So I’ve had a hell of a time with my first kegging experiment, but I finally got it kegged up today. So far, I am seriously regretting the whole kegerator purchase, but whatever.
I put the beer in about two hours ago and set the PSI to 30. However, I just checked and the PSI reads 0: there is no CO2 coming out of the tank!! I should add that the tank was brand new, fully tested, and had, at one time, CO2 coming out of it.
Can anyone tell me what happened? How could I possibly have gone through an entire tank of CO2 in an hour? There was no leakage that I could hear or detect.
I am also wondering what to do with the beer that I kegged. It just had a shit load of CO2 pumped into it - except when I tried to purge the keg no CO2 was released. (Clearly something went wrong)
I really like this beer and I don’t want to lose it. Though I need to figure out how to solve my kegging problem, right now my biggest concern is saving my precious beer! I am thinking I will bottle it, but I am afraid to do so after I just put so much CO2 into the tank. Will that be a problem? Will that effect carbonation? Cause bottles to explode? Or is something so wrong that there isn’t any CO2 in the beer anyhow?
Your beer will be fine. It can stay in the keg while you figure out where your co2 is going… You have a leak somewhere. Check all your connections with star san or where possible you can submerge the connection in water. Check your supply as well as the keg. I have had a couple shut off valves leak.
take a deep breath. in through the nose, hold a few seconds, out through the mouth. I had the same problem before. as roffen stated, you have a leak. your beer will be fine in the keg. you just purged any and all O2 out. get your tank exchanged as soon as possible. then do as roffen stated, spray down any connection and threads at every angle (including your keg!) with starsan. it sucks about the lost CO2, but at least you didn’t lose the whole keg (as I’ve read happened to others). I hope you get it sorted soon. in the mean time, try to RDWHAHB. :cheers:
My suggestion is to go get it filled, turn it on, and start checking your hoses and connections. Are you certain your keg holds pressure? Make sure there are o rings installed at each post and make sure the pressure relief valve is screwed in tight. A spray bottle of star San can aid in finding leaks.
Is there a seal between your regulator and tank? There should be either a disposable plastic washer or permanent o ring installed.
I’m in Boston. I have decided that I’m postponing further kegging adventures until I get an experienced friend to help me sort it out! In the meantime, I don’t trust my keg either, and I don’t want to run any risk of oxidation, so I’m going to bottle this sucker up and then try sorting through this with a keg of water.
[quote=“roffenburger”]\Are you certain your keg holds pressure? Make sure there are o rings installed at each post and make sure the pressure relief valve is screwed in tight. A spray bottle of star San can aid in finding leaks.
Is there a seal between your regulator and tank? There should be either a disposable plastic washer or permanent o ring installed.[/quote]
Nope, I’m not sure about the keg. I bought it from Midwestern Supplies, and I was leary about it when I turned it upsidedown and liquid came out. I emailed them before I started this whole thing, and they insisted that it would hold pressure once CO2 was put in it. I’ve maintained doubts, though.
Yes, there is a seal between the regulator and tank.
When you first filled the keg, did you hit it with 30 psi to force the seals to seal? Especially the main one? 10-12 psi is generally not enough to set the seals.
Everyone goes through this at some point. This will force you to understand all the connections and a procedure to follow each time.
Yes, it hit 30. In fact, it even hit 40 before I scaled it back. I watched it for a while before putting it in the kegerator. At that point, I could hear air flowing and the gauges were all correct.
You have a leak if you’re hearing gas flow while you’re watching it. You will hear it as it’s being forced into the keg, but will stop unless you have a leak.
With a small leak you shouldn’t hear any gas flow.
Just to be clear, you’re not going to be able to push a ton of CO2 into a full keg in a short space of time, outside of the crank-n-shake method. There’s just not that much headspace. You should quickly hear the “hissing” subside, as the headspace fills and equilibrates.
If you want to check for a leak in the keg, either submerge it in water (as others have suggested), or turn off all gas flow from the tank and take the keg to a silent room. If gas is escaping, you should be able to hear it. You can also use starsan/leak testing fluid, but I’ve been much more successful (in my experience) with simply listening.
