Kegging help

[Dene McDonald]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum and home brew. I'm also really stuck!

I ordered a kegging setup from a home brew shop in Christchurch. When I got it I was less than happy with the quality of it. It seemed to be made up from bits and pieces from here there and everywhere. The kegs weren't even clean. The shop assured me it was a standard kit but I'm not so sure. For example, no matter what I did I couldn't get the beer and gas line to fit as it was too tight. The shop weren't interested in helping me and seemed to know little about it.

But I managed to get some beer line from a local supplier (I forget their name). I've assembled all the bits and pieces and filled it with my first brew. I've pressurized it as per the instructions (which were printed off the Internet proving it's not a proper set).

However all I get is froth. I'm using a hand gun and it's like it's shooting out of it. I'm not sure what to do now, and doing a few Google searches I either find out I have over carbonated it, or under carbonated it. Other sites also tell me I should use a forumla to work out how long the beer and gas lines should be.

Is there anyone that can help me. I've spent hours and wasted so much beer and I'm getting desperate!

I guess first of all I want to know if I need certain length beer lines, and secondly how do I tell if I am over or under pressurized!

With the price of beer I'm keen to be able to keg my own asap!

Dene

[JackoNZ]

It sounds like it's just over carbonated mate, what kind of regulator do you have? Does it have two dials, one showing the pressure that's in the keg? If so what is that set to? I usually set mine at about 75-90kPa, leave for 5 days and that seems to work for me with fairly long lines. I think from memory I read on here to go long when I set mine up, maybe 1.5-3m. Saying that, my best tap has less than a metre of line attached but thicker and seems to pour well.

I'd turn your gas tank off and unhook the gas in disconnect too if you want, pull the relief valve to let the excess co2 out, let it sit for a day and then try again. You may need to repeat. Right now I have no gas on and I'm still pouring beer with head after a week or so. My tap mounted on the door is quite a vicious beast and pours quickly, that always froths a bit but nothing a sip and rest for a minute doesn't fix! Good luck

[Nick T]

Dene,

 

I had the same problem with foam. Was solved in the end by de-gassing the beer (I had force carbonated) and then using the 'set and forget' method. ie figure out your serving pressure (for me 5 - 12 psi depending on style) and letting the beer carbonate to that level over a couple of weeks, testing as you go. What pressures have you been using?  

[MrC]

What temp is the beer?  

Get the beer as cold as you can around 4C set the the pouring pressure to be just enough to get beer flowing.  If it's still all foam then I'd say it's overcarbed. 

[Dene McDonald]

I think I've worked it out. I tried your method of turning it right down and slowly turning it up until just enough pressure to dispense it and it's fine. So excited and enjoying a nice bitter as I type this.

What's the minimum pressure to keep it carbonated?

Thanks for your help everyone. I was ready to sell it all off.

Dene

[MrC]

I use picnic taps so my serving pressure will likely be different to yours, but...

 

For a standard Pale Ale stored around 7C:

- serve around 30-40 kPa (0.4 -0.4 bar)

- store around 100 kPa (1.0 bar)

[Dene McDonald]

When you say storing does that mean if not using for a week or so, or if storing awaiting use?

[MrC]

Yep, storing for me is when I'm leaving it for more than 2 days without pouring.  

I like tell people that I set it to storage pressure during the week and serving pressure on the weekends.  The reality ...

[Michael]

I force carbonated my first kegged beer, and it was sort of like this the first night. So, I just took the gas line off, and let it settle over the weekend. It is fine now. I also use a fairly long dispensing hose to a big tap. (My wife will not let me drill through the fridge door yet. It is bad enough I am using half of the fridge. ;)  )

 

A lot of people force carbonate, and it works well, if not a little unpredictable until you get your own process down. The set and forget way is the easiest way to make sure you get it right. I am just not that patient. :)

[Chris Banks]

Wont let me drill through "yet" - I like it !

Your kegging setup is really coming along despite the odds of temps and gas bottles etc!

Did you sort some gauges for that reg you had?

[Michael]

I ended up finding a new regulator for less than I could buy the gauges. I will still hang on to the old one, so I have it when I expand the setup. I am hoping to get a cheap fridge, but since I do not have a truck, finding one that is cheap, and they will deliver is a bit difficult.

When I go back to NZ, I will have to get a new valve put on the tank since they are different. Hopefully a shop is willing to do this.

Having a keg in the fridge, ready to go is not very healthy for the liver. As such, I am learning the value of self control. :)

[jt]

Having a keg in the fridge, ready to go is .... GREAT !

[DP]

When I first got my keg setup I made the mistake of turning the valve on the regulator the wrong way and so the pressure was immense. Just in case this is your issue too, you need to make sure you turn the valve on the CO2 tank anti-clockwise all the way until it stops and then turn it clockwise just a little bit to get to serving pressure.

 

[edit: ah, sorry, I see you've already found the solution. I'll leave this comment here just in case someone ever has the same issue I did]