where KEG 2 sits so it may have been picking up the temp coming off of that keg? 

 

Probably should have mentioned that. None the less I've removed the keg from the fridge and I'll let it thaw for a little bit. 

[Shamus O'Sean]

5 hours ago, Beercules281 said:

I should also note that it has an inkbird controller to control the temp. The probe hangs on the side where KEG 2 sits so it may have been picking up the temp coming off of that keg? 

 

Probably should have mentioned that. None the less I've removed the keg from the fridge and I'll let it thaw for a little bit. 

Form your comments and the observations of others, I reckon the Pale Ale is partly frozen.  Letting it thaw for a while is a good idea.

It seems like your fridge is capable of cooling well under 0°C.  A fridge will only cool as low as it can.  Setting a temperature controller to say minus 15°C does not make the fridge go that low.  You could either set the temperature controller a bit higher or similarly, turn the fridge temperature knob a bit higher.  Either way should stop your fridge temperature getting so low.

[Aussiekraut]

17 hours ago, Beercules281 said:

Me again! Looking for some wisdom from all you Kegerator experts.

So i kegged my Dark Ale (KEG 2) yesterday. Wacked that in the keg fridge with the Co2 connected at around 13psi. Fridge ran for about 24 hours until it reached the target temp on the Temp Controller. 

Went to poor a Pale Ale (KEG 1) today from the same keg fridge and had nothing but foam! Shook KEG 1 and it sounded like a slushy.

Is this because the fridge ran for so long to cool KEG 2 that in the process KEG 1 became super ultra mega cold?

What's the best way to rectify this if at all possible? Should i release the pressure from KEG 1 and let it sit for an hour or so? This one has me scratching my head!

 

Edit for context: KEG 1 was already at 5c in the keg fridge. KEG 2 was at 20c after transferring from fermenter. 

This never happened to me as all my fridges and freezers have a temp controller and it doesn't get cold enough to freeze but my father-in-law did it twice now. He just keeps a keg in the fridge with a pluto gun and a soda stream gas bottle. The fridge isn't even set to high but he managed to completely freeze his kegs. The problem is that it is only the water that freezes, so he can actually pour something resembling beer but first, he gets froth, a whole jug full of froth. It'll set after a while and liquid shows but with every pour, he leaves some water behind, so what is left in the keg is diluted a fair bit. If you get it early, you can just take the beer out and defrost it but once you start pouring a few, you will have a rather watery liquid left that is not particularly nice. I just ordered him a temperature controller to avoid this.

I'd say take it out and wait for it to defrost. 

[Beercules281]

17 minutes ago, Aussiekraut said:

This never happened to me as all my fridges and freezers have a temp controller and it doesn't get cold enough to freeze but my father-in-law did it twice now. He just keeps a keg in the fridge with a pluto gun and a soda stream gas bottle. The fridge isn't even set to high but he managed to completely freeze his kegs. The problem is that it is only the water that freezes, so he can actually pour something resembling beer but first, he gets froth, a whole jug full of froth. It'll set after a while and liquid shows but with every pour, he leaves some water behind, so what is left in the keg is diluted a fair bit. If you get it early, you can just take the beer out and defrost it but once you start pouring a few, you will have a rather watery liquid left that is not particularly nice. I just ordered him a temperature controller to avoid this.

I'd say take it out and wait for it to defrost. 

The fridge I have has a broken thermostat so just runs constantly unless plugged into a temp controller. I think the problem was the probe of the temp controller was sitting close to my second keg so it was picking up the temperature around that keg. 

A few teething issues with my "new to me" homemade kegerator. 

 

I took the keg out and defrosted it and it poured out perfect beer after that.

[Classic Brewing Co]

15 minutes ago, Beercules281 said:

The fridge I have has a broken thermostat so just runs constantly unless plugged into a temp controller. I think the problem was the probe of the temp controller was sitting close to my second keg so it was picking up the temperature around that keg. 

A few teething issues with my "new to me" homemade kegerator. 

 

I took the keg out and defrosted it and it poured out perfect beer after that.

My keg fridge is an old Westinghouse circa 1970 that was my old mans, it has served me well. It has been dragged around several house moves, been outside for a couple of years & I was all set to buy a Kegerator, but I decided to convert the old faithful as it has always fired up & still serves up a good beer.

I can't say that about the newer ones as I was gifted a near new fridge a couple of years ago with the intention of using it as a spare fermenting fridge but after 12 months the thermostat died also.

As they say ' they don't make 'em like they used to'