So my awesome wife let me order a dual tap kegerator. It arrived Friday morning and assembled it. I picked up CO2 and a sixtel of Wolaver’s Oatmeal Stout.
I have the regulator set to about 8lbs and the temp inside the kegerator is about 37 degrees. Right now, the beer is pretty much rocketing out (tapped it about an hour and a half ago.) Is it a matter of just letting it settle (30 minute ride back form the store) or do I need to adjust the the CO2?
Thanks,
Joe
Depends how long your lines are. If it is “rocketing” out of the tap, I would turn off the CO2 to it, until it pours more normally. This may take time and taking some pints out of it will help. Then you can try the 8psi and see if it is a good level to push the beer out.
There are two things that CO2 does-- it pushes out the beer, but it also keeps the carbonation in the beer. Temp/psi and your serving line length and vertical distance between liquid level and tap level all play a part into how much psi you need to push the beer out. Only the temp and psi affect the carbonation level. Changes to carbonation level do take time.
Yeah, hate to tell you this, but my guess is that they don’t have the right length/inside diameter on your lines and you might have to replace them. My first kegerator came with 3-4’ of 1/4" ID line. You’ll probably need 5-10’ of 3/16" ID lines.
Could it be that beer is carbonated with Nitro and needs to be served on a stout faucet a lot of those beers are ?
The kegerator came with 5ft 3/16"lines for both taps. I think it may have to do with the keg not settling and me adding gas too quickly. I poured a pint last night and it was almost perfect. I currently have it set at about 11 psi.
I think may however lost alot of CO2 in the process. My brand new tank have just over 500 psi left according to the regulator. Oh well, learning curve I guess.
I plan on picking up a second sixtel tomorrow. I will let it sit at least 24 hours before tapping it and will not hit it with gas at first. Only bad thing, I can only set one pressure for both kegs.
Thanks for the help and suggestion guys.
Part of it is the lines, part of it is the ride from the store to the house, and part of it is that the keg was probably overcarbonated at the brewery. Often, breweries will overcarbonate kegs. When you get the next keg home, release all of the pressure, then put it in the kegerator and let it sit for a couple of hours. Then, release the pressure again and put it on the gas at your serving pressure. Your first pint will probably be a throw away, but after that, it will get better.
On the lines, I have done the formulas and tried to figure out what is mathematically the best length in my setup. But in the end, after much frustration, I went with 10 feet with a fan to circulate the air in the kegerator and have never looked back.
[quote=“JoeSpartaNJ”]The kegerator came with 5ft 3/16"lines for both taps. I think it may have to do with the keg not settling and me adding gas too quickly. I poured a pint last night and it was almost perfect. I currently have it set at about 11 psi.
I think may however lost alot of CO2 in the process. My brand new tank have just over 500 psi left according to the regulator. Oh well, learning curve I guess.
I plan on picking up a second sixtel tomorrow. I will let it sit at least 24 hours before tapping it and will not hit it with gas at first. Only bad thing, I can only set one pressure for both kegs.
Thanks for the help and suggestion guys.[/quote]
You can’t rely on the regulator pressure guage to tell you how much is left. Are you storing it in the kegerator or out? This will effect the pressure that the regulator shows. You won’t know that you are out until the very end, and then it will go down very quickly in the red.
[quote]
You can’t rely on the regulator pressure guage to tell you how much is left. Are you storing it in the kegerator or out? This will effect the pressure that the regulator shows. You won’t know that you are out until the very end, and then it will go down very quickly in the red.[/quote]
Even with a 2 guages, one showing the psi output and psi guage showing me how much is in the tanks?
I have the tank stored inside the kegerator. The guage is hovering right abouve the red, which is 500 psi.
that’s what mine has been showing for the past 2 weeks. given the pressure drops or raises with temp drops/increases, i think the only alternative to knowing how much you have is actually weighing it.
weigh it now and compare with the empty weight of the cylinder. if you don’t know the empty weight, contact a seller and ask how much a similar one weighs empty. difference is co2 remaining in lbs.
:cheers:
There is a tare wt stamped on the tank that’s what it weighs empty.
I think I may just be setting it wrong. Maybe it just doesn’t make sense to me yet. This is the regulator I am using:
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbee ... _5422.htmlI would think that if I turned the knob to the right (plus sign, screws in) I would use less psi and the opposite if I turned the knob left (minus sign, screws out). Any help on this? I feel like moron at this point.
I picked up a sixtel of Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye. I am going to let that sit until tomorrow night. I also plan on not hitting it with any CO2 at first.
I tapped the Sierra Nevada. At 4 psi, it is pouring pretty good. The Wolavers is still mostly foam.
Oh well, foam is still beer.
At 4 psi, the carbonation is going to be too low pretty soon.
I adjusted it. It is now around 7 psi.
